Dan Campbell took over as the Lions’ primary play-caller on a Sunday his team entered sitting ninth in offensive efficiency, second in points, fifth in turnovers surrendered, second in passing touchdowns and sixth in rushing yards. Only nine teams score with more regularity than the Lions, which is saying something, given that we’ve seen some extremely outsized, blowout-level offensive performances over the first half of the season that can dramatically skew that number, meaning Detroit is probably a little better than that number suggests.
Detroit is in the conversation for first place in the NFC North—tied with the Bears at 6–3 before the 5-2-1 Packers play the Eagles on Monday Night Football. And yet, Campbell didn’t dismiss what he saw as instances of possible decay, or a lack of adjustments from his offensive coordinator, John Morton. Perhaps the breaking point for him was in the macro, like the much-discussed discrepancy in targets between Jameson Williams and the rest of Detroit’s pass catchers. Maybe it was in the micro, like a week ago against the Vikings, when the Lions did little to adjust to the collapsing of the left side of their offensive line, leaving a transcendent star running back like Jahmyr Gibbs as nothing more than an MMA practice bag for an oncoming Brian Flores blitz package.
.png?w=600)
