The Detroit Lions are in the middle of an extremely successful three-season stretch, in fact, it’s arguably that these have been the best three years in franchise history. 2024 saw Detroit win the NFC North and secure the number one overall seed and the first-round bye that comes with it for the first time ever.
Unfortunately for the Lions, the storybook year was derailed by injuries down the stretch, and Detroit was upset by the Washington Commanders in their first game of the playoffs in the divisional round.
This season, head coach Dan Campbell is focused on bringing the Lombardi Trophy back to Detroit for the first time ever, but he’ll have to do it with some very different pieces surrounding him, as other teams around the league took notice of the elite staff he built.
Aaron Glenn, Detroit’s defensive coordinator last season, is the head coach of the New York Jets now. Campbell lost his other coordinator as well, as Ben Johnson, their offensive coordinator last year, is the head coach of the Chicago Bears.
The Lions’ defense has been impressive so far this season, but the offense, with new coordinator John Morton, hasn’t been the elite unit that it was under Johnson, even though the Lions were 5-3 heading into last weekend’s game against the Commanders.
Fans were shocked when Detroit had its best offensive day of the season, accumulating over 500 yards of total offense in the win over Washington. However, things started to make more sense after the game.
In his postgame press conference, Campbell revealed that he forced Morton to step down from his role as the offensive play caller and took over himself, according to one prominent insider around the league.
“Lions HC Dan Campbell acknowledged to reporters after today’s win in Washington that he took over the offensive play-calling duties from OC John Morton,” reported ESPN’s senior NFL insider Adam Schefter on Monday.
Lions HC Dan Campbell acknowledged to reporters after today’s win in Washington that he took over the offensive play-calling duties from OC John Morton.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) November 10, 2025
It’ll be interesting to see if Campbell can keep the Lions’ offense hot.
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.