Behind Enemy Lines: 5 Questions for a Lions Insider

The 49ers play the Lions this Sunday in the NFC Championship Game. To learn more about the 49ers' opponent, I asked Lions Insider John Maakaron five questions about the team he covers.

Q: What are the Lions' biggest strengths?

MAAKARON: "Clearly it's on the offensive side of the football. Ben Johnson is a candidate that has been interviewing all across the league because of the fact that he's put together in these last couple years an offense that has taken the Lions from really being a middling organization to one that has a red zone efficiency in the top five of the NFL. Took Jared Goff from a castoff in the trade of Matthew Stafford and made him look like an All Pro quarterback. So the strength of the team clearly is the offense. It's an offense that the front office has invested in. Penei Sewell is an unbelievable talent and he really sets the tone for an offensive line that has really kept Goff upright and has been the straw that stirs the drink with this offense. Then you look at Goff who has just been playing out of this world in regards to protecting the football. Obviously the turnover issues that plagued him with the Rams have kind of steadily declined all throughout this year because of the fact that Ben Johnson understood what he had in this player and tailored an offense that suited his needs. Dan Campbell initially made a mistake in 2021 -- he named Anthony Lynn the offensive coordinator. Dan Campbell is aggressive, he wants to move the football down the field, and early on it was pretty clear that Anthony Lynn was not going to be the right fit. So Dan Campbell quickly made the change to Ben Johnson, a young hot assistant that was rising up the ranks and boy in two short years running the offense you see one of the top scoring offenses in the entire National Football League.

Q: What are the Lions' biggest weaknesses?

MAAKARON: Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel are going to be looking and going oh my goodness that secondary of Detroit has some weaknesses. Look, Cam Sutton, we don't want to pile on a player that's been a veteran. It's just an unbelievably tough position. But that's the clearcut need this offseason when this season is done whenever that may be. Brad Holmes needs to find a true shutdown cornerback. They're trying to make it so that they cover up the needs in the secondary with a great defensive line and three all World safeties but San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan knows right now that there's some explosive plays that potentially could be had on the secondary. You realize Mike Evans over 150 yards receiving, CeeDee Lamb over 150, Puka Nacua explosive plays -- there are opportunities for the 49ers to move the football and that's by attacking the weakness of the Lions which is the secondary.

Q: What does Dan Campbell bring to the team?

MAAKARON:You see an individual that brought an identity with his first introductory press conference. Dan Campbell brought a vast amount of experience with some of the elites of the game, some elite minds in having worked with and played for Bill Parcells and Sean Payton. The opportunity that Dan Campbell had those 12 games as an interim head coach with Miami back in 2015, got five wins out of 12 in a real dire situation and you recognize the experience that he gained really made him appealing for Payton to take him under his wing and really become an assistant coach and a tight ends coach, so you recognize instant credibility when he walked in even though he didn't have experience calling plays. What he brought was a level of leadership, an ability to galvanize a locker room. If you or any of your readers caught Hard Knocks you saw some speeches there that had me or anybody watching wanting to get up and run through a wall for Dan Campbell and I think what he brings to the table is getting players to play at a high level and being willing that when the times are tough to bounce back. Too often in Detroit's history they've had tough times, they've taken shots or had bad losses or bad calls and they simply couldn't overcome it. Dan Campbell has embraced the fact that hey, being gritty is important. This regime started off horribly, three wins the first year. Starts off the second year 1-and-5 and ownership has to step up in front of Detroit's fans and I was fortunate to be in the media at the time in the in the practice facility when the owner comes out and she has to calm the fans because people were getting upset and I asked the owner why are you confident in Dan Campbell? We're looking at rebuilds like the Falcons and the Giants and they look to be kind of passing you, maybe even the Jets. And she said point blank I trust the process that we went through with Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell working together that we believe this is going to turn around. And starting after that, the Detroit Lions figured out how to win games close, all those close losses turned to close wins and from the second half of 2022 into this year Dan Campbell has changed the culture of the Lions. They didn't lose back-to-back games one single time. They overcame adversity and once they found their ability to learn to win they've just taken off and that's a credit to Dan Campbell.

Q: How good is Jared Goff?

MAAKARON: "I heard some of the talk coming out of the 49ers that said hey yeah we see Goff playing at a high level but pressure can change a quarterback and how they perform just that quick. And look, that's what the Lions are going to try to do to the young Brock Purdy. They're going to try to pressure the quarterback. But what's the remedy? The Lions recognized, and what Ben Johnson did that really makes him elite and what I think is going to make him a potential serious threat to become a future NFL head coach possibly with the Commanders, is the fact that he took an offseason and tailored and worked with Goff to figure out exactly what he does well which is obviously clearly throwing off the run action, being able to read pressures quickly, get the ball out, be accurate, be precise. And what Ben Johnson and Goff have talked about over the last couple years as we've explored what's going on with Goff, he's playing at a much different level than he did with the Rams. He is somebody that is process-driven, he's somebody that needs his receivers at a certain spot at a certain time, needs the route tree to be at an exact spot -- even a guy like Jameson Williams who everybody thought would emerge and be an individual that bursts onto the scene needed time to get with Goff and get his rhythm. It's not rocket science if you really think about it. Step one, build an elite offensive line that can keep the quarterback upright. When Goff has time, he can pick you apart, can make all the throws, is an individual if he does make a mistake, hey a lot of times when he threw an interception this year the next drive was a scoring touchdown drive. Somebody that has a quick memory, and I think that being traded, being cast off the way in which it went down with the Rams where the whole NFL world felt like the Rams needed to change because it was all Goff's fault, and that's just really not the case. It's a team game and any quarterback that doesn't have an offensive line, a running game, elite wide receivers, they're going to struggle. So what the Lions did is they said number one we're going to repair Goff's image and we're going to repair his confidence. We're going to give him all the tools needed, a great offensive line, a running game that is elite. Last year, the Lions said you know what, we need our Alvin Kamara, they buck all the trends and go out and they draft Jahmyr Gibbs who since Week 5 has become a running back that is elusive, can make cuts, has an ability to really make plays and now is starting to really gain comfort. And then we haven't even talked yet about Amon-Ra St. Brown, who is one of the most gifted and hardest working wide receivers and players in the league. When you give a quarterback a receiver that never drops the ball, that is at the precise spot he's got to be in every single down, you're going to have the makings of a good quarterback. Also Dan Campbell is an elite offensive mind. He definitely from the tight end position understood what aggressiveness at the elite level looks like. He's definitely involved in that offense and you recognize that the combination of Dan Campbell and Ben Johnson has really allowed Jared Goff to peak and maximize his skills. Yes, is he in the face of pressure going to struggle? Absolutely. That should be the goal of every team, but good luck the Lions offensive line is one of the best in the league.

Q: Who's going to win this game?

MAAKARON: " I think that both teams are going to want to run the football, establish the run. I mean Christian McCaffrey is All World. I think that the Lions clearly are going to learn a lot from what the Packers did offensively against that defense, a lot of runs outside. So this is a game I think Dan Campbell loves -- pound the rock. We haven't even talked about David Montgomery, a true gritty running back that can really take advantage of this offensive line. It's going to be a close game. I know the 49ers are hungry. I see a very close contest and really it's just like in any game where you've got the two best teams in the NFC going at it. Who blinks first? This is a team that has won 12 games coming off two home playoff wins -- it's not going to be easy. It's going to be a grind, maybe even overtime, but I think that the Lions take this one 20 to 17. The Lions don't want to get into a shootout with the 49ers. They want to control the game and limit the possessions and keep it in the 20s and I think on their board it's a race to 20. Who gets to 20 first wins this football game, and I think that's going to be the Lions.