What Lesson Jaguars, NFL Should Take From Lions' Shocking Loss

While the Detroit Lions are fresh off one of the worst playoff losses in recent memory, the Jacksonville Jaguars and the rest of the NFL shouldn't rush to judgement on their coordinators.

Detroit Lions coordinators Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn are both in high in demand and are highly likely to land head coaching gigs, according to multiple reports. | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Saturday night went nothing like the Detroit Lions, or the rest of the NFL, expected.

With two big-name coordinators seemingly ready to move on from the life of assistants and set to become head coaches, it felt like this was the last chance for this iteration of the Lions to make a run.

Instead, offensive coordinator Ben Johnson and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn potentially saw their Lions careers end early thanks to a shocking loss to the Washington Commanders in the NFC Divisional round, ending the Lions' season early.

It was far from a great performance from either candidate, with each coach's unit making critical mistakes in the stunning defeat. And as a result of that loss, it seems a few eyebrows have been raised about both coaches and what they bring to the table.

Any rush to judgment on two of the NFL's best assistants based off one game is far impatient, however. It is a perfect example of recency bias; only one team can win the Super Bowl, after all. Only one team ends the season with a win. Unless the Lions went the distance and won the Super Bowl, there would be a million ways to poke holes into the performance of Johnson and Glenn.

This isn't to say neither coach struggled in critical moments on Saturday. Glenn has helped the Lions' defense stay in game after game despite a list of injuries a mile long, but he struggled to adjust his game plan to a Commanders offense that was trotting out man-beater after man-beater in the passing game.

Johnson was dealt a tough deck after Jared Goff briefly left the game and never the same afterward, but he will likely draw criticism for his decision to call a passing play from wide receiver Jameson Williams for years and years to come.

No coach is made or broken by one game. It isn't the first game either coach has helped lose, and it won't be the last, either.

But their qualifications far outweigh the loss from Saturday night. The same was true last year when the Commanders hired Dan Quinn when he was fresh off a horrid defensive performance vs. the Green Bay Packers in last year's playoff, and all Quinn has done since is lead the Commanders to the NFC Championship game.

Glenn and Johnson had bad nights, but their track records suggest that is simply all it was. For teams like the Jacksonville Jaguars that have each coach as a candidate in their head coach search, they would be wise to have some grace.

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