Losing Ben Johnson Stings, But Offense Will Still Dominate

One coordinator gone. One to go.

That's the situation the Detroit Lions find themselves in after offensive coordinator Ben Johnson agreed Monday to become the Chicago Bears’ next head coach.

Detroit defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn is expected to join Johnson as a first-time head coach, and potentially as soon as this week. Glenn has drawn interest from multiple franchises, including the N.Y. Jets and the New Orleans Saints (both of whom have set up second interviews with the popular play-caller).

Losing each coordinator will be a significant blow to their respective side of the football. However, Johnson, who's become arguably the league's foremost offensive mastermind, will be harder to replace.

Johnson, who began his Lions assistant coaching tenure in 2020 as part of the Matt Patricia regime, had his fingerprints all over Dan Campbell's offense the past four seasons. Originally the team's tight ends coach and passing game coordinator, he started preparing Detroit's weekly offensive gameplan, along with Campbell, after former offensive coordinator Anthony Lynn lost his play-calling privileges. Lynn, now the running backs coach and run game coordinator in Washington, lost those duties after the Lions’ 0-8 start to the 2021 campaign.

Upon the change in play-caller, it wasn't instant success for the offense. Detroit mustered just 16 points in a tie with the Pittsburgh Steelers in the week immediately following Lynn's demotion. Yet, the unit did gradually get better as the season progressed, and it ended up producing north of 315 yards in each of the Lions’ final six games of the regular season.

Campbell was calling the plays at the time, but Johnson still received credit – and rightfully so – for the team's strides on offense down the stretch of the season. It led to Johnson being promoted to offensive coordinator in time for the 2022 season.

Johnson's promotion coincided with the beginning of the offense's transformation into one of the best units in the entire National Football League.

Equipped with budding stars Amon-Ra St. Brown and Penei Sewell (each of whom were second-year pros at the time), the offensive attack took off in Johnson's first year as OC. It went from the No. 25 unit in points scored in 2021 (19.1 points per game) to the No. 5 unit in 2022 (26.6 ppg).

While the development of St. Brown and Sewell was certainly key to this jump in offensive productivity, even more so was the rebirth of Jared Goff as a franchise passer.

Goff was considered to be on the downside of his career when the L.A. Rams dealt him to the Lions as part of the Matthew Stafford blockbuster trade.

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And his numbers to begin his career in Detroit certainly didn't dispel that notion. In his first eight games in the Motor City, the 2016 No. 1 overall pick produced more turnovers (six interceptions and four fumbles) than touchdowns (eight). To make matters worse, the Lions failed to win a single contest in that stretch of games.

It was an ugly start to Goff's tenure in Detroit. And, it helped add to the narrative that the former Rams signal-caller would simply be a “bridge quarterback” for the Lions.

However, then something unexpected happened: Goff started playing a cleaner brand of football. In fact, in the last six games he played in 2021, he finished with 11 touchdown passes and just two interceptions. He followed that up with a Pro Bowl campaign in 2022, which was the first of three straight seasons for Goff with at least 29 touchdown passes and north of 4,400 passing yards.

This impressive three-year run for Goff, with Johnson masterfully calling the offense's plays, culminated in an MVP-caliber campaign for the veteran quarterback in 2024. This past regular season, he put up career-best numbers in several stats, including passing touchdowns (37), completion percentage (72.4), passer rating (111.8) and QBR (68.4). He also guided the Lions to a franchise-best 15-2 record and the NFC's No. 1 seed for the very first time.

Goff has certainly revitalized his NFL career the past three seasons, and if there's any one coach that deserves credit for it, it's Johnson. The offensive play-caller and Goff established a symbiotic relationship during their time together in Detroit. And Johnson, much to his credit, found a way to install an offense that played to the strengths of the drop-back passer.

It propelled Goff and the Lions’ offense to top-five finishes in points scored in 2022 and 2023, plus a variety of franchise-best marks in ‘24.

Among the many prolific numbers produced, Johnson's unit set organizational records for total net yards (6,962), points (564), touchdowns (70) and point differential (plus-222).

Additionally, Detroit tied two NFL records pertaining to points scored: the first being for the most games in a season with at least 20 points (16) and the second being for the most games in a season with at least 40 points (six).

Undeniably, Goff and the Lions will miss Johnson being a part of the coaching staff.

From his trick play calls to his knack for getting all of Detroit’s weapons involved on a weekly basis, Johnson proved to be a special offensive coordinator. He took the organization to a level of offensive success that it had never achieved before, and will be fondly remembered because of it.

However, just because Johnson is leaving, it isn't time to write off the Lions’ offense.

Detroit will once again be equipped with a plethora of offensive weapons in 2025, including St. Brown, fellow receiver Jameson Williams, tight end Sam LaPorta and running backs Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery.

In 2024, St. Brown and Williams each produced north of 1,000 receiving yards, while LaPorta recorded 726 yards.

Meanwhile, Gibbs tied for a league-leading 16 rushing touchdowns, and amassed a Lions franchise-record 20 total TDs. On top of that, he and Montgomery combined for a staggering 2,187 yards and 28 scores on the ground.

These same playmakers will provide Detroit's next offensive coordinator with a more-than-solid foundation in 2025.

So, Lions fans, it's no time to fret. Losing Johnson is not remotely the doom-and-gloom scenario that it's frequently been said to be.

As long as Goff and his arsenal of weapons stay healthy, Detroit's offense will be just fine next season.