John Morton Willing to Do 'Whatever it Takes' to Remain With Lions

Morton discusses what future could look like with Lions beyond 2025 season.

Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell talks to offensive coordinator John Morton. | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Detroit Lions will face plenty of decisions surrounding their personnel, both players and coaches, when the regular season concludes after this week.

One of those decisions involves the future of current offensive coordinator John Morton. On paper, the Lions' offense has been humming similar to how it has in recent years, ranking third in the league in scoring and sixth in total yards.

However, under the surface there have been some signs of disconnect, with inconsistency blooming particularly over the last two months. Morton was stripped of play-calling duties following a Week 9 loss to Minnesota, which marks the second time Dan Campbell has taken these responsibilities from an offensive coordinator in his five-year tenure.

The last coordinator who had this happen was Anthony Lynn, who was let go by the organization following the 2021 season. It remains uncertain whether Morton will face the same fate, but the veteran coordinator clearly wants to remain a part of the organization in 2026.

"Well, I'd like to be here. I love it here, love Dan, love the organization, it's my home," Morton said. "All I'm thinking about is Chicago right now. So whatever happens, happens. Listen, I've been in this business for a while, I'm proud of the things I've done and there's a lot of things I need to improve on. So whatever happens, happens, but my focus is on Chicago and that's all I'm thinking about. I live in the moment, I always have. Whatever happens, I just march on. That's my attitude with everything."

Morton noted that he would like to resume calling plays, but added that this particular responsibility would not necessarily be a requirement for him to remain on the coaching staff from his perspective.

"No, that's not. Absolutely not. I've told you guys, I'm a team player, and I'll do whatever it takes at this point in my career," Morton explained. "Whatever Dan wants, I'll do. So I'm here to help him, help this team win, that's what I've done. I'm proud of some of the work that I've done, obviously, so that's kind of where I'm at with that."

With his role being more primarily involved with the passing game at this stage of the season, Morton remains a big part of the game plan. However, he has been able to learn plenty about the process of calling plays as a whole while working with Campbell since the head coach took over.

Previously, Morton had called plays once in his coaching career as the offensive coordinator of the New York Jets in 2017. He anticipates approaching the offseason with the intention of calling plays, but is willing to help Campbell and the coaching staff in any capacity.

"It's just certain ways of how to put the run game with this and that, marry it all up so it all looks the same, tendency-wise, maybe down and distance. I've learned that, those are the things that I've got to work on. In the offseason, I'll just keep going like I'm the coordinator calling plays and try to improve. It's like I said, I'm gonna do whatever it takes, but I'm gonna keep going like I'm gonna call the plays, and if that doesn't happen, that's fine."