Detroit Lions News: Darrell Bevell accidently spilled the beans

Say what you want about Detroit Lions interim head coach Darrell Bevell, but it’s apparent that the man can not keep a secret.

The Detroit Lions opted to promote their veteran coordinator, Darrell Bevell, to fill in as the teams’ head coach through the last five games of the season after parting with Matt Patricia.

Despite a lackluster overall record last season, Bevell had Detroit’s offense rolling along before losing franchise quarterback Matthew Stafford to a lingering back injury.  Stafford had been on pace to throw for 5,000 yards and 38 touchdowns through the first eight games of the season.

Bevell had his work cut out for him in his first year, considering the Detroit Lions couldn’t run the football a lick, and then had been forced to start Jeff Driskel and David Blough at quarterback down the stretch.

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This is Bevell’s second-year in the organization calling the offense, and it’s appeared to have taken a step backward rather than forward.  You’d think the Lions offense with all of these weapons would be running like a well-oiled machine, but it’s been a struggle in 2020.  Sure, the team had been forced to operate without their star receiver, Kenny Golladay, at various times this season and minus D’Andre Swift in the last two games, but that doesn’t justify being just the 22nd overall offense.

In 2020, the Detroit Lions have averaged just 347 yards per game (22nd), including just 96.6 rushing yards per game that rank Detroit 27th in the league.  The Lions have found some success passing the football, but most of that is due to trailing in the fourth quarter and racking up yardage against defenses playing in soft coverage—the Lions rank 13th in the NFL, averaging 250.4 passing yards each week.

Detroit fell into a conservative play-calling philosophy that revolved around handing the football off to the corpse of Adrian Peterson predictably on first and second down leaving the offense in far too many third and long to go situations.

Hopefully being promoted to head coach, seeing the full picture rather than just focusing on the offense, and knowing this is a chance to audition for a head coaching job here or elsewhere will be extra motivation for Bevell to succeed.

In an article published by the Detroit Free Press, Bevell explains his excitement;

"“I hate the circumstances with which it happened, but it’s an opportunity,” he said. “And you got to take full advantage of the opportunities that you’re given, however they come your way. So like I told the players, I’m jacked. I mean, I’m excited. I get a five-game audition to show what I’m capable of.”"

In other news, the Detroit Lions interim head coach is someone who clearly can’t keep a secret.  During his zoom call Monday, Bevell had been mentioning how great his weekend had been.  Bevell mentioned he and his family were visiting the Henry Ford museum when he got the call from team president Rod Wood Saturday afternoon.

Wood, along with team owner Sheila Ford Hamp offered Bevell the interim position for the season’s remainder.

During the same zoom meeting Monday, Bevell mentioned two of his future son-in-law’s each requested his blessing before moving forward with their marriage proposals.  The funny thing is, he spilled the beans over zoom before either had proposed to either of his daughters.  Oops.