For one week, all was well with the Detroit Lions' offense. After weeks of spinning their wheels under offensive coordinator John Morton, Dan Campbell took over playcalling duties and led the Lions to a 44-22 win over the Washington Commanders. At face value, Campbell’s playcalling seemed to fix all of the issues that had held the Lions back over the first half of the season, but some raised their eyebrows when Campbell suggested that Morton could return to playcalling at some point this season.
While many Lions fans cringed at that idea, Campbell may have shown why he made that comment during Sunday’s 16-9 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. The Lions looked out of sorts going up against one of the NFL’s best defenses and while Campbell believed it just wasn’t their night, he also admitted that John Morton’s biggest problem wasn’t something related exclusively to him.
“Just couldn’t ever really get into a rhythm offensively,” Campbell told reporters after the game, via ESPN’s Eric Woodyard. “You know…there’s some calls I wish I could have gotten back, you know, I didn’t help those guys. I hate that, you know, I didn’t help them…but that was kind of the story of the game.”
Lions' Lack of Rhythm Shows Campbell Was Smart to Keep Door Open for Morton
If Campbell’s comments sound familiar, it was the criticism that Amon-Ra St. Brown had for John Morton following their Week 9 loss to the Minnesota Vikings. With third-down conversions and the usage of Jameson Williams being big storylines, St. Brown noted that the Lions have never been able to get into a “flow” after Ben Johnson had left to become the head coach of the Chicago Bears, and the issues were prevalent on Sunday night.
The Lions' performance on third downs was a big factor as they converted just 3 of their 13 opportunities on the night. The issues were the same ones that plagued Detroit all season, with a third-down conversion rate of 37.5% (21st in the NFL) entering Sunday, but were also compounded by a hyper-aggressive philosophy on fourth down.
Detroit has a reputation for being an aggressive fourth-down team under Campbell, with its 18 fourth-down attempts this season tied for eighth in the NFL. But the Lions’ head coach acted like he had ground to make up, going for it five times and coming up empty-handed on each attempt. Woodyard also noted that it was just the second time in NFL history that a team has gone 0-for-5 or worse in a game, with the only other instance coming in a 2022 loss for the Lions against the New England Patriots when they went 0-for-6.
When Campbell wasn’t playing Russian Roulette, he was throwing Jared Goff to the wolves. The Lions’ interior of the offensive line was thrown around by the Eagles' dominant front for most of the night. This left Goff under heavy duress while just completing 14-of-37 passes for 255 yards, a touchdown, and an interception.
It wasn’t all bad for the Lions, who saw Jameson Williams catch four passes for 88 yards and a touchdown and saw Jahmyr Gibbs rack up 146 total yards, including 107 yards receiving on five catches. But the offense never found a rhythm or flow, and credit must be given to a strong Eagles defense for that.
The question is what happens after Sunday’s performance? Campbell could continue calling plays and see if it was a blip on the radar. But at 6-4, the Lions don’t have too many more games to waste as the Chicago Bears moved in front of them for first place in the division. Morton could also regain play-calling duties, but that’s another risk after how the first half of the season played out.
It’s something the Lions will have to figure out ahead of next week’s matchup with the New York Giants and down the home stretch as they battle for playoff positioning in the final seven games.