The Detroit Lions started the 2025 NFL season with an abysmal offensive performance on Sunday against the Green Bay Packers. Though growing pains are to be expected with a new offensive coordinator, only scoring six points through 59 minutes of game action was not.
Furthermore, the Lions only gained 200 yards through the air and 46 yards on the ground. For an offense with as much talent as Detroit's, that should never happen. Jared Goff's comments following their loss showed how aware the quarterback is of this.
According to Nolan Bianchi of the Detroit News, Goff said, "We should be great right now, but there are hurdles, obviously, that you are going to have to face and get over and improve on. I think that the urgency...needs to be there and I intend to lead that." While Goff didn't explicitly put the blame on new offenisve coordinator John Morton, the tone of that message is something that can't be annoyed.
Jared Goff's Postgame Comments Should Have Lions on Red-Alert
There are two things that stand out most in what Goff said. "We should be great," and "the urgency...needs to be there." And you won't find many fans disagreeing. There's no reason this offense shouldn't be one of the best in the NFL, unless there's a coaching issue.
Consider what we've seen with other elite teams in the past. The Philadelphia Eagles' offense took a big step back when they made the wrong offensive coordinator hire in 2023, replacing Shane Steichen with Brian Johnson. Then they went on to win a Super Bowl with Kellen Moore at the helm last year.
Goff's comments should have Dan Campbell on high alert. He can't afford to waste an entire season with the wrong offensive coordinator. If his franchise quarterback thinks there needs to be some urgency and that something is holding back what "should be" a great offense, it's time to wake up and listen.
It's still just one game, and too early for serious calls to fire Morton (at least from players; overreacting to Week 1 is a time-honored tradition for fans). But that doesn't mean it's too early to start considering that it could be a possibility.
Hopefully a Week 2 bounce-back against the Chicago Bears will shut this conversation down in its tracks, and this will have just been a blip in a successful season for Morton. But Campbell must take note of Goff's comments and take this situation very seriously.