When was the last time a coach on one team left to join a division rival, and it ended up leading to a seismic shift in power? The most prominent example is Bill Belichick. He’d been the defensive coordinator with the New York Jets for three years from 1997 to 1999, helping them reach the AFC championship in 1998. The team initially wanted to make him head coach in 2000. He chose instead to seek the same job with the New England Patriots, leading to a trade. Belichick went on to win six Super Bowls. From the way one executive with another NFL team put it, Ben Johnson could have a similar impact inside the NFC North.
Mike Sando of The Athletic was told that when asking around the league. Many fear the Detroit Lions were significantly downgraded at both of their coordinator positions, but especially the offensive side. People still aren’t grasping how big of a loss Johnson is.
Coaching free agency is where most of the conversations headed after the Lions replaced offensive coordinator Ben Johnson with John Morton and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn with Kelvin Sheppard.
“There would be a lot about Detroit that scares me, but it’s not the players,” another exec said.
Morton owns one season of NFL play-calling experience, with the 2017 New York Jets. Sheppard owns none. The uncertainty is palpable.
“Ben Johnson took total advantage of the four-down game-management approach because he’s a really, really good play caller, an evil genius, really,” another exec said. “Losing him would almost be like the Rams losing Sean McVay.”
Detroit’s incredible success over the past three years should be credited to the entire team, but nobody can dispute the offense was the primary reason. They ranked 4th, 3rd, and 2nd in that time, while the defense was 32nd, 19th, and 20th.
Ben Johnson has a chance to show everybody his worth.
Dan Campbell got primary credit for turning the Lions around after years of ineptitude. Deservedly so. Still, one of his biggest moves was promoting Johnson to offensive coordinator. Did he truly know what the young assistant would become? Probably not. He no doubt felt Johnson was intelligent and detailed. Those two qualities tend to translate well to play calling. Still, it’s hard to imagine anybody envisioned things blossoming as they did. History says losing play callers of that caliber is beyond difficult to overcome.
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Washington had five straight losing seasons after Sean McVay left in 2017. Detroit has more than enough talent to keep the train on the tracks, but fully utilizing that talent is the hard part. Ben Johnson was such a master at it. Not only will the Lions have to deal with not having him anymore, but it hurts doubly because now they have to go against him. It happened to New York with Belichick. It happened to Cincinnati with Bill Walsh. Detroit fans must be feeling somewhat nervous.
