An era ends in Detroit
The Lions could have more bites at the apple, but their early playoff exit and the expected loss of two coordinators represent a missed opportunity for the reigning NFC North champs.
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With the Green Bay Packers a week into their offseason, today's edition of The Leap will focus on the playoff developments from this weekend that most affect them, mainly the astonishing defeat suffered by one of their NFC North rivals.
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Did Saturday signal the end of an era for the Detroit Lions?
Jason B. Hirschhorn: Those who avoided this weekend's NFL games missed a truly stunning result. The Detroit Lions, the league's best team during the regular season and the front-runners to take home the Lombardi Trophy, entered the divisional round as 9.5-point favorites over the visiting Washington Commanders. Detroit ultimately lost by 14 points after trailing the vast majority of the game.
Of all the surprises from the weekend, none felt more shocking than the Lions' meltdown. They became just the second team in NFL history to win 15 or more games during the regular season and then go one and down in the playoffs, joining the 2011 Packers in that ignominious category. But unlike that Green Bay team which had won a championship the year prior, Detroit has yet to summit the mountain top.
And by consensus, the Lions should have gone much farther this year. The already-talented roster regained the services of running back David Montgomery on Saturday after linebacker and captain Alex Anzalone returned just a few weeks prior. Meanwhile, the coaching staff featured potential Coach of the Year Dan Campbell as well as two assistants expected to land top gigs of their own this cycle, offensive coordinator Ben Johnson and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn. Detroit entered the playoffs battle tested after successfully traversing a division with two other teams that notched double-digit wins. At least in the NFC, nobody had a stronger résumé entering the postseason.
Yet, none of that prevented the Lions' collapse this weekend. Jared Goff couldn't stop turning the ball over, and his erratic play forced the coaches to take drastic measures. Some tactics like the reverse handoff that Jameson Williams took 61 yards to paydirt worked spectacularly. Others such as the trick play on which Williams, a player with zero career pass attempts, threw an interception pushed the game out of reach.
By the end, Detroit looked battered and broken, totally devoid of the swagger that had come to characterize the team.
Any postseason exit will sting, especially one that arrived so much earlier than anticipated. Still, the Lions' early departure could signal more than just the end of this year's playoff run. With other clubs in hot pursuit of Johnson and Glenn and the chances of both returning slim, Detroit's infrastructure will almost certainly change forever. Even with the head coach and most of the roster back in 2025, Saturday's loss will mark the end of an era.
Campbell, Johnson, and Glenn have accomplished much together. Over just a few years, they revived a truly moribund franchise and turned it into arguably the NFL's most feared team. The Lions have an unmistakable culture, one that has become the envy of the league. All of these achievements as well as a handful of others deserve praise.
Still, unless both coordinators turn down head-coaching opportunities this cycle, the trio's shared time in Detroit will have resulted in just two playoff wins and just as many heartbreaking postseason losses. Given the expectations for the Lions over the past two seasons, the Campbell-Johnson-Glenn era will ultimately boil down to one big missed opportunity.
In that sense, the Lions' story echoes that of many other would-be champions. The last 30 years alone have witnessed teams like the Shaquille O'Neal-Penny Hardaway Orlando Magic, the "K-Gun" Buffalo Bills, and the Kevin Durant-Russell Westbrook-James Harden Oklahoma City Thunder somehow win zero titles between them. On a one-year scale, the 2007 New England Patriots became the first NFL team to win 18 games to open a season but still lost in the Super Bowl. These represent just a selection of the franchises that have gone through this experience.
And while all of those teams had distinctive subplots, personalities, and trajectories, their shared inability to win it all ultimately came to define their legacy. Fair or not, that is how the collective sports world remembers them.
Unless Detroit somehow manages to retain its coaches for the 2025 season, the same will apply to the Campbell-Johnson-Glenn era Lions.
The NFC North looks up for grabs again in 2025
JBH: When it comes to uncertain futures in the NFC North, the Lions have company.
The Minnesota Vikings have yet to reveal their plans at quarterback for next season with head coach Kevin O'Connell and general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah each punting when asked if the team will re-sign Sam Darnold or transition to 2024 first-rounder J.J. McCarthy. Elsewhere on the roster, Aaron Jones will hit free agency and the secondary could lose nearly all of its starters, including veteran safety Harrison Smith. The Vikings could bring some of those pieces back but must weigh the risk of relying on one of the NFL's oldest rosters for another run.
Meanwhile, the Chicago Bears have still yet to hire a head coach. They most recently interviewed Eddie George, the headman at an FCS program, for the role, a sign of just how far afield the search has gone. Despite that, Chicago remains in contention for the aforementioned Johnson's services. Though every hire represents a dice role, Johnson's upside coupled with 2024 No. 1 overall pick Caleb Williams offers some hope for a quick turnaround.
The Packers have some matters to address this offseason as well. After their receiving corps faltered down the stretch, head coach Matt LaFleur sounded more open to bringing in a high-quality veteran than in the past while GM Brian Gutekunst seemed less enthusiastic about the idea. On the other side of the ball, DC Jeff Hafley has garnered head-coaching interest and could plausibly leave. Green Bay also appears likely to part with No. 1 corner Jaire Alexander, but how the team replaces him remains unclear.
All of which makes the division look up for grabs again heading into 2025. It seems unlikely that the NFC North will again produce three playoff teams -- no division has done so in back-to-back years since the league realigned in 2002 -- but the competition for the division crown could realistically go a number of ways.
For the Packers, who finished third in 2024, that's probably a good thing.