Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson came into the 2024 season as a top head coaching candidate and his case has only gotten stronger.
The Lions have set a franchise record for points scored with two games still to play this season and Johnson dialed up one of his most inventive play calls during Sunday’s win over the Bears. Quarterback Jared Goff appeared to stumble after taking a snap in the third quarter and running back Jahmyr Gibbs fell to the turf as if he were trying to recover a fumble. The Lions sideline yelled “ball” to sell that fake as Goff recovered and stood up to deliver a touchdown pass to wide open tight end Sam LaPorta.
LaPorta said after the game that the play was called “stumble bum” and Johnson came up with it after watching Packers quarterback Jordan Love fumble a snap, pick the ball up and throw a touchdown against the Bears during the 2023 season.
“It started on Monday with Ben asking me if he thought I could actually fumble on purpose and pick it back up, and I was like, ‘I don’t know about that,’ and we kind of got off that pretty quickly,” Goff said, via Eric Woodyard of ESPN.com.
Gibbs said the play exemplified the kind of creativity that Johnson brings to the team.
“The stuff he comes up with every game is crazy,” Gibbs said. “You don’t see really stuff like that, only if you’re in college. In college, they have all of those explosive plays and stuff basically.”
Johnson’s time with the Lions may be coming to an end, but the rest of the run has a chance to be a memorable one if he keeps coming up with plays like that.