The biggest offseason prize went to the Chicago Bears when they landed Ben Johnson as head coach. And, as fun as it is for other teams to make light of the Bears "winning the offseason," this single move by Chicago already made a huge impression in only one week.
And we're not even really talking about the Bears, here.
The Detroit Lions opened their season against the Green Bay Packers and, when they had Johnson as offensive coordinator, the Lions were 5-1 against Matt LaFleur. Times have changed, though, as the Lions came out completely flat and a shell of their former selves in Green Bay.
The Lions were missing Ben Johnson dearly in Week 1 and Bears fans have got to love it
Detroit looked like an offense that lacked an edge. From the jump, Detroit was a completely different team with the ball in their hands. But, don't take it just from me.
Here's an opinion from one of the most-respected NFL journalists of the last couple of decades. Spoiler alert: his take is very similar to the majority of those who watched the game.
The #Lions look very much like a team that lost one of the most creative offensive coordinators in football and two starting interior offensive linemen.
— Ed Werder (@WerderEdNFL) September 7, 2025
He's not wrong. Ed Werder said the quiet part out loud, here.
The Lions' offense was a bunch of runs that mostly went no where and, when quarterback Jared Goff dropped back to pass, we saw a whole lot of short game. Their offense was anything but efficient It was maybe the most inefficient Lions offense we have seen in, well, since Johnson took over in Detroit.
Goff ended the game averaging just 5.8 yards per attempt (31 of 39 for 225 yards). For context, Goff averaged 8.6 yards per attempt last season. The run game wasn't much better, as the Lions finished with 46 yards on 22 carries (2.1 yards per carry).
"It's almost as if Jared Goff misses Ben Johnson!"
Actually, the easily-written joke was a prediction made weeks ago and it's coming true.
There was a lot of bad from the Johnson-less offense, but what really tells the scariest story is the fact that Detroit ran a whole lot more plays than Green Bay and were only able to come up with a measly six points all the way up until rookie Isaac TeSlaa caught the lone Lions touchdown of the day with under one minute remaining in the game.
Needless to say, this is about as bad of vibes the Lions could have hoped for as they go into a Week 2 matchup with Johnson's Bears. I can't imagine Detroit saw Week 1 going in such embarrassing fashion, and now, Johnson has an opportunity to deliver the embarrassment on his end.