The Detroit Lions have been atop the NFC North for the past two seasons. Head coach Dan Campbell has led his Lions team to a 27-5 record since 2023.
In 2024, the Lions swept the NFC North on route to a 15-win season that ended early in the Divisional Round against the Washington Commanders.
No doubt, Detroit has a good football team, one that has been building since the 2022 season, which ended with an upset victory over the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field. That also happened to be Aaron Rodgers' last game for the Packers.
But this 2025 season is different.
Despite still having a talented roster, the Lions lost two key pieces: Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn. The Lions’ offensive and defensive coordinators went on to become head coaches after the 2024 season.
Johnson landed with the Chicago Bears, and Glenn with the New York Jets. Those losses can’t be understated.
Bears fans will be stunned with latest NFC North prediction for 2025 season
ESPN analyst Peter Schrager joined "The Pat McAfee Show" on Thursday, and he provided his bold predictions for the 2025 NFL season. One of them, which shocked the entire panel, was the Lions missing the playoffs.
“I don’t hate them,” Schrager said. “I love them. I think that NFC North is loaded, and I think the loss of two coordinators is not being discussed enough. Those two men are absolute Gs at what they do, and that’s Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn, arguably the two best coordinators in all of football last year, and I think we look at a healthy Aidan Hutchinson, we look at a healthy couple of players … I think there is going to be a steep drop off without those two men calling plays on offense and defense.”
The Lions have been one of the best teams in the NFL for the past two seasons, so if they didn’t make the playoffs in 2025, that would be a huge shakeup in the NFC.
But Schrager has a valid point. Losing Johnson and Glenn is significant. There is a reason why both are head coaches now.
Johnson’s Lions were at the top of the NFL in every major offensive statistical category while he called the plays, and his creativity with the designs was second to none.
Numerous injuries compromised Glenn’s defense, yet the unit still produced at a high level. Safety Kirby Joseph led the NFL with nine interceptions, and the rushing defense finished fifth in the league in yards given up.
If Schrager’s prediction comes true, that opens up a spot in a wide-open NFC. Can the Bears potentially capitalize with Johnson as the team’s head coach? By the time January rolls around, that question will be answered.
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The Bears will face the Lions in Week 2 at Detroit and then for the final time in Week 18 in Chicago.