As much as any team in the league, the Lions follow their offensive line. When it crumbled in Week 1, so did the game plan. When it responded in Week 2, the Lions hung 50 on the Bears.
Dan Campbell was raving after Detroit's 52-21 win about the performances of Jared Goff and Amon-Ra St. Brown when he said, "More importantly, this offensive line played I thought a really, really good game. Protection, run game, they really got us going."
Much is being made about the big boys up front, and for good reason. For the last three years, the Lions boasted one of the best offensive lines in the NFL. Now they have essentially two rookies playing on either side of a center who's spent the bulk of his career at guard. The unit was overwhelmed in the season opener by a raucous crowd and a loaded defensive front in Green Bay.
Back home in Detroit, "Everything was better," Christian Mahogany said after the Lions demolished the Bears. "I don’t know what people expected, but everything turned out better, huh?"
The Lions hammered communication in practice last week after the O-line struggled to get on the same page against the Packers. Most of the missed assignments up front owed to the offense operating in the silent count, and led to the Lions averaging fewer yards per play (3.8) than they had in any game over the prior three seasons. Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery combined for barely 2.0 yards per carry.
A week later, the Lions averaged the most yards per play (8.8) in franchise history. Gibbs and Montgomery combined for about 6.5 yards per carry and two touchdowns. Verbal communication went a long way for the offensive line, especially the newcomers on the interior.
"Being able to hear all the calls without that crowd noise," said Tate Ratledge, "was a huge difference."
Ratledge and Mahogany, in particular, spent most of the Packers game on their heels. The offensive line was on the front foot against the Bears from the very first play, a 34-yard pass to St. Brown where Goff had a perfectly clean pocket against Chicago's five-man rush. The drive ended when Gibbs ran untouched around the left edge behind strong blocks by Mahogany, Taylor Decker and two tight ends for a six-yard touchdown.
Ratledge said he could feel the Lions leaning on the Bears from the start, especially in the run-blocking department: "It was definitely a different vibe than last time we started off the game, as far as pushing off the ball."
And when the Lions are running it, "it opens up everything" said Ratledge. "As you saw, it opened up the passing game. It spreads (the defense) out." The Packers shut down Detroit's vertical passing attack because they never had to bring down extra defenders to stop the run. The Bears, not so much. Goff had a perfect passer rating in play-action. His first of five touchdowns came after a play fake to Montgomery that drew safety Kevin Byard toward the line and allowed Brock Wright to scoot past him for an easy pitch and catch.
"The whole offense played really well," said Mahogany. "When Jared's in a zone like that, he’s unbelievable, so all the credit to our skill players making plays. We just gotta protect him, and that’s what it will look like."
Against the Packers, Mahogany was charged with four quarterback pressures and two sacks, per PFF. Ratledge was charged with three pressures and one sack. Mahogany didn't allow a single pressure on 29 pass-blocking snaps against the Bears; Ratledge allowed one. A week after the Packers racked up 16 pressures and four sacks against Goff, the Bears mustered four pressures and zero sacks. It marked the fewest pressures Goff has faced in his five seasons in Detroit; the previous low was six, which happened twice last season (at Arizona, vs. Tennessee) and once in 2022.
Goff said Wednesday that he felt the attention to detail in practice last week translate to the game "in every single play from the O-line ... just getting on the same page and feeling like they’re gelling together and starting to understand each other’s calls and their movements and how they want to hit certain blocks."
"I think all that stuff came to fruition up front," Goff said on 97.1 The Ticket. "I thought they played incredibly. I thought the pass protection was as good as I’ve ever played behind, and it’s only looking up for those guys. They’ve done a great job and it will take another good week of practice to try to do it again."
Goff has played behind some elite offensive lines, both with the Lions and the Rams. Pressed on the notion that the pass protection against the Bears was as good as he's ever seen, he said, "How many sacks? I think I got hit once, on a scramble. I mean, that’s pretty unheard of."
"They held up all day. And those guys aren’t a bad front over there. They got Grady Jarrett, they got Montez Sweat, they got dudes over there who have been in the league a long time and have gotten a ton of sacks," said Goff. "I thought they did a great job."
Mahogany earned the top pass-blocking grade for the Lions in Week 2, from PFF. Having been here last year, he knows the standard in the offensive line room is high. One game isn't enough to meet it. Asked if he and Ratledge felt like they made a statement against the Bears as a duo, Mahogany said, "No. No. We're still playing. We're going to play the same way. We have to continue to get better each week, that's it."
If not a statement, they certainly made a stand. And an important one against another division rival to help the Lions avoid an 0-2 start. Goff, who's as good as any quarterback in the game when he's kept clean, said both Ratledge and Mahogany "looked more comfortable and more confident" after putting Week 1 behind them and settling into the game.
"And more so Tate than Mahogany, who had experience last year, but I thought Tate played great today," said Goff. "I haven’t seen the tape, but at least in pass pro, it felt firm there, he felt strong. It felt like he was pushing downhill. It felt like he really settled in."
A bigger challenge awaits, next Monday in Baltimore. The Lions will be back in a hostile environment against a historically stout defense, though the Ravens will be without one of their top pass-rushers, Kyle Van Noy. The offensive line will likely be forced into the silent count again, which takes time to iron out. It will have the benefit, at least, of a couple games of experience, another week of practicing with pumped-in crowd noise and a simpler game plan in terms of the calls and protections than the one the Lions brought to Green Bay.
"It’ll be loud at Baltimore," said Campbell, "but I do believe we’ll be much better prepared than we were" against the Packers.
"We should be able to communicate just as well on the road," said Goff. "It’s not as easy on the road, but you should be able to do it just as well — the good teams do, at least."
It's true for most teams, and especially the Lions: It starts and ends with the O-line. When the big boys play well, said Campbell, "it really allows us to do a lot."
"And that’s a prideful unit. We had a couple young guys in there that I thought played better, and they’re only going to get better the more reps they get."