Jared Goff was walking through the locker room after the Lions hung 50 on the Bears when a reporter nodded to him and said, "Decent game." Goff, loud enough for anyone in the general vicinity to hear, replied, "Sky's not falling, huh?" Reports of the Lions' demise, it turns out, were greatly exaggerated.
The first play from scrimmage on Sunday was a 34-yard pass from Goff to Amon-Ra St. Brown, longer than any gain the Lions managed in last week's loss to the Packers. The first run was a six-yard scamper by Jahmyr Gibbs, which was less than what he would average on the day. The first drive went 60 yards in five plays and ended in a touchdown, and reminded everyone what this offense is capable of at its best.
Especially Ben Johnson, who watched from the opposing sideline as his old team throttled his new one in a 52-21 rout.
Everything was better for Detroit's offense this week. Everything was sharper, from the communication to the explosive plays to the ball security. The starters were on the bench midway through the fourth quarter. By the time it was over, the Lions had piled up more yards per play (8.8) than they did in any game during Johnson's tenure as offensive coordinator.
"Especially the offense, we were fired up," said St. Brown. "What Ben did for us, we’ll never take that for granted. He was a big part of what we did here. But just him being over there, we wanted to show that us as players, we can still make it happen. We’ve got a great group of guys, a great group of coaches. So we wanted to go out there and put on a little show."
The stars of the show were St. Brown and Goff. They did what they do, because they had time to do it. The Lions' rebuilt offensive line crumbled last week in Green Bay, rattled by a raucous crowd and a dynamic defensive front. It found its footing on its own turf. Goff completed 23 of 28 passes for 334 yards and five touchdowns, three of them to St. Brown. The last came on fourth and goal in the fourth quarter with the game completely out of reach, but as Johnson noted himself, "They don’t kick field goals. They go for it."
That's the attitude that Dan Campbell has instilled in his offense. The Lions are always looking for more. That's what made last week so jarring, especially up front: they found almost nothing. This team has been powered for three years running by its offensive line, which is trying to maintain its standard while integrating two new starters on either side of a center who's spent the majority of his career at guard. As Campbell said Sunday, "This train keeps rolling."
Tate Ratledge and Christian Mahogany lurched out of the station in Green Bay. The entire unit started to rumble back home in Detroit. Aided by cleaner -- i.e. verbal -- communication before the snap, the Lions' offensive line got the ground game going early and often. Ratledge could feel it: "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, good luck stopping the pass.
"It opens everything up," said Ratledge. "It spreads them out."
With the Lions nearing the end zone in the second quarter, Goff got Bears safety Kevin Byard to bite on a play-fake to David Montgomery. That allowed tight end Brock Wright, who was in motion prior to the snap, to slip around the left edge and catch an easy pass from Goff for a walk-in touchdown. In vintage fashion, Goff completed passes to eight different players and hardly ever broke a sweat.
"When he’s in a zone like that, he’s unbelievable," said Mahogany. "All credit to our skill players making plays. We just gotta protect him, and that’s what it will look like."
It won't look like this every week, and a trip to Baltimore is next. But this was closer to Detroit's offense as we know it, a little glitter, a lot of gravel. For those seeking some razzle-dazzle, St. Brown even got a couple carries. By yards per play, Morton's first game calling plays was the second least efficient of the Campbell era. His second was the most efficient in franchise history. Jameson Williams -- speaking of efficiency -- turned two catches into 108 yards and a touchdown, stretching the field in a way the Lions failed to in Green Bay.
Asked about the notion that the offense wouldn't be the same without Johnson, Williams smiled and said, "You see the 50 points up there."
"I don’t think it’s really a drop-off without Ben — shoutout to Ben, he’s a great coach, great play-caller. But we make plays, man," he said. "I really didn’t see a difference or drop-off with the different coaches from Ben to Johnny Mo. Johnny Mo went out there and called a great game for us this week."
The play-calling last week bordered on predictable. The passing game was either unimaginative or sabotaged by poor protection. The overall approach felt too conservative. The result, aside from a humbling loss, was just one explosive play, and tons of skepticism thrown Morton's way. The Lions aim for six to eight explosives a game. They hit their target with ease in Week 2, even when they weren't really trying to. St. Brown's 32-yard catch and run that set up Detroit's second touchdown came on a dagger "that’s not technically designed to go to me," he said.
"It just worked out perfect where I ended up being open and Jared found me," he said.
"That’s kind of the gist of the whole thing," said Goff. "When we do it like we’re supposed to, we’ve got such great players on the perimeter and guys I can distribute to that it should be explosive like it was today. But when we don’t do things right, it can bite us. It’s a good lesson for us to stay on that urgent improvement and do it again next week."
The offense won't love everything from Sunday's game. Campbell was quick to note that "we left a lot out there," which was more than coach-speak. The Lions finished 4-for-10 on third down and at one point in the first half went three-and-out on two straight drives after the defense forced a turnover. It was reminiscent of a couple games last year under Johnson when the Lions scored 50 and felt like they should have scored more. But their goal Sunday was to play cleanly, and "for the most part we did that," said St. Brown.
"It was important for us to play efficiently," said Goff. "The points are going to come, the wins are going to come, but just to stay on schedule."
"We got explosives that we needed," said Campbell. "St. Brown got us going. I thought Jared Goff played lights-out. More importantly, this offensive line played I thought a really, really good game."
To a man, the Lions have lots of respect for Johnson, who helped Campbell build the offense that revived Goff's career and ravaged defenses across the league. But Johnson was never the sole architect. His play-sheet was never the blueprint. Morton was on site when the foundation was being laid, and Campbell never left. The pillars are the players. Together, the Lions rolled up their sleeves last week and got back to work.
"We’ve got players, we've got playmakers and they’re made the right way," said Campbell. "They’re the right kind of guys, man. They know how to get in the ditch and just start digging."