Dan Campbell addresses taking over as offensive play-caller for Lions vs. Commanders
Campbell says it's still a collaborative effort between he and the rest of his coaching staff
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The Detroit Lions had a new offensive play-caller for their Week 10, 44-22 victory against the Washington Commanders, as coach Dan Campbell confirmed postgame that he took over duties from offensive coordinator John Morton.
It was something seemingly everyone, from fans to members of the broadcast, were speculating about. Campbell was seen wearing reading glasses, holding a play sheet and speaking into the headset in between plays. Campbell said afterwards he wanted to change things up a bit to find a rhythm, and emphasized that it was still a collaborative effort.
"It was just, let's try something a little different," Campbell said in his postgame press conference. "Look, I know what I want to do, I know how I want to do it. Now, that being said, this is a collaborative effort. I was taking input from John Morton that whole time, and the other coaches ..."
Campbell said Morton was "all team" and "outstanding today." While Washington's defense is not exactly the '85 Bears, the Lions racked up 546 yards of total offense, 30 first downs and did not punt once.
The Lions' offense has not been terrible this season. They entered Sunday ranked No. 11 in the NFL (350.8 total yards per game) and No. 2 in scoring offense (29.9 points per game). This unit also averaged 2.8 plays of 25 or more yards per game through nine weeks, which ranked second in the NFL. However, Detroit did suffer a surprising 27-24 loss to the Minnesota Vikings in Week 9. It was surprising for several reasons, as Detroit was coming off a bye week and favored by around nine points as the Vikings reintroduced quarterback J.J. McCarthy to the starting lineup. That loss marked the Lions' first at home this season.
In that Week 9 loss, the Lions offense went 5 of 17 on third downs, and recorded 15 first downs to go along with 305 yards of total offense. There were a couple things that stood out: Quarterback Jared Goff was under considerable pressure, as his offensive line allowed five sacks for first time since 2023. Plus, star running back Jahmyr Gibbs recorded a career-low 28 yards from scrimmage. This Sunday, he had 172 yards from scrimmage and three total touchdowns.
Morton, who was hired away by the Lions from the Denver Broncos after serving as their passing game coordinator for the past two seasons, replaced Ben Johnson as offensive coordinator this season. He has worked under Campbell before, serving as Detroit's senior offensive assistant for the 2022 season before leaving for Denver.
It would appear Campbell is going to remain the Lions' offensive play-caller moving forward, but he made it clear this is a task that he's not taking on alone.
