Detroit Lions WR Jameson Williams on goals for the upcoming season.
After a 1,000-yard season in 2024, Detroit Lions WR Jameson Williams says his singular goal for the 2025 season is to help the Lions win.
When the Detroit Lions host Ben Johnson and the Chicago Bears in their home opener this week, there will be a lot of familiar faces – and familiar-looking schemes – on the field.
“I told the guys, this is going to be training camp practice,” Lions defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard said. “Not only offensively but defensively. You turn that tape on and look at it deeply, it’s a lot of the same.”
Johnson, the Bears’ first-year coach, spent three seasons as Lions defensive coordinator and the Bears run a similar offense to the one Johnson designed in Detroit.
Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen was the longtime defensive play caller with the New Orleans Saints, where former Lions DC Aaron Glenn – one of Sheppard’s biggest coaching influences – was one of his assistants.
And the Bears start two ex-Lions, running back D’Andre Swift and right guard Jonah Jackson, on offense.
Sheppard said he has “the utmost respect” for Swift and others on the Bears’ offense, and for Johnson as an offensive mind.
“Listen, we all understand and respect Ben Johnson as a person, more importantly, but also as a play caller,” Sheppard said. “That’s why he got afforded the opportunity he’s in. And we all understand this, but clearly we want to make this about the players. They’re the ones going to play. Ben will tell you the same thing. They’re the ones going to play and executing all these things we’re drawing up.”
The Bears lost their opener to the Minnesota Vikings on Monday Night Football, and Sheppard said one game is not a big enough sample size to say how Chicago’s offense will differ from the one the Lions ran while they led the NFL in scoring last year.
He said Johnson has implemented changes that have helped the Bears offensive line, he warned his players not to be deceived by some the motions, shifts and personnel groupings in Johnson’s offense, and asked what Johnson’s greatest strength is as a play caller, he said, “Everything. Next question.”
“We’re going in with a tight-wound plan where these guys understand we have adjustments, we have certain things we’re going to do and it’s about us and understand that stuff,” Sheppard said. “And making sure as long as we go out and execute, not say, ‘Well, if you take out that play, you take out that play, we would have played dominant.’ No, let’s put in all the plays and play a dominant brand of football like I believe we’re capable of doing as a defense.”
‘That’s who we are’
Sheppard opened his weekly Thursday news conference with a three-minute diatribe about his defense.
Packers quarterback Jordan Love threw two touchdowns and tied for the second-highest passer rating in his career (in a game with at least 10 attempts, but Sheppard said there was “a lot of good football on this tape” outside of about three big plays the Lions allowed – two explosive passes against Terrion Arnold on the Packers’ two-play, 65-yard touchdown drive and a 15-yard run by Josh Jacobs that accounted for nearly a quarter of Jacobs’ 66 rushing yards.
The Lions held the Packers to 78 yards rushing on 28 attempts, or 3.1 yards per carry, and Love finished 16 of 22 for 188 yards. Sheppard said those numbers would been even more impressive if not for those three plays – the Packers averaged 2.8 yards per carry not including Jacobs’ run and a Love kneel-down snap – but emphasized that his defense can’t take plays off.
“That’s who we are,” he said. “And that’s who I expect us to be and that’s who we will be. And it’s non-negotiable. And all this stuff has been addressed with the people it needs to be addressed with and more importantly, the players are holding each other accountable. And in the NFL, that’s why each practice, each rep you get, each opportunity you get on that grass is so critical and important cause you never know which one is going to be the one.
“You can’t leave the game playing this game of we played good defense on 40 snaps, but seven snaps … We’re not doing that this year. You’re going to pull your weight, I’m going to pull my weight, the staff’s going to pull their weight. And we’re moving onto Chicago. And I’m looking for us to play up to the standards we’re capable of playing up to.”
No excuses
Arnold missed the second half of the Packers game with a groin injury that he said contributed to the 48-yard reception he allowed to Romeo Doubs on Green Bay’s two-play scoring drive.
“That post ball, I wasn’t able to open up,” Arnold said after the game. “I’m making that play (if I’m not injured.”
Sheppard, though, wasn’t buying the injury as an excuse for why Arnold was beat so badly downfield.
“If you’re injured, come out the game,” he said. “We’re not making any excuses. No, no, no. We’re not making any excuses, just like if I have a play called I shouldn’t have called, that’s on me. A player has a job to do, that’s on them. We all earn our paycheck. There won’t be any free rides this year. We all come to the stadium with a job to do, do your job, point blank, period.”
Vaki’s return
Running back Sione Vaki returned to practice this week after missing the opener with a hamstring injury.
Vaki was one of the Lions’ best special-teams players as a rookie last season and is expected to play a key role in the kicking game against this fall. He could handle kick returns along with linebacker Grant Stuard and should play on both punt teams and the kick cover unit.
“Obviously him returning the ball, he’s got the running back background,” Fipp said. “And for him, he’s unique because he’s also got that defensive background, so it helps him in coverage. He played great for us a year ago, so yeah, we’re obviously excited to get him back as soon as we can.”
Tough task
The Bears lost to the Vikings, 27-24, last week and squandered a chance to get the ball back for their final possession with reasonable time on the clock when Cairo Santos’ kickoff with 2:02 left went 7 yards deep in the end zone.
Ty Chandler returned the kick to the Minnesota 26, allowing the clock to run past the two-minute warning. The Bears had one timeout to stop the clock after the break. Had Santos kicked the ball out of bounds or out of the back of the end zone, the Bears would have gained an additional timeout from the two-minute warning.
Asked about the play Thursday, Fipp said “it’s hard to kick the ball out of the back of the end zone, I’ll just say that, period.”
“A year ago, you saw a lot of guys kick touchbacks and a lot of those didn’t go out of the back of the end zone,” he said. “And then obviously, depends on who your kicker is. Like ours probably has a better chance than some to do that. Well, ultimately, I think probably what happened is the situation got on them, they thought to do the best thing that they could in the moment, didn’t work out and that’s also what makes this game great. You’ve got a lot of after the fact, ‘Oh should’ve done, should’ve done, should’ve done.’ The challenge is when you’re in those moments, it’s hard to think of everything.”
Dave Birkett covers the Lions for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Bluesky, X and Instagram at @davebirkett.