{"id":728068,"date":"2026-02-04T05:41:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T05:41:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/728068\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T05:41:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T05:41:18","slug":"offseason-outlook-detroit-lions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/728068\/","title":{"rendered":"Offseason Outlook: Detroit Lions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>After finishing as the NFC\u2019s No. 1 seed in 2024, the injury-riddled Lions suffered a one-and-done exit in the playoffs. Expectations were high for another strong showing in 2025, a year in which Dan Campbell proceeded with several new faces on his coaching staff.<\/p>\n<p>The expected departures of Ben Johnson, Aaron Glenn and others during last year\u2019s head coaching hiring cycle led to questions about Detroit\u2019s ability to remain among the league\u2019s elite this time around. Many members of the Lions\u2019 core were still present, but the team battled inconsistency throughout the season. Detroit salvaged a 9-8 record by upsetting Chicago in Week 18, but the three-game losing streak which preceded it ensured a return to the playoffs would not be possible.<\/p>\n<p>That leaves Campbell, general manager Brad Holmes and Co. with a number of crucial decisions to make over the coming weeks. A few notable staffing changes have already taken place, but several ascending players currently face an uncertain future beyond 2026. With cap maneuvering and a potential offensive line rebuild on the way, the Lions figure to be busy managing a number of in-house situations this spring.<\/p>\n<p>Coaching\/front office moves:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.profootballrumors.com\/2026\/01\/lions-to-fire-oc-john-morton\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Fired<\/a> offensive coordinator John Morton<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.profootballrumors.com\/2026\/01\/lions-to-hire-drew-petzing-as-oc\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Hired<\/a> Drew Petzing as OC replacement<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.profootballrumors.com\/2026\/01\/lions-to-hire-mike-kafka-retain-jim-oneil\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Added<\/a> former Giants interim head coach Mike Kafka to staff<br \/>\nDefensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.profootballrumors.com\/2026\/01\/dolphins-request-hc-interview-with-lions-dc-kelvin-sheppard\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">interviewed<\/a> for Dolphins\u2019 head coaching position<\/p>\n<p>Campbell elected to go internal with one coordinator move last offseason but tapped Morton as an outside hire. The latter faced the tall task or replicating the success enjoyed under Ben Johnson, who led Detroit to three straight top-five finishes in scoring during his OC tenure. Under Morton \u2013 who worked with the Lions in 2022 \u2013 the team managed to finish fourth in points. A substantial regression in the running game proved to be a problem, however.<\/p>\n<p>  <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"landing-logo\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/landing-logo.png\"\/><br \/>\n  Unlock Subscriber-Exclusive Articles Like This One With a Trade Rumors Front Office Subscription<\/p>\n<p>  &#13;<br \/>\n    Access weekly subscriber-only articles by Sam Robinson&#13;<br \/>\n    Join exclusive weekly live chats with Sam&#13;<br \/>\n    Remove ads and support our writers&#13;<\/p>\n<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.profootballrumors.com\/membership?ref=392394\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After finishing as the NFC\u2019s No. 1 seed in 2024, the injury-riddled Lions suffered a one-and-done exit in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":728069,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2071],"tags":[146,113,2506,7,67247,147,6,43967],"class_list":{"0":"post-728068","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-detroit-lions","8":"tag-detroit","9":"tag-detroit-lions","10":"tag-detroitlions","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-front-office-originals","13":"tag-lions","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-offseason-outlook"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116010765372775823","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=728068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728068\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/728069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=728068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=728068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=728068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}