Feb. 22, 2026, 5:45 p.m. ET<\/p>\n
Former Detroit Lions<\/a> offensive coordinator John Morton is expected to be hired by the Denver Broncos<\/a>.<\/p>\n ESPN NFL reporter Jeremy Fowler was first to report that Morton would rejoin the Broncos<\/a>‘ staff. According to Fowler, the Broncos are expected to hire Morton as its pass-game coordinator. Morton held the same role with the Broncos from 2023-24.<\/p>\n Morton also joined the Broncos as a consultant this past season during the playoffs after being fired by the Lions<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Lions<\/a>‘ 2025 offense ranked fifth in the NFL in both total offense (373.2 yards per game) and scoring offense (28.3 points per game).<\/p>\n Morton was relieved of his offensive play-calling duties before the midway point of last season.<\/p>\n Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n When Morton was relieved of his duties as the Lions’ offensive play-caller midway through the season, Detroit was third in points per game (29.9) and eighth in total offense (350.8 yards per game). Detroit was averaging 225.6 passing yards and 125.1 rushing yards per game with Morton calling plays. The Lions started 5-3 with Morton as its offensive play-caller.<\/p>\n \u201cI fully support it,\u201d Morton said last November following his demotion from offensive play-caller . \u201cListen, man. I\u2019ve been doing this for a while. I\u2019ve been with head coaches that are offensive guys, play-callers, so I\u2019m used to that. I feel very prideful of things that I was doing. There\u2019s some things I\u2019ve got to learn, no doubt.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBut listen, I want to do whatever it takes to win. I mean, as soon he said (that), I\u2019m like, \u2018All right, let\u2019s go. What do we gotta do?\u2019 That\u2019s the way I\u2019ve always been in this business. I\u2019ve been cut six times (as a player), I\u2019ve been fired. Man, you just march on, because it\u2019s always about the team. It always is.\u201d<\/p>\n The Lions’ 2026 offense will be led by former Arizona Cardinals<\/a> offensive coordinator Drew Petzing, who was hired as Morton’s successor in January<\/a>.<\/p>\n During his time in Arizona, the Cardinals ranked second in the NFL in rushing average (4.92) and were ninth in rushing yards (6,399).<\/p>\n Petzing, 38, helped direct an Arizona offense that finished second in yards per carry in both the 2023 (5.0) and 2024 (5.3) seasons.<\/p>\n Under Petzing’s direction, the Cardinals also watched tight end Trey McBride garner back-to-back Pro Bowl selections (2024-25) and first-team All-Pro status this past season. In 2025, McBride led all NFL tight ends in receptions (126) and receiving yards (1,239), while tying for the most receiving touchdowns (11).<\/p>\n McBride’s 126 receptions established a single-season NFL record among tight ends.<\/p>\n For more\u00a0Lions<\/a>\u00a0coverage, follow us on X,\u00a0@TheLionsWire<\/a>, and give our\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0page a like.\u00a0Follow Josh on X,\u00a0@JoshOnLions<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Feb. 22, 2026, 5:45 p.m. ET Former Detroit Lions offensive coordinator John Morton is expected to be hired…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":770497,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2071],"tags":[95878,146,113,2506,7,147,6,52959,96502,95882,95886,96242,95892,95896,95888,95895,95899,95883,96061,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-770496","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-detroit-lions","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-detroit","10":"tag-detroit-lions","11":"tag-detroitlions","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-lions","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-sstssportsnfllions","16":"tag-sstsnlions","17":"tag-tagamerican-football","18":"tag-tagdenver-broncos","19":"tag-tagdetroit-lions","20":"tag-tagespn-inc","21":"tag-tagnational-sports","22":"tag-tagnfl","23":"tag-tagnfl-hub","24":"tag-tagoverall-neutral","25":"tag-tagsports-news","26":"tag-tagtrey-mcbride","27":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770496","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=770496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770496\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/770497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=770496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=770496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=770496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}