Dan Campbell has been a straight shooter since he arrived in Detroit. He hasn’t publicly played mind games with players or reporters. When he has screwed up, he has owned it. Not every football coach is willing to be this honest.
This year, that changed.
It changed when the Detroit Lions coach became cagey about who would call plays this season after he promoted Ben Johnson to offensive coordinator.
Campbell took over play-calling duties after he stripped offensive coordinator Anthony Lynn of that responsibility midway through last season. Johnson served as passing coordinator during that time and the offense took a step forward in the final stretch. In June, Campbell said he had not decided who would call plays and that he might not arrive at a decision until the season was here.
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The season is here. Or at least as close to here as you can get when Campbell continued his obfuscation Monday, when he was asked if Johnson was ready to call plays after doing so all spring, all training camp and during all three preseason games.
“Yeah, but I think I am, too,” Campbell said. “So this is going to be good, it’ll be fun. And he’s done a great job.”
Ohhh-kaaay. Let’s try this. Who’s going to call plays in the season opener against the Philadelphia Eagles, one reporter asked?
“Well, this is going to be interesting to find out,” Campbell said. “I’m excited to know, too.”
Either the Lions failed to exorcise all those ghosts of Patriots past in Allen Park or they must see some major tactical advantage in keeping the Eagles’ defense guessing.
“Yeah, I mean maybe, maybe not,” Campbell said, sounding downright Belichickian. “I don’t know. I’ll be honest with you, I’m just not quite there yet. I still have this eagerness to want to call it myself.”
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Johnson even joined in the fun Thursday, when he said his wife is excited about a big week that includes one of their kids starting kindergarten and hosting family at Ford Field.
“And then, of course,” Johnson said with a smile, “she finds out who’s calling plays on Sunday.”
It all feels like an inside joke between Campbell and Johnson. They talked about it and of course they know who’s going to call plays. If it isn’t Johnson, it would be a shock and a fairly big news story after the overwhelming rave reviews Johnson has received all summer.
The only problem is that there’s nothing funny about the situation, because it speaks to a very serious issue Campbell must contend with. He can’t afford to be wrong about his choice for offensive coordinator for a second straight year. A coach who can’t make the right call on one of his top lieutenants brings into question his ability to make any organizational decision.
Campbell knows this. That’s why he’s being cagey. If Johnson’s play-calling doesn’t seem to be working out, Campbell has created a convenient excuse for taking over by saying he never formally relinquished play-calling duties.
But this isn’t just about Johnson and who’s calling plays. It’s bigger than that. Making the right decision about Johnson is about improvement and making progress. And maybe more important, not taking a big step back.
I expect the Lions to win six games and make progress this season, though I don’t expect them to take major leaps.
The second part of that expectation is perhaps the most important, because it’s the one thing the Lions cannot afford to do in Year 2 of the rebuild. They cannot regress in any significant way.
Look, I’m certainly not setting the bar high with this team. The Lions are realistically looking at two or three more seasons before they’re considered playoff contenders.
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But even with that conservative timeline, the Lions can’t stay on track if the run game falls apart. Or if Jared Goff struggles again. Or if Aidan Hutchinson or Jameson Williams are busts. Or if there are more coaching problems. These would qualify as regressions in significant areas.
Here’s the truth about the NFL. Entering the season, 32 teams believe they got better. And 32 teams probably did in some way or another. But the teams that are consistently good, the teams that often make the playoffs are the ones that avoid tripping over themselves and keep taking steps backward.
Contact Carlos Monarrez at cmonarrez@freepress.com and follow him on Twitter @cmonarrez.