Several years ago, I was in the Detroit Lions locker room speaking with cornerbacks about the changing nature of the NFL and how much more of a pass-friendly league it had become.
Chris Houston listed all the benefits offenses enjoyed. More stringent rules against hitting the quarterback were being instituted. Very little contact was allowed with receivers, especially after the so-called Ty Law rule was applied to prohibit illegal contact with receivers after 5 yards. On and on, rule after rule favored scoring.
“You can’t lose,” Houston said of the offense.
I thought about all those offense-friendly rules as the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 238-235, in Super Bowl 57. Actually, it was 38-35, but it felt a lot higher.
The game was the third-highest scoring in Super Bowl history. It seemed like every time I dunked a chip in the guac, someone was in the end zone.
And yes, it was a fun game. As an American, I’m contractually obligated to say I love sports with lots of scoring. It also means I’m not allowed to like soccer or pronounce Ibiza with the TH sound.
It’s not even so much about loving offense and scoring, but the visceral hatred people have for low-scoring, defensive-minded NFL games, especially in the Super Bowl. The New England Patriots beat Jared Goff’s Los Angeles Rams, 13-3, in Super Bowl 53, making it the lowest-scoring Super Bowl. Everyone grabbed their pitchforks and headed to social media.
“This is like watching ambien,” entertainment host Andy Cohen tweeted.
“I don’t watch football,” actor Misha Collins tweeted, “and even I know this is officially the most boring game ever.”
See? Even a dude who doesn’t watch the game thinks a lack of offense means boredom. There’s simply an innate, reflexive disdain for defense.
I wouldn’t be shocked if NFL commissioner Roger Goodell gathered every referee after Super Bowl 53 and gave them a tongue-lashing worthy of Alec Baldwin’s “Glengarry Glen Ross” speech, promising to fire everyone if someone didn’t score 30 points in Super Bowl 54. Final score: Chiefs 31, 49ers 20. Whew!
As Sunday’s warmup for this weekend’s NBA All-Star game went on and the scoreboard started looking like a pinball machine, I couldn’t get Houston’s words out of my head. I thought of them one last time when poor Eagles cornerback James Bradberry was called for the ticky-tackiest of ticky-tacky holding penalties in the final two minutes that effectively decided the game by, of course, favoring the offense.
There’s just no denying it. Offense rules in the NFL. After all, no matter how great your defense is, you can’t win a game, 0-0.
It’s why of the five head coach openings during his hiring cycle, at least four, if not five, are likely to go to offensive-minded coaches.
It’s why Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson was in demand during this cycle and why it’s shocking he wasn’t hired.
But Johnson’s departure is inevitable, especially if the hiring cycle of 2021 repeats, when there were 10 head coach openings.
This is why it’s imperative for Lions coach Dan Campbell to have a plan in place to replace Johnson. I would guess Campbell has given some thought to this scenario. A lot of those plans might be fluid, based on where Campbell’s ideal candidates are working at any given moment, but he’s been in the NFL long enough to know talented assistants don’t hang around.
One obvious candidate might be Scottie Montgomery, the new running backs coach who said he wants to be an offensive coordinator and has experience as an OC at Maryland and Duke. He’s a possible in-house replacement for Johnson, but I hope Campbell conducts a more expansive search when the time comes.
I think he will. At Campbell’s season-ending news conference, I asked him if losing Johnson might signal that the Lions are a place for up-and-coming coaching to work.
“With where we’re trending,” Campbell said, “I’d like to believe that anybody outside looking in sees what’s going on here and they understand.”
Of all the job openings Campbell might have to fill one day, offensive coordinator might be the easiest. He just has to remind any worthy candidate of one simple fact: You can’t lose.
Contact Carlos Monarrez: cmonarrez@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @cmonarrez.