Lions' offense struggles in first game since coordinator Ben Johnson's departure

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GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — The Detroit Lions apparently are going to need some time to adapt to the departure of offensive coordinator Ben Johnson.

Johnson left to become head coach of the NFC North rival Chicago Bears after helping the Lions win a second straight division title and score an NFL-leading 33.2 points per game last season. In their first game of the post-Johnson era, the Lions didn’t score a touchdown until 55 seconds remained in a 27-13 loss to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday.

“We never really got into a rhythm,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said.

The slow start could increase the scrutiny on coordinator John Morton, who was a senior offensive assistant with Detroit in 2022 before spending the last two seasons as Denver’s passing game coordinator.

A coordinator change can result in some growing pains.

“That doesn’t mean that we can’t be great right now,” quarterback Jared Goff said. “We should be great right now. But there are hurdles, obviously, that you’re going to have to face and get over and improve on. I think that’s where the urgency to improve on some of those things from us needs to be there, and I intend to lead that.”

The move at coordinator isn’t the only change for Detroit’s offense.

Detroit has new starters at the three offensive line positions between left tackle Taylor Decker and two-time All-Pro right tackle Penei Sewell. The Lions lost a four-time Pro Bowl center when Frank Ragnow retired.

Most of Detroit's playmakers from last year are back. They just didn’t put up their usual numbers.

David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs, who teamed up to run for 2,187 yards and 28 touchdowns last season, were limited to a combined 44 yards on 20 carries. All-Pro receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown had four catches for 45 yards. Goff rarely pushed the ball downfield, throwing for 225 yards on 31 completions with one touchdown and one interception.

Sam LaPorta’s 32-yard reception early in the third quarter was the Lions’ only play from scrimmage of 20-plus yards.

“Not even close to good enough, not even remotely close,” Goff said. “It was frustrating.”

St. Brown said he didn’t know how much of a role the offseason changes played in the offense’s struggles. He blamed the problems on “a combination of a lot of stuff.”

“We had some mistakes,” St. Brown said. “They capitalized on our mistakes. We didn’t capitalize on their mistakes, as much as we wanted to.”

The Lions netted six points from three drives that each went over 55 yards and brought them into the red zone.

“The plan was to stay patient, be patient, which I thought Goff was,” Campbell said. “We took what was there and we felt like eventually those shots would show. We just couldn’t quite get to them.”

Detroit had a 16-play, 78-yard drive that lasted 9 1/2 minutes and culminated with Jason Bates' 30-yard field goal that cut Green Bay’s lead to 10-3. The Packers responded with a two-play, 65-yard touchdown drive that took 53 seconds.

The Lions got in scoring position again late in the second quarter, but Goff got pressured by Micah Parsons and threw a pass that Evan Williams intercepted on third-and-7 from the 16.

Detroit had first-and-goal at the 10 early in the third quarter, but the Lions’ next three plays netted minus-6 yards before they settled for Bates' 27-yard field goal.

“We can give them credit, but there are definitely things that we did poorly,” Decker said. “I will give them credit for executing their game plan, but we made mistakes as well. And we didn’t execute our game plan at the level that we were supposed to.”

The Lions believe their execution will improve in short order.

“We’ve got good players,” Goff said. “We’ve got good coaches. We’ll be fine. It’s just there needs to be an urgency of improvement.”

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