Pride of Detroit
On Thursday, the Detroit Lions’ three coordinators took the podium for the final time in the team’s 2025 season. Here are my biggest takeaways from each.
John Morton wants to stay in 2026
After having his play-calling duties stripped midseason, it’s hard to know what’s next for offensive coordinator John Morton. If it were up to Morton, he’d still remain at the same position, even if that means continuing to not call plays for the offense.
“I’d like to be here, yeah. I love it here. I love Dan (Campbell), I love the organization, it’s my home,” Morton said Thursday.
Morton admitted he does still want to call plays at the NFL level, but said he loves the responsibilities of his current role with the team, as well.
“I told you guys before I’m a team player. I’ll do whatever it takes, at this point in my career,” Morton said. “Whatever Dan wants, I do. So, I’m here to help him help this team win and that’s what I’ve done. I’m proud of some of the work that I’ve done, obviously. So, that’s kind of where I’m at with that.”
Optimism about establishing the run vs. the Bears
It’s been a rough go for the Lions’ rushing offense over the past few weeks, with the Lions failing to reach 75 rushing yards in three straight games. However, Morton believes they have an advantage this week against a Bears run defense that is allowing an average of 135 rushing yards per game and 5.0 yards per carry.
“I think we can get after these guys a little bit, I really do,” Morton said. “They’re giving up almost five yards a carry, so I like our chances there with this defense. So, I like the matchup here, and I liked it the first game.”
Back in Week 2, the Lions rushed 30 times for 177 yards and two touchdowns on their way to a 52-21 victory over Chicago.
Note: We have a separate article on Sheppard’s defense of his scheme here.
Losing their “Angel in the Outfield”
Sheppard was asked about the impact of losing both starting safeties—Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph—to injuries. Before he got into the the positional impact, he noted that any time a team loses two All-Pro level players, it’s going to hurt them. That said, Sheppard wasn’t about to throw their replacements under the bus, noting that they did compete.
“Some games, those guys stepped up and played at a high level. And other games, unfortunately we weren’t able to make plays at the point of attack and we gave up a few more explosive plays than we would like to,” Sheppard said. “So, I’m not going to sit here and say that’s the reason why this, that or the fourth happened. But I will say whenever you lose All-Pro caliber players, it’s going to affect you in some capacity.”
Sheppard also lamented the fact that Detroit’s...
