The Lions’ impressive turnaround under general manager Brad Holmes and coach Dan Campbell is the latest envy of Bears fans.
Chasing the Packers is one thing — they’ve been a well-grounded organization for decades, since president Bob Harlan hired Ron Wolf as general manager in 1991. But the Lions? They had been even less successful than the Bears, and almost as dysfunctional, before hiring Holmes and Campbell — with just one playoff victory (1-12) since winning their last NFL championship in 1957.
Now the Lions are flying high since hiring Holmes and Campbell in 2021 — on pace for the No. 1 seed in the NFC at 13-2, with three consecutive winning seasons and three consecutive playoff berths for the first time since 1993-95 under Wayne Fontes.
Their staying power remains to be seen — just like the Bears are the Bears, the Lions are the Lions. But the Lions are well-built, with a strong offensive line and defensive line (at full strength) and an offense that starts with a solid running game that makes maximizes good-but-not-great quarterback Jared Goff. The Lions lead the NFL in scoring and still are tied for sixth in points allowed (after being second two weeks ago) despite losing six Week 1 starters to injury.
How did they do it? The Lions’ process that produced Holmes and Campbell actually was similar to the Bears process that produced general manager Ryan Poles and coach Matt Eberflus — a concurrent GM/head coach search after owner Sheila Ford Hamp fired GM Bob Quinn and coach Matt Patricia with five games left in the 2020 season.
Hamp — who had replaced her mother, Martha Ford, as principal owner in June of 2020 — along with president Rod Wood and special assistant Chris Spielman (the former Lions linebacker) conducted the searches. They interviewed Campbell, interim coach Darrell Bevell, former Bengals coach Marvin Lewis, Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bienemy, 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh and Titans offensive coordinator Arthur Smith for the head coaching job. Buccaneers defensive coordinator Todd Bowles — busy with a Super Bowl run — cancelled his interview when felt the Lions “had their mind made up.”
The Lions ended up with a first-time GM and a head coach who had never been a coordinator and had no other interviews for a head coaching job in that cycle. The Lions hired Holmes, the Rams’ director of college scouting, on Jan. 14, 2021. They hired Campbell with a six-year contract on Jan. 20 and didn’t even pretend that Holmes hired Campbell. The two had never worked together.
And it’s working. Campbell even whiffed on his first offensive coordinator — he fired Anthony Lynn after one season — and it turned to gold when he promoted tight ends coach Ben Johnson, a holdover Campbell retained from Patricia’s staff.
So there’s always hope you fall into success. In fact, many of the best hires in recent years were products of non-standard searches, with arranged GM/coach marriages that are working:
- The 49ers hired Kyle Shanahan after owner Jed York fired coach Chip Kelly (after one season) and GM Trent Baalke. York conducted concurrent searches and surprisingly hired Fox television analyst (and former Buccaneers safety) John Lynch as GM, even though Lynch had no front office experience. By then, Shanahan was the presumptive coaching hire and endorsed Lynch’s hiring.
- The Rams hired Sean McVay with vice president of football operations Kevin Demoff heading the search and not GM Les Snead. Demoff, in fact, fired Jeff Fisher — and considered firing Snead — 13 games after giving Fisher and Snead contract extensions in 2016, then struck gold with McVay. Snead, who promoted the McVay hire during the process, immediately clicked with McVay and remains the Rams’ GM.
- The Chiefs hired Andy Reid after owner Clark Hunt fired coach Romeo Crennel and took charge of the search for a new coach, with GM Scott Pioli (who had hired Todd Haley and Crennel) in limbo. Reid was hired four days later, and Pioli was fired, with Reid reportedly wanted to work with his own GM. The Chiefs hired Packers director of football operations John Dorsey as GM, but with Reid reporting to Hunt and not the GM.
2. With the Bears, though, it’s not just the process, but what happens to the new hire after he steps foot in Halas Hall.
Johnson is red-hot after showing off his cleverness in the Lions’ 34-17 victory over the Bears on Sunday. But Matt Nagy, while he didn’t have the play-calling resume Johnson has, was just as inventive and fun when he was hired in 2018, with “Papa Bear Left,” “Willy Wonka” and “Santa’s Sleigh.”
A year later, Nagy scored three points against the Packers, ran the ball a franchise-low seven times against the Saints and suddenly was worried about the worst-case scenario — a fumble, penalty or negative play — instead of giving rookie kicker Eddy Pineiro an easier game-winning field goal attempt against the Chargers. And it was the beginning of the end.
3. It’s almost like Johnson and the Bears were showing off their best to each other Sunday — Johnson with the unnecessary “Stumble Bum” trick play and the Bears with Caleb Williams throwing for 334 yards (and 8.4 yards per attempt — his second-best of the season) against the Lions. Johnson even took his foot off the gas after the Lions took a 34-14 lead with 12:18 left in the third quarter.
The Rams hired McVay 10 days after the end of the 2016 season. The 49ers hired Shanahan the day after the Super Bowl in 2017. The Bears have to know they might not have time to play the “due diligence” game.
4. Then again, Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll was nearly as hot as Johnson is now after the Bills averaged 28.4 points in 2021 (third best in the NFL) and scored 47 and 36 points against the Patriots and Chiefs in the playoffs. A lot of Bears fans had to have him.
The Giants hired Daboll, who went to the playoffs in his first season (9-7-1) but are 8-24 since then — and have been outscored 258-126 in their current 10-game losing streak.
5. Caleb Williams is the difference … right? The rookie is better than Mitch Trubisky or Justin Fields — or Daniel Jones for that matter. He’s the reason why hot coordinators like Johnson would take the Bears’ job and why he would be closer to Shanahan or McVay instead of Daboll or Josh McDaniels if he gets the job.
Maybe. But maybe not. Williams can rise above the muck, but only to a point. He still needs the right coach to become the quarterback Bears fans expect him to be. It’s a huge decision for the Bears.
6. Williams current streak of 326 consecutive passes without an interception is sixth on the NFL’s all-time list. It’s an indication of a knack for avoiding interceptions and just better luck, which can’t be discounted for a quarterback.
(Jay Cutler — a tough luck quarterback if there ever was one — once threw an interception when Johnny Knox slipped on the Soldier Field turf, then suffered a season-ending broken thumb trying to make a tackle on the return.)
For what it’s worth, Williams’ 6.39 yards per attempt during the streak is the lowest of the six quarterbacks on the list: Aaron Rodgers (402 passes/7.44), Tom Brady (399/6.44), Jared Goff (383/7.73), Derek Carr (332/7.05) and Justin Herbert (357/7.63).
7. Williams’ passer rating when the Bears are within two touchdowns: 85.6 (14 touchdowns, five interceptions.
Williams passer rating when the Bears are not within two touchdowns: 105.2 (five touchdowns, no interceptions).
8. With continuity issues on the offensive line, Bears GM Ryan Poles likely doesn’t have room to re-sign guard Teven Jenkins to anything but an absolutely team-friendly deal.
Jenkins is effective when he plays but can’t stay healthy. He left a game for the fifth time this season (and 10th time in his career) when he aggravated a calf injury against the Lions. He has played every meaningful offensive snap in just 26 of 65 games since being drafted in the second round (No. 39) in 2021.
9. Josh McCown Ex-Bears Player of the Week: Falcons wide receiver Darnell Mooney had five receptions for 82 yards on six targets in a 34-7 victory over the Giants. Mooney has 62 receptions for 955 yards (a career-high 15.4 yards per catch) and a career-high five touchdowns this season.
10. Bear-ometer — 4-13: vs. Seahawks (L); at Packers (L).