Detroit Lions: What does the Darrell Bevell hiring mean?

Last week, I said that the Lions needed to turn the ‘sputtering Pinto-like performance of this season into a finely tuned Ferrari’, but that may not be the best way to categorize the hiring of Darrell Bevell. However, a tough all-terrain Hummer isn’t the worst thing that could happen to this offense either.

Let’s start by addressing notions that the Lions are in total re-build or that Matthew Stafford is finished in Detroit or is basically being paid to just hand-off the ball.

I think it’s pretty safe to say that both Bob Quinn and Matt Patricia understand that this regime wasn’t put together to re-build the Lions. Quinn stated the Lions underachieved in 2017 by finishing 9-7 and missing the playoffs.

Neither he nor Patricia entered this season thinking re-build. They were thinking playoffs and taking that next step of actually winning in the postseason. The fact that they had to deconstruct the roster as much as they did, was not really planned but deemed necessary to create an opportunity to build a winner.

Nowhere was this more evident than on defense. The front seven was almost completely purged from that 2017 team that underachieved. Part of it was the need for better players and the other part was simply needing players that ‘fit’ Patricia’s system.

The fact that they still need more pieces while somehow making a second half of the season comeback to rank 10th in overall defense is a testament to what Matt Patricia is building on that side of the ball.

However, while his defense just continued to improve as the season wore on, the offense played the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde game.

The discovery of Kerryon Johnson was eye-opening. He was considered a tough, productive runner at Auburn, but he displayed diverse skills in his rookie season and proved that he is unquestionably the best runner the Lions have had since the great Barry Sanders.

The most impressive part though, was that despite Johnson being used sparingly at the start of the season then missing the final six games due to injury, the Lions still averaged over 100 yards rushing per game as a team.

The improvement on the ground was decisive. The problem was the way the passing game withered away to becoming a shell of the explosive unit they were in 2017.

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