The Detroit Lions piled up 521 total yards of offense and rushed for 201 yards against the Washington Commanders on Saturday night, yet they never seemed to have much of a chance to win forbig portions of a 45-31 loss.
Such a defeat brings obvious scrutiny for the defense, but for months Detroit's group has been walking wounded. The Lions knew they were operating with a small margin of error, and had to be near perfect on offense in order to have a chance to reach their goals.
Perfection didn't happen against the Commanders. Jared Goff accounted for four turnovers and Jameson Williams threw an interception on a trick play that all but sealed the loss. The Lions scored 31 points, but never came close to winning because of too many empty possessions.
Johnson, for his part, called a lackluster game. After a quick 7-3 start, he had the opportunity on third and short to dial up a run play with Detroit in the red zone. Instead, Johnson went to pass play with an empty backfield and Goff fumbled. Momentum went straight to Washington, and never left them.
If the score had been 14-3 Lions, the game would have looked far different. Even 10-3 would have been fine . Instead, Detroit was forced to play from behind and could never get on track. Goff understood the gravity of every turnover and missed opportunity.
"I think that's what I'm beating myself up a lot about is all three (turnovers) turned into points. Not only the pick six, the fumble was in field goal range and then the (interception before) half. But yeah, it sucks. I don't have great answers for you. I'm disappointed. Wish I could have played better. Wish we all could have played better and found a way to win."
Takeaways were a big part of the story. Johnson had the chance to show his true genius by tailoring a smart game plan to the game flow. Unfortunately, it never materialized.
Ben Johnson lacked some basic sensibility in game plan vs. Commanders
Entering the game, the Commanders had one of the worst run defenses in the NFL. Jahmyr Gibbs looked unstoppable. Instead of targeting a weakness and creatively using the run and screen game, Johnson tried to force too many deeper pass plays at the wrong moments.
Goff was struggling, so it would have made sense to try and mitigate the impact of Washington's defensive line with quicker passes. Additionally, it's never a wise idea to take the ball out of your quarterback's hands no matter how much he is struggling. Letting Williams throw the ball at any point was a catastrophic error in judgement.
Johnson's genius has been in his ability to think outside the box. Unfortunately, it can also be his undoing if something goes wrong. Less would have been much more in a game where the Lions simply needed to do enough to win. Style points were not necessary.
Saturday night may go down as Johnson's last game as Detroit's offensive coordinator. If that was the case, he will go out on a sour note. With a more consistent performance and a better game plan, things could have turned out differently.