During the Detroit Lions' latest offensive coordinator search, one name frequently stood out: former Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel.
McDaniel was once one of the poster children for "hot-shot young offensive mind" after running a borderline top-ten offense in San Francisco in 2021 in his first season as OC. That near-Super Bowl appearance propelled McDaniel to the Dolphins head coaching gig.
With quarterback Tua Tagovailoa behind center, the McDaniel-Tagovailoa duo surged as one of the best offenses in the league, leading all teams in offensive yards and second in points scored in 2023.
The Dolphins' offense began sputtering in 2024 amid various injuries to Tagovailoa, leading to McDaniel being fired after finishing the 2025 with a 7-10 record.
It was that 2023 season that enamored Lions fans, including yours truly, to McDaniel. Lions QB Jared Goff has a history of good health, he has numerous weapons in the run game and at wide receiver. One of those wide outs, Jameson Williams, is a speedy deep ball threat in the mold of former Dolphin Tyreek Hill.
It felt like a match made in heaven. A "young offensive mind" learning under Dan Campbell with an embarrassment of riches on offense. McDaniel did interview with the Lions, but instead opted to join former Michigan HC Jim Harbaugh with the Los Angeles Chargers. Just prior to that, Lions chose an even younger offensive mind in former Arizona Cardinals OC Drew Petzing.
As controversial as the decision was to go with Petzing instead of McDaniel, through two weeks, it's proven to be the correct choice.
McDaniel era in Los Angles has been a disaster so far
Coaching Justin Herbert should not be this difficult, right? Few QBs in the league have Herbert's upside. He kicked off his career with back-to-back 30-plus touchdown seasons, along with a 5,000-yard passing season. A QB with arm talent like his should be easy difficulty for a coach, right?!
Yet, for all of the QB rankings listing him near the top-five, Herbert hasn't reached the 30 pass TD plateau since that second season. He also hasn't reached 4,000 passing yards since his third season, where he threw for 4,739 yards. To date, he's 0-3 in three playoff appearances, with more turnovers (5) than TDs (2).
Some of that can be attributed to him being sacked 101 times since the start of the 2024 season. It's tough for a QB to navigate that, as Goff has been learning, lately.
The Chargers haven't been aggressive in trying to improve Herbert's offensive line, but have gone all-out to ensure Herbert has the coaching infrastructure to live up to his QB rankings. They first hired Harbaugh, the top available HC coming off a National Championship with Michigan. Then followed it up this offseason by bringing in the top OC candidate in McDaniel.
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While Harbaugh did lead Herbert to the playoffs in Year 1, the team has taken a step back with McDaniel running the offense. The Chargers are currently 23rd in yards and 28th in points. All the while, Herbert's 401 passing yards has been good for 22nd in the league, and still fewer than what Tyler Shough put up on the Lions' defense in Week 1. Herbert also has fewer pass TDs (2) than interceptions (3) to go along with two fumbles, while completing 59.3% of his passes (his season career low is 65.1).
It's been a disaster in every football sense of the word.
The playoff expectant Chargers currently sit at 0-2, after embarrassing 14-26 losses to the Cardinals and Las Vegas Raiders, who combined for a 6-28 record last season. This was the easy part of their schedule, too. Five of their next seven games are against 2025 playoff teams, with the other two games being against the Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs.
Yikes! The Chargers could actually go 0-9 to start the season. For all the issues the Lions have so far, it's easy to forget it can always be worse. Way, way, worse.
Things are going more smoothly for Petzing in Detroit
The Petzing era in Detroit hasn't been without its bumps in the road, but compared to McDaniel and the Chargers, it's a freshly paved road in comparison.
The Lions have a top-ten offense, currently tenth in yards and fourth in points scored. After days of enduring "Dan Campbell without Ben Johnson" discourse, the Lions and Chicago Bears finish Week 2 with 62 points each.
Goff is tied for the league lead in TD passes (6) and seventh in passing yards (533). Although he has three fumbles, Goff has yet to officially turn the ball over. All of this despite being sacked five times, with an inconsistent offensive line that has struggled to stay healthy in the early going.
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Beyond that O-line, the offense has gotten off to slow starts each of the past two weeks, with some of Petzing's play sequencing leaving a bit to be desired. The running game has been virtually nonexistent outside of Jahmyr Gibbs, while Williams and Isaac TeSlaa have had difficulties factoring into the pass game, struggling to haul in passes.
So Petzing isn't without his criticisms, but the season is still young. As a reminder, the offense was firing on all cylinders after a dominant Week 2 win against the Bears last season with John Morton leading the offense. Sentiment on Petzing and McDaniel can shift drastically over the course of the season.
For now, Petzing is far from the issue in Detroit. There have been growing pains, but he has Goff, Gibbs, and the offense putting up points and operating well enough to win. And after keeping an eye on McDaniel and the Chargers these first two weeks, the Petzing hire is looking like the better move by a comfortable margin.
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