Lions Fans May Have to Prepare For the Worst At Season’s End

An incredible regular season for the Detroit Lions brings hope for the ultimate end to the NFL season: a Detroit Lions Super Bowl victory.

We still have a few games to play through before the final confetti falls. But whether or not the Lions reach their primary goal, the end of the 2024 season could be bittersweet for Detroit fans.

It's nearly a certainty that next year's Lions team will be without one of its most important pieces - offensive coordinator Ben Johnson.

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It's a miracle Johnson even stuck with Detroit for 2024. Heading into the 2024 offseason, he was one of the most prized head coach candidates in the league. After this season, in which the Lions led the NFL in points for the first time since 1954 and the team won a franchise-record 15 games, teams are clamoring to have the 38-year-old coach fix their franchise just as he fixed Detroit's offense.

One of the primary teams in play is the Chicago Bears, one of two teams he's likely to even give a chance for an interview.

Lions fans would likely prefer it if Johnson went to a team like New England instead, but there's no denying that Chicago is closer to being competitive than the Patriots. It'd just make sense for Johnson to take the job and go to work with quarterback Caleb Williams, who's already impressed with Johnson.

"I think during our game, I would sit back and watch and try and learn something while I watch," Williams said via ESPN. "It was fascinating to watch because he always had wrinkles for counters and things like that throughout the game. I think he's obviously done really well, so it'd be cool to see how that all goes down."

It's the nature of the business, but it's never easy to watch your rivals get better at your own expense - if Johnson takes the Chicago job.

Even if Johnson doesn't go to Chicago, the fact remains that he and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn are likely to take head coaching positions and take a few assistants with them.

That puts a lot of stress on Dan Campbell to replace some integral pieces in his coaching staff to stay on top of the football world.

That certainly won't be easy, but Campbell has done more with less and it's not as though the talent on the Lions player roster isn't stacked and largely secured. Nonetheless, things are going to look really different in Detroit after January.

Just try not to let that get in the way of hoping for the best outcome to an unprecedented season for this franchise.