O’Connell vs Johnson
By: Jake Rajala
The NFC North has a pair of young, highly gifted offensive play-callers. We have Ben Johnson, who is coming over from Detroit, where he was their offensive coordinator. Then we have Kevin O’Connell who oversaw Sam Darnold play at a near All-Pro level. With that said, I’m going to untwine which face has the edge.
Ben Johnson will utilize the second-year signal-caller Caleb Williams, who is arguably more talented than his last QB, Jared Goff. It’s hard to peg one best moment from Ben. I will have to say he deserves a lot of credit for winning all of his division games! Johnson’s record in 2024 was also none other than 15-2! Ultimately, he won NFL Assistant Coach of The Year.
Johnson pressed the right buttons with the Lions offense since he began there. He started there as an offensive quality control coach in 2019. Then he was a TE coach from 2020 to 2021. Then he was the passing game coordinator in 2021. Between 2023 and 2024, he was their offensive coordinator!
Matt Eberflus was the Bears ring leader last season. He started there in 2022. Their offense ranked 32nd in yards and 28 in points scored last season. Their highest rank in three seasons was 18th in points scored.
Over the past few seasons, the Lions ranked fifth in points twice, and first in points once.
Kevin O’Connell took the league by storm in 2022. His record in his first season was 13-4! They won their division, which shouldn’t come as a surprise. Somehow, he took a sophomore slump and obtained a record of 7-10 record. In his latest season, he simply took home a 14-3 record! Somehow, he placed second in his division. With that said, It’s safe to say that Kevin has been an elite head coach over the past few seasons.
The Vikings have been Top-10 in scoring in two of the past three seasons. They have also been Top-12 in yards on offense, too.
With this all said, I believe it’s worth unveiling how each figure has stacked up against one another recently, even if Johnson wasn’t a head coach. He still called plays for the Lions, which is a prominent role! Well, over the past two seasons, Ben Johnson and his squad are 4-0 against the Vikings!
Each HC will move forward with sophomore QBs. There may be growing pains, but I believe each HC has shown enough to deserve to be given a couple of seasons to grow with their young QB.
In the end, I believe that Ben Johnson has the edge. He has not only been slightly more successful in points and yards but he’s flat-out dominated the Vikings. I believe that Johnson would have a Top-5 offense with Justin Jefferson, which hasn’t unfolded with Kevin. It’s important to note that each HC has a lot of brains and I don’t believe one or the other is on the hot seat this upcoming season.
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