CHICAGO — Earlier in the week, Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson approached veteran quarterback Jared Goff with an odd request coming off a tough loss to the Buffalo Bills.
“It started on Monday with Ben asking me if he thought I could actually fumble on purpose and pick it back up, and I was like, ‘I don’t know about that,’ and we kind of got off that pretty quickly,” Goff recalled.
By Sunday, it all made sense as the Lions celebrated their first 13-win season with a 34-17 win over the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field, with Goff perfectly executing Johnson’s “stumble bum” trick play in the third quarter.
After receiving a first-down snap from under center, Goff pretended to stumble, and running back Jahmyr Gibbs dove to the turf after the faux fumble. Bears safety Jonathan Owens appeared to momentarily bite on the fake, then Goff delivered a 21-yard touchdown pass to open tight end Sam LaPorta with 12:18 remaining in the quarter to put Detroit ahead 34-14 and help seal the win.
Gibbs, who had 154 scrimmage yards and a rushing touchdown, said the Lions called the play earlier in the game but changed it because of the Bears’ defensive look before returning to it a couple of drives later.
“I didn’t know if it was going to work or not, but I was hoping,” he said.
Sunday’s trickery was inspired by a play Johnson saw of Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love actually dropping a snap against Chicago before recovering the ball to pull off a big, 37-yard completion to tight end Luke Musgrave on Sept. 10, 2023. The pivotal fourth-quarter play led to a 38-20 victory against the Bears last season.
It was one of several trick plays called by Johnson — who is expected to interview for the Bears’ head coaching vacancy, sources confirmed to ESPN’s Courtney Cronin — during Detroit’s biggest road win against the Bears since a 32-7 victory in September 1997.
“The genesis was that’s a good play for that scheme,” said Goff, who went 23-of-32 with 336 passing yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. “But they’re in tune with it on defense that … it’s hard to get that on them because those linebackers are so dang good at seeing it develop.”
Goff said the offense worked on the play at least three of four times during the week in practice. Lions running back Craig Reynolds also said the Lions’ sideline was in on the fun, as everyone yelled “Ball!” when Goff and Gibbs stumbled.
“Sell it 100 percent,” Reynolds said.
Gibbs said he’s no longer surprised by where Johnson draws inspiration from as he’s developing his playbook. Although Johnson is locked in on leading the Lions to a Super Bowl under head coach Dan Campbell, he is expected to be on the radar again this offseason as a top head coaching candidate.
His creative playcalling, like the “stumble bum,” is yet another example of the offensive brilliance that has earned him respect among players.
Detroit’s offense has put up at least 400 yards in three of the past four weeks while setting a franchise record for most points in a season (493).
“The stuff he comes up with every game is crazy,” Gibbs said of Johnson. “You don’t see really stuff like that, only if you’re in college. In college, they have all of those explosive plays and stuff basically.”
ESPN senior NFL reporter Kalyn Kahler contributed to this report.
