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Eric Woodyard
DETROIT — Tears rolled down the faces of veteran Detroit Lions offensive linemen Taylor Decker and Dan Skipper in the visitor’s locker room of Soldier Field.
Their team had just pulled off a nail-biting, walk-off 19-16 win over the Chicago Bears to end their 2025 season. But the two men addressed reporters not with tears of joy, but instead mourning a season that began with the highest of expectations and ended, at 9-8, with Detroit failing to reach the postseason for the first time since 2022.
Their disappointing 2025 has suddenly thrust the Lions into a pivotal offseason in which they have to make a number of key decisions to help ensure their championship window remains open next season and into the immediate future.
Jahmyr Gibbs, tight end Sam LaPorta, linebacker Jack Campbell and safety Brian Branch) who will be eligible for extensions this offseason.
The Lions are looking at this offseason as an opportunity. The franchise won 27 total regular-season games in 2023 and 2024, including its first division championship and NFC title game appearance since the early 1990s. And coach Dan Campbell is hoping the disappointing 2025 season will only serve as a fire that fuels his team to success next year and beyond.
«I believe that things happen for a reason — right, wrong or indifferent. And when something like this happens, I believe it’s going to be for the best,» Campbell said after the win over the Bears. «And it’s up to [Lions GM] Brad [Holmes] and I to make it for the best.
«That’s how I view it. Because as good as it felt for us to get that [Bears win] . . . let’s call it what it is, [we were] pretty pissed all week and it’s a bad feeling, and now we’re going into the playoffs and you get to watch everybody else go [play] while you’re sitting at home and it’s frustrating. So, that’s what fuels you. We don’t want to be doing that again next year, that’s not where we want to be.»
Green Bay Packers. The high-profile defeat handed the reeling Lions their third loss in five games since coming out of a Week 8 bye, and Frank Ragnow was there to help steady the ship.
Ragnow, a four-time Pro Bowl center, was the anchor of the dominant offensive lines that had helped fuel the team’s recent run of success. In June, he had shocked the team with his abrupt retirement, causing concern about a unit that had also lost guard Kevin Zeitler in free agency. But on Black Friday 2025, he underwent a physical exam with the team as part of his plan to return. During the evaluation, however, team doctors discovered Ragnow had a Grade 3 hamstring strain — an injury that would end his comeback before it started.
Ragnow’s story highlighted the Lions’ desperate need for another impact offensive lineman in 2025, and how they will prepare to restock the unit this offseason.
Without Ragnow and Zeitler, who signed with the Tennessee Titans in March, the unit ranked 20th in run block win rate (70.6%) and 31st in pass block win rate (55.5%). In 2024, it ranked 16th and 12th, respectively. The unit also finished fourth-worst in pass block win rate against standard pressure (4 or fewer pass rushers) and against the blitz, per ESPN Research.
The line’s struggles affected the entire offense, and trickled down to quarterback’s Jared Goff’s play in 2025.
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There was a notable contrast to how Goff’s numbers looked when he was being pressured versus when he wasn’t being pressured, which was a big problem for the offense all season.
Goff’s completion percentage was 76.5%, which ranked third among 33 qualified QBs this season, when he wasn’t pressured, but his completion percentage dipped to 41.4%, which ranked 23rd, while facing pressure, per ESPN Research, which was a problem. Ultimately, he was sacked a career-high 38 times this season.
«Going into this offseason, we’ve just got to find who we are and get our swagger back, get our confidence back and it starts with the guys who are already here,» Lions All-Pro tackle Penei Sewell said. «We’ve got to each get better and want to get better and not only for ourselves, but for each other.»
Campbell, Holmes and members of the staff met for exit interviews at the Lions’ facility last Monday. One of the many key questions that were left unanswered from those discussions was about the line, especially with Decker, the team’s starting left tackle, mulling retirement after completing his 10th NFL season.
Holmes said Ragnow’s abrupt retirement last year taught the organization a lesson, which he hopes will leave the team better prepared for Decker’s upcoming decision.
«I’m not sure what Decker’s going to decide to do. But that’s — not only will it have to be urgent this offseason, but it’s been urgent in the past,» Holmes said. «… Two years ago, we drafted [OL Giovanni] Manu as more of a developmental guy thinking that he’s going to have some years to take some steps forward.
«But it would be irresponsible for us to just go into [the offseason] thinking that, ‘Well, we drafted a developmental player a couple of years ago. He’s going to be the guy.’ … I could be wrong but I don’t think that we’ve ever kind of gone into an offseason with a question mark or a hole and we didn’t attack that position with urgency,» he said. «But sometimes it just doesn’t work out as well as we want it to.»
Minnesota Vikings, Campbell held a private meeting with Morton.
The coaches chatted during an honest conversation to discuss some changes — particularly that Campbell would be taking over playcalling duties after the Morton-led unit failed to find an early offensive identity.
Once the season ended, Morton, who had previously been part of Campbell’s Lions staff in 2022 as a senior offensive assistant, was fired after one season as coordinator.
Now, in search of a new OC, the team will start interviewing candidates they hope will restore the Lions offense to its peak, pre-2025 form. That list includes former Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel and Ravens QB coach Tee Martin, among others.
With the hire, Campbell will have a chance to redefine the Lions’ offense which was viewed as one of the most prolific offenses in the league under previous OC Ben Johnson, who left Detroit last offseason to become head coach of the Chicago Bears. Johnson was able to transform a five-win Bears team into the NFC North champs who will host the Los Angeles Rams in a divisional playoff game.
In 2024, the Lions led the NFL with 33.2 points per game, but that dipped to 28.3 points per game under Morton in 2025. Detroit also averaged 373.2 net yards per game in 2025 in comparison to 409.5 yards per game in 2024 with many of the same offensive weapons on the roster.
Although there isn’t a specific timeline set for the new hire, the franchise is looking to move as quickly as possible with top candidates sliding off the board.
Holmes feels this decision will mean a lot for the franchise as it has set general priorities for the team’s next offensive coordinator. However, he says previous experience with playcalling isn’t a top priority.
«There has to be leadership, there has to be detail-oriented, there’s got to be command of the room,» Holmes said. «You just have to be able to know that there’s somebody that’s going to be able to dot every ‘I,’ cross every ‘T’ and make sure that nothing is compromised from a detail standpoint, from a standards standpoint from the start of the game-planning period all the way ‘till the end of the week.»
Washington Commanders.
Still, Holmes doesn’t think the priorities for those players have changed as they continue the rehabilitation process.
«But obviously more medical information has to be gathered. But we know who they are, we know what kind of players they are,» Holmes said. «But in terms of them suffering some season-ending injuries and the decisions that we’ve got to make off of that, there’s just a lot more information that we’re going to need to get which we will get. That’s not going to be forgotten about.
«So, it’s a little bit too early to say that because of those injuries happening that that’s freed up to get other guys.»
Detroit holds the 17th pick in the 2026 draft, and the organization remains confident that the Lions’ Super Bowl window hasn’t closed yet, despite change being inevitable.
«We weren’t as connected as we were the year before and it just took some time to really get a feel for one another,» Sewell said during locker room cleanout. «Going into next year, that’s the thing is that connection and everyone being on point and detailed.»
