Getty Dan Campbell looks on for the Lions in a 2022 game vs. Washington.
The Detroit Lions were flawless on offense in their Week 13 blowout win over the Jacksonville Jaguars, and they managed to make some NFL history along the way as a result.
Any time a team scores 40 points in a game, there’s going to be a level of offensive dominance to be celebrated. For Detroit, this was the case. The team was so dominant, however, that they scored on every possession. That was something that hadn’t happened in four years.
Andrew Siciliano of the NFL Network tweeted about the history that the team made, and the trick of scoring at will hadn’t happened in some time in the league.
Lions has 8 possessions (other than taking a knee) Sunday.
Lions scored on ALL 8 possessions.
No @NFL team had scored on every possession in a regular season game in 4 years.
“Lions has 8 possessions (other than taking a knee) Sunday. Lions scored on ALL 8 possessions. No NFL team had scored on every possession in a regular season game in 4 years,” Siciliano tweeted.
As a whole, that feat is impressive enough in a vacuum. It might be even more impressive when it was revealed later that it was something the Lions had been gunning for all year.
Lions’ Ben Johnson Wanted Perfect Game
Most would consider the fact that the Lions didn’t punt in the game to be a rare feat and an interesting statistical footnote at best. The case gets more interesting, though, when it was revealed after the game that it was something the Lions were trying to do.
Wideout Amon-Ra St. Brown spoke to the media after the game, and as he said, the team’s coaching staff led by offensive coordinator Ben Johnson was open about wanting to see the feat performed, because he knew the team could do it.
“Defense, offense, special teams. Starting as an offense, I don’t think we punted once. Coach (Ben) Johnson talked about that a few weeks ago. After every game we put up the drive chart. For the most part it’ll say touchdown, field goal, upon whatever it is throughout the whole game. He said he wants to get to a point where it’s all green which is all points and we did that today,” St. Brown said.
As the wideout said, the explosion meant a lot to him for this reason, and to the team, who executed flawlessly on the field.
“I’m super happy for for our team as a whole, especially our offense for him. The o-line, Jared Goff who played great. DJ (Chark), I’m super happy for him to play like that against his former team I know it means so much to him. It was it was an awesome game all around,” he said.
Naturally, it’s every team’s goal never to punt in a game, but for Johnson to put it out there and challenge the team and then see the team follow through on that challenge is certainly cool to note.
It might just be further proof that the sky’s in fact the limit for the Lions and their offense during the 2022 season.
Lions Punt-Free Streak Made Team History, Too
How long had it been since the Lions didn’t punt the ball in a game? Five long years to be exact. That performance was on the road in 2017, and it had been even longer since the team had turned the trick at home.
As the team’s PR account pointed out, the team hadn’t had a game where their offense was perfect since 1971 at home. That’s a lot of years with a lot of different quarterbacks, offenses and players.
“The Lions did not record a punt today. The last time Detroit did not punt in a game was on Nov. 6, 2017 at Green Bay.The last time Detroit did not punt in a home game was on Nov. 25, 1971 vs. Kansas City,” the team’s account tweeted.
Detroit made history with the perfect afternoon on offense. While it’s not wise to expect the team to execute like this every single week, it’s certainly is notable that it happened, especially after the coaching staff had talked about their belief in the team to pull it off and their desire to do so.