In their first season under defensive wunderkind Matt Patricia, the Detroit Lions weren't exactly world-beaters on that side of the ball. They allowed just 335.0 yards per game, good for 10th in the league, yet also surrendered an average 22.4 points per game while finishing with the second-fewest takeaways in football.

Patricia would admit that Detroit needs to get better on defense going forward, surely, but it's an offense that most doomed his team en route to a 6-10 finish at the bottom of the NFC North standings.

Enter Darrell Bevell, who replaces the departed Jim Bob Cooter as offensive coordinator for the Lions after occupying the same position with the Seattle Seahawks from 2011 to 2017. At a season-ticket holder event on Monday, the 49-year-old expressed optimism about his new team's ability to put up point next season but opted against getting into specific until he gains a better understanding of Detroit's roster.

“I hope it's one that scores points,” Bevell said of his offense, per Justin Rogers of The Detroit News. “That's the first thing we need to do. But right now, it's still something we're trying to build. It's easy to say what we want to do in the run game, what we want to do in the pass game, but we need to build around our players. We're going to do what Kerryon (Johnson) does well, we're going to do what our wide receivers do well, what Matthew (Stafford) does well.

“At this point, to make big, bold statements, it's a little bit early because we need to discover a little bit more about our personnel.”

Fair.

Bevell was hired on January 17th after the Lions decided against renewing Cooter's contract. Last season, the Lions finished bottom-10 in points, total yards, passing yards, and rushing yards, with franchise quarterback Matthew Stafford throwing for fewer touchdowns (21) than he has since his injury-riddled first two years in the league.