The Detroit Lions always have a couple of crazy trick plays up their sleeve with Ben Johnson calling the plays, and Sunday was no different. The Lions executed another gimmick to perfection against the Chicago Bears when offensive coordinator Ben Johnson had quarterback Jared Goff and running back Jahmyr Gibbs pretend to trip and stumble before Goff found tight end Sam LaPorta for a touchdown.
Great offensive play callers get a lot of their ideas from other teams around the league, and this one was no different. As it turns out, Johnson got the idea for this play call, called “stumble bum,” from Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love last season, according to ESPN's Eric Woodyard.
“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,” Woodyard wrote. “The pivotal fourth-quarter play led to a 38-20 victory against the Bears last season.”
As it turns out, the similarities between the two plays are uncanny.
It was brought to my attention that Ben Johnson & the Lions probably did the fake fumble play because of the tape they saw last year of Jordan Love fumbling the snap and finding a wide open Luke Musgrave pic.twitter.com/cxQwUig6Qi
— Hogg (@HoggNFL) December 23, 2024
Johnson has come up with a new, creative wrinkle seemingly every single week for this Lions offense, leading them to become one of the best units in the NFL. That creativity is one of the reasons that the Lions are at the top of the NFC and Johnson is a leading head coaching candidate once again heading into this offseason.
Packers trying to keep pace with Vikings on MNF vs. Saints

The Packers are out of the race for the NFC North crown despite coming into Monday night's matchup with the New Orleans Saints at 10-4. The Minnesota Vikings and the Detroit Lions both moved to 13-2 on Sunday, so the Packers will be battling for Wild Card position over the next few games.
It looks like Green Bay is likely locked into the No. 6 seed in the playoffs, where it will likely play against the Los Angeles Rams in the wild crd round, but the Packers also still have a path to getting up to No. 5. Assuming the Packers can get a win over the Saints on Monday night, they will get a shot at the Vikings in Week 17 with a chance to cut that deficit to just one game. If the Packers can get a win in that one and get another win in Week 18, while the Vikings take another loss, they can move up to No. 5.
The Packers will be favored in a potential wild card matchup on the road no matter who they end up playing against, and they have been battle tested in one of the best divisions in football all season long. When things heat up in the Divisional Round, the going is going to get tough, but this Green Bay team has established itself as a Super Bowl contender with just a few weeks until the playoffs.