The Detroit Lions have this gadget-play thing so down now that they're turning pratfalls into touchdowns.
The Lions' latest sorcery by coordinator Ben Johnson on Sunday against the Bears was having Jared Goff and Jahmyr Gibbs fake choreographed stumbles on what looked like a botched stretch run play -- or perhaps even a fumble. But Goff got the last laugh, easily regaining his balance and firing a touchdown to tight end Sam LaPorta.
The Bears had cut the Lions' lead to 27-14 at halftime on Sunday, but LaPorta's 21-yard touchdown not only froze the defense during all the Lions' theatrics, it also gave them a 20-point cushion in the third quarter that they would sit on en route to a 34-17 victory.
"Ben, that was one of his brainchilds," Lions head coach Dan Campbell said after the game, via the team’s website. "... We massaged it and worked it. How do we make this thing better? Just Goff, Gibby, LaPorta, the offensive line making it work. We cooked it all week and they did a heck of a job."
Johnson's original conception of the trick play was even more wacky, it turns out.
"We ran it three or four times during the week," Goff said. "At first it started on Monday with Ben asking me if he thought I could actually fumble on purpose and actually pick it back up. I said, 'I don't know about that?' "
As the voice of reason, Goff suggested an alternative: a fake fumble and a fake dive by Gibbs, without Goff ever letting go of the ball. When they executed the play on first-and-10 from just outside the red zone, the Bears' pass rush slowed up considerably with Goff and Gibbs stumbling. Meanwhile, LaPorta was streaking past the secondary in the clear.
"I think the part with Gibbs where he dives really sells the play," Goff said. "It worked like a charm."
Campbell said the Lions pulled it off in Sunday's game even better than they did in practice. Sunday's win -- and the successful trick play -- also helped lighten things up after the Lions' recent string of bad-luck injuries suffered last week in just their second loss of the season. Campbell said the coaches and players invested in the play and came up with something that worked. And all the hard work paid off.
"It was just great to see," Campbell said.
