The Ben Johnson Blueprint: How One Mad Genius Torched The NFL
Let’s get one thing straight — Ben Johnson isn’t just drawing up plays on napkins; he’s rewriting the damn blueprint of modern NFL offense. The Detroit Lions didn’t just have a good year under him in 2024 — they detonated defenses like it was a weekly ritual. They averaged a league-best 33.2 points per game and, according to TeamRankings, rewrote the Lions’ franchise record book in total yards (6,962), points (564), and touchdowns (70). That’s not just efficiency — that’s offensive savagery. And it’s not a fluke. Johnson’s system is a masterclass in creative chaos: formation wizardry, surgical execution, and the kind of adaptability that gives defensive coordinators insomnia.
Strategic Personnel Deployment: Playing Chess While Everyone Plays Checkers
Ben Johnson’s first magic trick? Personnel packages that play mind games with defenses. Most teams telegraph their plays based on groupings. You see 11 personnel (3 WRs, 1 TE) and it’s probably a pass. You see 12 (2 TEs), probably a run. Not in Johnson’s house. With 11 personnel, the Lions passed 62% of the time, per All_22_Films. No surprise. But flip to 12 personnel? That pass-run tendency flips to a near 50/50 split. What that means: defenses can’t predict jack.
Defenses are trained to read personnel for clues — Johnson turns those clues into red herrings. Then he hits them with motion. Bunch formations. Pre-snap shifts. One look turns into something completely different post-snap. It’s like trying to solve a Rubik’s cube while getting punched in the face.
Take his 12 jumbo sets — extra tight ends, heavy run look — and boom, it’s play-action. Or it’s an outside zone with a twist: guards pulling, tight ends sealing, and receivers cracking down. Whatever the defense preps for, Johnson throws something nastier their way.
Creative Conceptual Brilliance: Shower Thoughts Turned Touchdowns
Ben Johnson isn’t afraid to get weird—and it works. One of his most notorious gems? The “stumble bum” play, where Jared Goff fake-fumbles and then launches a strike. Stupid? Maybe on paper. Genius? Absolutely. It was cooked up to mess with the Bears’ hyper-aggressive front, and it lit them up. That’s Johnson in a nutshell: unconventional brilliance married to surgical execution.
His passing schemes are Picasso-level detailed. High-lows that stretch zones vertically and horizontally. Mesh concepts that create natural picks and confusion. Underneath drag routes combined with deep crossers so defenses have to pick their poison. And it’s all synced with Goff’s strengths — rhythm, timing, and no dumb hero-ball nonsense.
On the ground, Johnson is married to outside zone — but this isn’t your 1990s Mike Shanahan run game. Detroit’s version uses motion, double teams, pullers, and crack blocks to create space. It’s a mixtape of every successful concept from the last decade, blended into a scheme that adapts weekly.
Balanced, Ruthless, and Built to Burn Clocks or Score Fast
Here’s the secret sauce: balance. Not the fake “we run 20 times a game too” balance. Real balance. Detroit was third in rushing (146.4 ypg) and second in passing (263.2 ypg), according to FOX Sports. Johnson doesn’t care how it happens — as long as he gets your defense on roller skates.
He was aggressive on money downs too. On 3rd/4th down with 3+ yards, the Lions ran more than almost any other team — and led the league in EPA per play doing it. That’s swagger with receipts. In the red zone, they converted nearly 68% of their trips into touchdowns, according to TeamRankings. Top 3 in the league. That’s surgical efficiency inside the most congested area of the field.
Johnson’s not guessing — he’s orchestrating. When to press the gas, when to chew clock, when to hammer with Montgomery or finesse with LaPorta or Amon-Ra. It’s all planned. All deadly.
Adaptability: Killing You a Different Way Every Week
What separates the legends from the gimmicks? Adaptability. Johnson doesn’t have a system — he has a philosophy. Every week, it morphs. He watches tape like it owes him money. Finds your soft spots. Exploits your coverages, alignments, and tells.
The “Lions hangover” is a real thing. Teams get torched by Johnson’s offense and then look shell-shocked the next week. Why? Because they spent all their prep adjusting to formations and concepts they’ll never see again. Meanwhile, Johnson’s already building the next game plan from scratch.
He’s even evolving RPO usage. League-wide effectiveness dropped in 2024, but Johnson’s? Still humming. Because he tweaks presentation, disguises intent, and never calls the same look twice. He’ll kill you with what worked last week — or ditch it entirely if he smells a trap.
Talent Meets Scheme: The Multiplier Effect
Sure, Johnson’s scheme is brilliant — but it only sings because he molds it around his players. Goff looked like a new man, stringing together a five-game stretch where he completed 83% of his throws. That’s historically absurd. And it’s not because Goff became Mahomes overnight — it’s because Johnson built a system around quick reads, defined throws, and layered spacing.
His receiving corps? Top PFF grade in the league (89.1). But the twist? RB David Montgomery had the highest receiving grade (90.7). Not even your best WR — your RB. That tells you how Johnson deploys weapons — he doesn’t care about traditional roles. He cares about matchups. And if a linebacker’s in man coverage on a back, he’s toast.
Tight ends like LaPorta and Wright lined up inline, in the slot, out wide. Constant motion, shifting personnel, but same package. It’s smoke and mirrors — until it turns into six points.
The O-line was elite too, but Johnson made them look even better. Scheme put them in winning positions, whether it was combo blocks in the zone game or max-protect shot plays. Every piece fit. Every mismatch was exploited.
Final Verdict
The Lions didn’t just dominate—they set the new standard. And now, Ben Johnson’s taking his talents to Chicago. What he built in Detroit wasn’t just an outlier year — it was the future of offensive football. Adaptable, balanced, explosive.
If he can replicate even 75% of that with Caleb Williams and DJ Moore in Chicago, the NFC North just became a war zone.
So here’s the bottom line: Ben Johnson isn’t riding a hot streak. He’s building the offensive model of the next NFL era. The Lions had their masterpiece season in 2024 — but Johnson’s saga is just beginning.