DETROIT — Tears rolled down the faces of veteran Detroit Lions offensive linemen Taylor Decker and Dan Skipper in the visitor’s locker room of Soldier Field.
Their team had just pulled off a nail-biting, walk-off 19-16 win over the Chicago Bears to end their 2025 season. But the two men addressed reporters not with tears of joy, but instead mourning a season that began with the highest of expectations and ended, at 9-8, with Detroit failing to reach the postseason for the first time since 2022.
Their disappointing 2025 has suddenly thrust the Lions into a pivotal offseason in which they have to make a number of key decisions to help ensure their championship window remains open next season and into the immediate future.
Both Decker (shoulder) and Skipper (back) are mulling retirement due to health issues, which would force Detroit to retool an offensive line that struggled mightily in 2025 after losing two key cogs last offseason. Detroit also is actively searching for a new offensive coordinator in the wake of firing John Morton — brought in to replace the departed Ben Johnson — after one season. And the bill is coming due on a number of key young contributors (running back Jahmyr Gibbs, tight end Sam LaPorta, linebacker Jack Campbell and safety Brian Branch) who will be eligible for extensions this offseason.
The Lions are looking at this offseason as an opportunity. The franchise won 27 total regular-season games in 2023 and 2024, including its first division championship and NFC title game appearance since the early 1990s. And coach Dan Campbell is hoping the disappointing 2025 season will only serve as a fire that fuels his team to success next year and beyond.
“I believe that things happen for a reason — right, wrong or indifferent. And when something like this happens, I believe it’s going to be for the best,” Campbell said after the win over the Bears. “And it’s up to [Lions GM] Brad [Holmes] and I to make it for the best.
“That’s how I view it. Because as good as it felt for us to get that [Bears win] . . . let’s call it what it is, [we were] pretty pissed all week and it’s a bad feeling, and now we’re going into the playoffs and you get to watch everybody else go [play] while you’re sitting at home and it’s frustrating. So, that’s what fuels you. We don’t want to be doing that again next year, that’s not where we want to be.”
MISSING THE PLAYOFFS was an unimaginable scenario for Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown entering the 2025 season — especially with his Lions having just completed one of the most successful two-year stretches in franchise history, which included a team-record 15-win season in 2024.
What seemed like a bad dream became reality in the penultimate game of the regular season, when the Lions were officially eliminated from postseason contention following a 23-10 loss to the Vikings in Minnesota.
“I mean, I wouldn’t believe it. I would’ve told you there’s no way,” said St. Brown, who finished fifth in the NFL in receiving with 1,401. “But things happen. It wasn’t the season we wanted. All we can do is move on, get better.”
Holmes graded his own performance this season as an F. But he said he doesn’t believe the team is far from competing for the Super Bowl next season.
“Look, bottom line is for our standards, this was a disappointment. When we set out for this journey, for this season, it wasn’t to match last year’s record or exceed last year’s record. It doesn’t really matter what the record is,” Holmes said during his end of the year availability on Jan. 8. “Bottom line is, if we’re not in the dance and we’re not competing for a championship, it’s a failure. So, it’s a lot of things that we’re going to have to take along, hard look at but before I look at anything, I look at myself.
“So, I have to do a better job. Obviously, haven’t been good enough, and look, I’m always going to look inward,” he said. “So, early stages, but already started to identify some things that I can definitely do better and we’re going to collectively just have to look at everything from top to bottom and just really be honest and just take that long, hard look.”
The Lions managed to produce their fourth straight winning season, which marked the first time the franchise had done so since performing the feat from 1969 to 1972. But Detroit’s eight losses were more than the previous two seasons combined (27-7), and injuries and an inconsistent ground attack, among other issues, plagued them all season.
When Gibbs exited the practice facility on locker room cleanout day, he told ESPN the sentiment inside the building is that the Lions will “get back right” in 2026 because of the talent they boast on the roster and their ability to adjust to whatever is needed.
“Obviously there’s something missing. I mean we’re out [of] the playoffs, so there had to be something,” Gibbs said. “We’ll look at that throughout the offseason and get better. Whatever that is.”
A FAMILIAR FACE showed up to the team facility a day after the team’s 31-24 Thanksgiving Day loss to the Green Bay Packers. The high-profile defeat handed the reeling Lions their third loss in five games since coming out of a Week 8 bye, and Frank Ragnow was there to help steady the ship.
Ragnow, a four-time Pro Bowl center, was the anchor of the dominant offensive lines that had helped fuel the team’s recent run of success. In June, he had shocked the team with his abrupt retirement, causing concern about a unit that had also lost guard Kevin Zeitler in free agency. But on Black Friday 2025, he underwent a physical exam with the team as part of his plan to return. During the evaluation, however, team doctors discovered Ragnow had a Grade 3 hamstring strain — an injury that would end his comeback before it started.
Ragnow’s story highlighted the Lions’ desperate need for another impact offensive lineman in 2025, and how they will prepare to restock the unit this offseason.
Without Ragnow and Zeitler, who signed with the Tennessee Titans in March, the unit ranked 20th in run block win rate (70.6%) and 31st in pass block win rate (55.5%). In 2024, it ranked 16th and 12th, respectively. The unit also finished fourth-worst in pass block win rate against standard pressure (4 or fewer pass rushers) and against the blitz, per ESPN Research.
The line’s struggles affected the entire offense, and trickled down to quarterback’s Jared Goff’s play in 2025.
There was a notable contrast to how Goff’s numbers looked when he was being pressured versus when he wasn’t being pressured, which was a big problem for the offense all season.
Goff’s completion percentage was 76.5%, which ranked third among 33 qualified QBs this season, when he wasn’t pressured, but his completion percentage dipped to 41.4%, which ranked 23rd, while facing pressure, per ESPN Research, which was a problem. Ultimately, he was sacked a career-high 38 times this season.
“Going into this offseason, we’ve just got to find who we are and get our swagger back, get our confidence back and it starts with the guys who are already here,” Lions All-Pro tackle Penei Sewell said. “We’ve got to each get better and want to get better and not only for ourselves, but for each other.”
Campbell, Holmes and members of the staff met for exit interviews at the Lions’ facility last Monday. One of the many key questions that were left unanswered from those discussions was about the line, especially with Decker, the team’s starting left tackle, mulling retirement after completing his 10th NFL season.
Holmes said Ragnow’s abrupt retirement last year taught the organization a lesson, which he hopes will leave the team better prepared for Decker’s upcoming decision.
“I’m not sure what Decker’s going to decide to do. But that’s — not only will it have to be urgent this offseason, but it’s been urgent in the past,” Holmes said. “… Two years ago, we drafted [OL Giovanni] Manu as more of a developmental guy thinking that he’s going to have some years to take some steps forward.
“But it would be irresponsible for us to just go into [the offseason] thinking that, ‘Well, we drafted a developmental player a couple of years ago. He’s going to be the guy.’ … I could be wrong but I don’t think that we’ve ever kind of gone into an offseason with a question mark or a hole and we didn’t attack that position with urgency,” he said. “But sometimes it just doesn’t work out as well as we want it to.”
A DAY AFTER suffering a stunning Week 9 home loss to the Minnesota Vikings, Campbell held a private meeting with Morton.
The coaches chatted during an honest conversation to discuss some changes — particularly that Campbell would be taking over playcalling duties after the Morton-led unit failed to find an early offensive identity.
Once the season ended, Morton, who had previously been part of Campbell’s Lions staff in 2022 as a senior offensive assistant, was fired after one season as coordinator.
Now, in search of a new OC, the team will start interviewing candidates they hope will restore the Lions offense to its peak, pre-2025 form. That list includes former Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel and Ravens QB coach Tee Martin, among others.
With the hire, Campbell will have a chance to redefine the Lions’ offense which was viewed as one of the most prolific offenses in the league under previous OC Ben Johnson, who left Detroit last offseason to become head coach of the Chicago Bears. Johnson was able to transform a five-win Bears team into the NFC North champs who will host the Los Angeles Rams in a divisional playoff game.
In 2024, the Lions led the NFL with 33.2 points per game, but that dipped to 28.3 points per game under Morton in 2025. Detroit also averaged 373.2 net yards per game in 2025 in comparison to 409.5 yards per game in 2024 with many of the same offensive weapons on the roster.
Although there isn’t a specific timeline set for the new hire, the franchise is looking to move as quickly as possible with top candidates sliding off the board.
Holmes feels this decision will mean a lot for the franchise as it has set general priorities for the team’s next offensive coordinator. However, he says previous experience with playcalling isn’t a top priority.
“There has to be leadership, there has to be detail-oriented, there’s got to be command of the room,” Holmes said. “You just have to be able to know that there’s somebody that’s going to be able to dot every ‘I,’ cross every ‘T’ and make sure that nothing is compromised from a detail standpoint, from a standards standpoint from the start of the game-planning period all the way ’till the end of the week.”
GIBBS WON’T BE celebrating his 24th birthday until March 20, but he etched his name into the record books during his third NFL season.
Not only has he been selected to the Pro Bowl in each of his first three seasons, but the former Alabama star also owns the NFL record for the most TDs scored by a player through three career seasons and before turning 24 years old (49).
“It’s cool, but that’s not really what I’m shooting for,” Gibbs told ESPN. “I’m shooting for wins because if we do that, the rest of it will come.”
Since the spring of 2024, the Lions have signed nine players to contracts worth a total of nearly $1 billion.
Now, with four key players from their 2023 draft class eligible for extensions this offseason, most notably Gibbs — for whom the Lions have a 2027 fifth-year option — and LaPorta, who can become a free agent after the 2026 season, Holmes said he is still placing a major priority on re-signing the players he drafted.
“It is a priority because they’re really good players. … When me and Dan first started, we said we were going to take the path of draft, developing and sign our own,” Holmes said. “And I do think that that has worked so far in terms of getting us to this point.
“So, yeah, those guys are priorities because they’re really good players. … They’re great in the locker room, they represent everything that we’re about.”
Jack Campbell had a breakout season in 2025, earning first-team All-Pro honors for the first time while emerging as one of the top linebackers in the league. Branch was also off to a strong start to his third season before suffering a torn Achilles that ended his season in Week 14. LaPorta, a one-time Pro Bowler, was sidelined and ended up missing the Lions’ final eight games of the season after he suffered a herniated disk in a Nov. 9 win over the Washington Commanders.
Still, Holmes doesn’t think the priorities for those players have changed as they continue the rehabilitation process.
“But obviously more medical information has to be gathered. But we know who they are, we know what kind of players they are,” Holmes said. “But in terms of them suffering some season-ending injuries and the decisions that we’ve got to make off of that, there’s just a lot more information that we’re going to need to get which we will get. That’s not going to be forgotten about.
“So, it’s a little bit too early to say that because of those injuries happening that that’s freed up to get other guys.”
Detroit holds the 17th pick in the 2026 draft, and the organization remains confident that the Lions’ Super Bowl window hasn’t closed yet, despite change being inevitable.
“We weren’t as connected as we were the year before and it just took some time to really get a feel for one another,” Sewell said during locker room cleanout. “Going into next year, that’s the thing is that connection and everyone being on point and detailed.”
