The Lions have added to their coaching den, bringing in former Giants OC and interim head coach Mike Kafka to an as-yet-unspecified but “high-ranking” role, per Tom Pelissero. That report has been widely confirmed.

While we’re still waiting on Kafka’s exact role and fit within the offensive coaching flow chart, I have a few thoughts on the progression of the offense from the end of the season to now.

The car was damaged, not totaled

Detroit’s offense certainly underwhelmed in 2025 with Ben Johnson leaving for the head coaching job in Chicago. His replacement, John Morton, lacked both the people skills and the creative aggression that brought the most out of the talent on hand. The midseason switch to Dan Campbell calling plays overcorrected, with the team becoming recklessly aggressive–especially given the dilapidated state of the offensive line.

Even with all that, Detroit still finished fourth in points scored and fifth in yards per game. They fell off sharply in third down conversions (from 4th in 2024 to 19th in 2025) and declined in red zone TD production (3rd to 8th), but it’s still a potent offense led by midseason MVP candidate Jared Goff with an enviable collection of skill-position talent around him.

Campbell and the Lions management determined that the sports car needed a tune-up, not a trade-in or major repairs. Hiring Petzing and bringing in Kafka is an indication that the Lions will keep the basic offensive scheme in place. You know, the one that has finished in the top five in each of the last four seasons. That’s a smart assessment on their part. With nearly all the key pieces returning, the race car needs a new driver more than a new engine. That’s Petzing, and perhaps Kafka.

Kafka’s background

Kafka was my top personal choice for the Lions’ OC vacancy. Not that Petzing is a bad choice–I think he’s a solid hire–but the aggressive creativity and ability to string together play calls that were hallmarks of Ben Johnson’s explosive offense are not something Petzing showed in his days as OC in Arizona. In New York, Kafka’s Giants did those things very well.

With a rookie quarterback in Jaxson Dart, Kafka tailored his play calls to Dart’s specific set of skills. Those skills are very different than what Jared Goff offers in Detroit, just as what Petzing worked with in Kyler Murray in Arizona are as well. If you’re looking for a point of real skepticism in Petzing and Kafka, it’s that very point — neither has really run an offense with an immobile, risk-averse pocket passer like Goff.

Once Kafka took over for Brian Daboll, the Giants offense scored more and averaged more yards per game and per play than prior. Now factor in that top RB Cam Skattebo and top WR Malik Nabers were out for the season, and top OT Andrew Thomas missed half the games with Kafka at the helm.

Kafka’s offenses, statistically speaking, were largely dreadful in his four years at the Giants’ OC. By comparison, Petzing’s work in Arizona makes the new OC look like Ben Johnson. That’s why the spike up in New York’s offense from Daboll to Kafka, even with all the key injuries, impressed me so much. I believe Kafka adapted well to his talent on hand and guided a largely miserable, last-place team to keep playing hard and getting better.

One of my primary complaints about the 2025 Lions is that the offense never adjusted to not having Frank Ragnow at C or Kevin Zeitler at RG. When Sam LaPorta went down, Campbell clung to “next man up” Brock Wright and asked him to be LaPorta. When Wright went down too, the next men up weren’t NFL-caliber TEs but were still demanded to be LaPorta. Graham Glasgow was never Ragnow’s caliber, not even in his first stint in Detroit, but that didn’t matter.

Both Petzing and Kafka have demonstrable experience in tailoring their offense to the talent they’ve got, not the talent they wished they had. That’s a fundamental sea change for Detroit and a needed one. When we talk about the need for “fresh eyes”, this is what we’re talking about. That has been a blind spot for Campbell throughout his largely successful coaching tenure.

Divvying up roles

Petzing is the OC, while Kafka figures to replace either passing game coordinator David Shaw or WR coach/assistant head coach Scottie Montgomery. Both are still technically on the Lions staff, but they’ve also each interviewed for positions with other teams in the past few days.

Petzing has coached multiple position groups, but his best work came coaching tight ends in Cleveland. His Cardinals offenses were TE-oriented, thanks in part to having an elite one in Trey McBride. His work with an unstable cadre of running backs and offensive linemen in the run game over the years in Arizona stands out.

Kafka cut his coaching teeth with quarterbacks, a position he played (Petzing was a college DB). He was the QB coach and later passing game coordinator under Andy Reid in Kansas City, working with Patrick Mahomes. While that’s being dealt pocket aces, Kafka proved laudable in getting the pass protections and receiving route combos to adapt to Mahomes’ (incredible) ability to extend plays and improvise. Obviously he won’t have to do that with Goff in Detroit.

The Reid passing offense Kafka worked in has similar roots to the current Lions. It’s a West Coast-based offense with an emphasis on spacing and varied personnel groupings to keep the defense guessing. Taking advantage of a Hall-of-Fame tight end in Travis Kelce as a moveable centerpiece of the passing offense, that checks a translatable box to Detroit with LaPorta–presuming LaPorta’s back gets healthy. I’m not suggesting LaPorta is Kelce, but he’s probably closer to the Kelce entering 2017 than you might think.

Petzing focusing on the run game and blocking, with Kafka mixing in his passing game concepts and variations into Campbell’s base offense, should get everyone in Detroit excited about the potential. Nothing is guaranteed, but it’s hard to think of a more optimal offensive coaching situation for these Lions under Campbell with the talent already on hand.

Fault lines

There are still some valid areas for concern. Among them:

• How does Goff adapt to the new coaches, and vice versa?
• Interior offensive line play must improve–something true of any coaching or scheme adaptations
• Usage of a third WR (Isaac TeSlaa) and second RB (David Montgomery)
• Play-calling decision-making in red zone and end-of-half situations

Those are all unanswerable at this point. I’m definitely optimistic on all fronts, but the proof will be in the 2026 pudding.