The Detroit Lions are the reigning NFC North Champions, but it's a new season which means everyone is back on an even playing field putting in the preparations for training camp and the upcoming NFL season.
Can quarterback J.J. McCarthy lead a talented Minnesota Vikings roster on an NFC North title run in his first season as a starter? Can quarterback Jordan Love and Green Bay's new receiving weapons help the pass game enough to make a run at the division title? Will new head coach Ben Johnson have an immediate impact on the Chicago Bears?
As the four teams in the NFC North roll toward the start of training camp next month, let's take a look at some of the biggest changes heading into 2025 for each team in the division:
DETROIT
2024 record: 15-2 (won division)
Biggest change from 2024: Two new coordinators
Johnson, who coordinated one of the top offenses in the NFL over the last two years, left to be the head coach in Chicago. Defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn is now the head coach of the New York Jets. That means Detroit starts 2025 with John Morton running the offense and Kelvin Sheppard heading up the defense.
Morton has said he doesn't plan on changing a lot schematically, but there are some things he's liked to run over the years at various stops that he'll look to add to Detroit's scheme. The other challenge for Morton is not being able to rely on All-Pro center Frank Ragnow to handle all the protections.
That's a significant blow as Ragnow was one of the best centers in football. Detroit will have at least two new starters upfront along their offensive line in 2025 but do return quarterback Jared Goff and all of their skill weapons from the top scoring offense in the NFL last year.
Head coach Dan Campbell has been preparing Sheppard for this role for a couple years, and Detroit should be significantly better defensively after seeing 18 defenders, including a number of core pieces, miss a lot of last season due to injury. It's a mostly experienced unit that will need to stay healthy and be more productive in 2025 if the Lions are going to reach their goal of winning a Super Bowl.
Key stat: The Lions had five different players produce at least seven touchdowns last season, a new franchise record. (Jahmyr Gibbs, 20; Amon-Ra St. Brown, 12; David Montgomery, 12; Jameson Williams, 8; Sam LaPorta, 7)
Twentyman: I think Lions fans can take solace in the fact that Philadelphia replaced both their offensive and defensive coordinators last season and they went on to win the Super Bowl. Campbell is the constant in this equation, and he's got a pretty good track record of putting together a good staff that gets the most out of their players.
Morton was on Campbell's staff in 2022 as the pass game coordinator when this offense was built around Goff, so there's a lot of familiarity with his concepts and things he likes to run. Sheppard's been on staff since Campbell arrived in 2021, so there should be a lot of continuity there defensively.
"It's been good for me coming in and having to work with him so closely to now have him as the coordinator," MIKE linebacker Jack Campbell said of Sheppard. "I feel like it allows me to know what he's thinking going into a game week. I'm really excited about that."