It was always expected that the Detroit Lions would experience an adjustment period in the 2025 season after losing both coordinators, offensive coordinator Ben Johnson and defensive coordinator Aaron Glen. Lions fans should practice patience. By any standard, though, Week 1’s 27-13 defeat to the Green Bay Packers was a discouraging display. Detroit managed just 246 yards of total offense and No. 2 wideout Jameson Williams, who recorded his first 1,000-yard season in 2024, managed just four catches from five targets for 23 yards. Williams ranked just fourth on the team in target share despite playing a skill position-high 97% of snaps.
Fantasy managers shouldn’t be overly concerned about Williams. Defenses are still scared of his game-breaking speed, as he received the seventh-most cushion at the line of scrimmage, and his quiet game was mostly just a function of the Packers’ elite defense; he had still 0.2 more yards per catch per reception than expected, per Next Gen Stats. The offense will take time to adjust: in his first game with Johnson in 2022, Jared Goff posted just an 80.3 passer rating in a 38-35 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles but bounced back with four touchdowns and a 121.7 rating the following week. Goff also has chemistry from prior work with John Morton. Though Williams posted just a 5.2-yard average depth of target in Week 1, he had previously praised Morton’s aggression, so I imagine that’ll change in future weeks.
On Sunday, Goff and Williams will face Johnson for the first time in his new head coaching role when they take on the Chicago Bears at home. Chicago lost the first game after choking a fourth-quarter lead to the Minnesota Vikings, but the defense looked strong at times, holding J.J. McCarthy to 143 passing yards in his debut and forcing him into a pick-six. The Bears even held former Offensive Player of the Year Justin Jefferson to just one catch for four yards in the first half. But advanced stats didn’t look so kindly on Chicago’s performance, as Pro Football Focus gave it just the 24th-best coverage grade in Week 1.
Regardless, the Bears should be an easier test than Green Bay was. The Packers finished with the third-best coverage unit in football last season and bolstered the defense by adding Micah Parsons in a blockbuster trade prior to Week 1. Meanwhile, Tyrique Stevenson, Chicago’s No. 2 wide corner, is a solid player who put up an elite performance in Week 1, but he was a roughly league-average coverage defender in his first two seasons and posted his fourth-worst grade of the 2024 season in Week 16 against the Lions, when Williams recorded five catches for 153 yards and a score. Jaylon Johnson, a two-time Pro Bowler, will be a tougher matchup than Stevenson, but he’s returning from a groin injury that held him out for all of training camp and the Week 1 loss and might struggle to keep up with the speedster.
Start or Sit: Start Jameson Williams.
