The Philadelphia Eagles once had the most viral play in the NFL. Now, it’s the Detroit Lions’ turn.
Two years ago, the Philadelphia Eagles came up with the “tush push” play on the way to a Super Bowl appearance. Now, the Detroit Lions (13–2) have a signature play known as the “stumble bum” that the team executed on Sunday.
Lions quarterback Jared Goff apparently stumbled amid a feigned handoff to running back Jahmyr Gibbs, who also stumbled afterward as Goff fired a touchdown pass to tight end Sam LaPorta. The third-quarter touchdown play designed by offensive coordinator Ben Johnson turned into the marquee moment of the Lions’
34–17 win over the Chicago Bears (4–11) at Soldier Field.
“It was great,” LaPorta
told reporters afterward. “Ben’s as creative as they come. It was great to go out there and execute that. All 10 of the guys executed it. So cool to get that one off the call sheet and come up with a touchdown there.”
The Lions had it planned sooner in the game, actually.
“So, we called it before in the game, but we killed it because I guess it was a certain look,” Gibbs told reporters afterward. “But then we did it again a couple of drives later. I didn’t know if it was going to work or not, but I was hoping.”
It has a similarity to the “tush push” because of the avant-garde approach to an offensive play. In the Eagles’ “tush push,” quarterback Jalen Hurts would
lunge forward for short-yardage gains as the running backs gave him an extra boost from behind.
Fresh off of a 48–42 home loss to the Buffalo Bills (12–3), Johnson felt the offense could use an extra boost. Goff first heard about the trick play idea not long after the Lions’ second loss of the season.
“It started on Monday with Ben asking me if he thought I could actually fumble on purpose and pick it back up, and I was like, ‘I don’t know about that,’ and we kind of got off that pretty quickly,” Goff
told reporters on Sunday. “The genesis was that’s a good play for that scheme … but they’re in tune with it on defense that ... it’s hard to get that on them because those linebackers are so dang good at seeing it develop.”
Nonetheless, Goff made it work on a day where he threw for 336 yards and three touchdowns as Detroit won 13 games for the first time in franchise history. Gibbs likewise had plenty of big moments besides the trickery amid 109 yards rushing and a touchdown on 23 carries plus 45 yards receiving on four catches.
The Lions remained in the driver’s seat for the NFC’s top seed with the victory. Whether or not the Lions will follow the Eagles in a Super Bowl run amid gadget-play fame remains to be seen.
