Striking stat adds evidence to how Lions' offense may undergo a shift in 2025

Over the last two seasons, Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery have established themselves as the best running back duo in the NFL. "Sonic and Knuckles" complement each other perfectly, with Gibbs as the versatile big play threat and Montgomery as the more traditional workhorse-type. But they also can't be pigeonholed into those roles, with Gibbs plenty capable of taking on a big workload and Montgomery a very capable pass catcher.

New offensive coordinator John Morton will not be changing the core of what has made the Lions so successful the last few seasons. But he will surely add his own wrinkles to things, and it's worth wondering if he may shift the workload split in the Lions' backfield. More specifically, it's possible Morton will prioritize Gibbs and getting more out of him in a particular area.

In a general sense, while he's unlikely to fall off a cliff, some level of regression is in play for Montgomery this year.

Striking stat shows how Lions offense might shift dramatically in 2025

The Lions won 15 games last season, but the schedule was noticeably favorable with just three outdoor games and one of those was in San Francisco.

This year's schedule is noticeably different, with a far tougher cross-conference division (AFC North vs. the AFC South last year), seven outdoor games and 11 games against playoff teams from 2024.

Eight of the Lions 15 wins last year were by double-digits, and six of them were by at least 17 points. It's fair to assume there won't be nearly as many positive game scripts late in games this year. Rarely trailing in the fourth quarter made it easy to set aside in the moment, if it had been revealed, but looking ahead to this year this snap share data from Fantasy Points is eye-opening.