Jared Goff saved Ben Johnson from taking Lions fake-fumble play too far

A "fake fumble" play is the type of thing that used to happen to the Detroit Lions. But now it's the kind of play the Lions do to other teams. Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson and Jared Goff pulled off the fake fumble in today's 34-17 rout over the Bears, running it to perfection in the third quarter. I'm not sure if anyone was actually fooled by the fake fumble, but the play resulted in a touchdown, so I'm still calling it a roaring success.

The funniest part of Detroit's fake fumble play is that it was almost a real.. fake... fumble play. A fake real fumble play? Whatever — the point is, Johnson suggested to Goff that he actually fumble the ball on the play... and Goff countered with a fake fumble instead, which the Lions ended up running.

For some reason, the thought of Detroit running this play "three or four" times in practice and then pulling it out during the game is so funny. They basically said three reps is enough, we're playing the Bears after all.

Detroit is messing with opponents at this point

The Lions offense is so good right now that Ben Johnson pulling out fake fumble plays isn't even that much of a shock. Scoring 34 points is basically the floor from this unit each week, and anyone stopping them seems far-fetched. Even with major injuries on the defensive side, this team is rolling into the playoffs because of how much of a machine Ben Johnson has turned this offense into..

How do you disrupt a team that's running NFL Street plays in Week 16 of the season? Jahmyr Gibbs was basically rolling around in the backfield trying to recover a fumble that didn't exist.

Was Ben Johnson auditioning for a head coaching job with the Bears? Who knows. But he showed a pretty good sense of humor to his future potential employer if so.