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We're Black and Blue All Over:

The Detroit Lions had a busy news day Monday. We noted both the charity of quarterback Matthew Stafford and the poor behavior of receiver Titus Young, but that left out plenty of other tidbits.

Running backs Jahvid Best (concussion) and Mikel Leshoure (Achilles) were both on the field, participating in a limited portion of the Lions' opening organized team activity (OTA) of the offseason. So was rookie receiver Ryan Broyles, who is six months removed from major knee surgery.

Middle linebacker Stephen Tulloch, meanwhile, didn't practice because of knee tendinitis and might not be back on the field until training camp. That's a bit of a disconcerting turn of events for a player so critical to the Lions' 2011 improvement, but keep in mind that Tulloch hasn't missed a game in his six-year career.

Continuing around the NFC North:

• Broyles didn't participate in all of the drills Monday but got a personal side session with Stafford and offensive coordinator Scott Linehan, according to Carlos Monarrez of the Detroit Free Press.
• Lions defensive tackle Nick Fairley showed off a new physique at Monday's OTA, according to John Niyo of the Detroit News.
• The 2012 season will be "very important" for Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, according to Justin Rogers of Mlive.com.
• Former Chicago Bears running back Garrett Wolfe is headed to the CFL, according to Jeff Dickerson of ESPNChicago.com.
• At some point, writes Mark Potash of the Chicago Sun-Times, the Bears will have to decide whether to give running back Matt Forte a "shut-up-and-play" deal.
• We discussed the possibility of the Bears acquiring tight end Kellen Winslow, but he ultimately was traded to the Seattle Seahawks, notes the Associated Press.
• Kendra Meinert of the Green Bay Press-Gazette has a review of Green Bay Packers receiver Donald Driver's turn Monday night on "Dancing with the Stars."
• The Packers termed it "simply speculation" that team president/CEO Mark Murphy has interest in the Stanford athletic director job, according to Rob Demovsky of the Green Bay Press-Gazette.
• Murphy once had interest in the job, writes Jason Wilde of ESPNMilwaukee.com, but not now.
• The Minnesota Vikings will soon have discussions with Minnesota State, Mankato, to create a long-term contract on training camp, according to Judd Zulgad of 1500ESPN.com.
• Martiga Lohn of the Associated Press examines the state funding mechanism for the Vikings' new stadium.
• Final passage of the bill by the Minneapolis City Council this week appears inevitable, writes Eric Roper of the Star Tribune.

Below are a few award-winning thoughts on the Saturday evening return of left tackle Jeff Backus and backup quarterback Shaun Hill to the Detroit Lions.

• Both players signed two-year deals. ESPN's Adam Schefter reported that Backus' contract is worth $10 million. We don't yet know what Hill received.
• The Lions never gave an indication they planned to move on from Backus, who will turn 35 during the season and had surgery immediately after the season to repair a torn biceps muscle. They know they will have to replace him sooner than later, but long-term answers at left tackle rarely are available in free agency. They almost always come through the draft, and it's something to keep an eye on next month. The Lions now have the flexibility to draft a possible replacement without needing to insert him immediately into the lineup.
• Veteran Marcus McNeill visited earlier this week, and his situation is a perfect example of how left tackles who are available often are damaged goods in some way. McNeill is a two-time Pro Bowler but has had two neck surgeries and suffers from spinal stenosis. It would have been hard to count on him for more than a year-by-year basis.
• Backus had trouble with some of the NFC North's elite pass-rushers last season, but he is nothing if not reliable. His streak of consecutive games played is 176, and there is every reason to believe his biceps will heal in time for the 2012 regular season.
• Barring an unexpected offer to start for another team, it was difficult to imagine Hill leaving the Lions. He has a long history with offensive coordinator Scott Linehan and quarterbacks coach Todd Downing and would have been starting over had he signed with the St. Louis Rams.
• The Lions chose Hill, 32, over Drew Stanton, 27, who departed Friday for what could be the No. 2 job with the New York Jets. Both players had some success during the 2010 season, but Hill was an acquisition of the Lions' current regime while Stanton was a draft choice dating back to the Matt Millen era. I would feel more comfortable with Hill, but there is also an undeniable comfort level between the sides.
• Barring any late Saturday evening news, I'll check in with you Sunday. Night-night.

We're Black and Blue All Over:

We noted last month that all four NFC North teams faced decisions on their quarterback depth this offseason. The Detroit Lions, specifically, had to decide whether to bring back backups Shaun Hill and Drew Stanton -- both of whom are pending free agents -- or if they would use the positions to help draw down their bloated salary-cap structure.

Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press reports that Hill is likely to return, one way or the other, even if it means taking a "slight discount" to make it happen.

That makes sense for all parties. Hill has a longtime connection with offensive coordinator Scott Linehan, performed well when the Lions needed him in 2010 and understands that he won't get a chance to beat out starter Matthew Stafford. That's a pretty good combination for a backup quarterback.

Continuing around the NFC North:

• The Lions added former NFL safety Marcus Robertson to their coaching staff as a defensive assistant, notes Chris McCosky of the Detroit News.
• Secondary coach Tim Walton has received added duties in coordinating the Lions' third-down package, writes Philip Zaroo of Mlive.com.
• Chicago Bears rookie linebacker J.T. Thomas was arrested Monday morning and charged with misdemeanor drug possession in West Virginia, notes ESPNChicago.com.
• Former Bears defensive tackle Tommie Harris is "overwhelmed" by support from the Bears and the city of Chicago after his wife died suddenly over the weekend. Sean Jensen of the Chicago Sun-Times has more.
• The Bears' window to place the franchise tag on running back Matt Forte opens Monday, writes Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune.
• Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy has anticipated moving Ben McAdoo to quarterbacks coach for the past two years, writes Kareem Copeland of the Green Bay Press-Gazette.
• Former quarterbacks coach Tom Clements, now the Packers' offensive coordinator, plans to spend a lot of time around the quarterbacks, writes Bob McGinn of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
• McCarthy considered hiring Alex Van Pelt to his staff in 2006, writes Jason Wilde of ESPNMilwaukee.com.
• Minnesota officials need more input from Minneapolis leaders in order to push the Minnesota Vikings' stadium proposal to the next level, writes Doug Belden of the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
• Former Vikings defensive line coach Karl Dunbar was hired by the New York Jets, according to Judd Zulgad of 1500ESPN.com.

On several occasions during his tenure, Detroit Lions coach Jim Schwartz has emphasized the importance of drafting players with a specific role in mind for the team's scheme. In researching our 2011 All-NFC North team, it became clear that tight end Brandon Pettigrew is a prime example of that philosophy.

I chose Green Bay Packers tight end Jermichael Finley over Pettigrew for the team, but that shouldn't diminish Pettigrew's fundamental importance to the Lions' offense. The Lions drafted Pettigrew with the No. 20 overall pick in 2009, the highest selection for a tight end in the past five years. In 2011, we found out explicitly why a rebuilding team had prioritized what is normally a complementary position.

Offensive coordinator Scott Linehan has a long history of utilizing tight ends in the passing game, and one of his primary philosophies is to use the same personnel in various sets to limit the ability of defenses to match up. Pettigrew has ably filled the role of a reliable, if unspectacular, workhorse under those parameters.

The Lions used Pettigrew in 2011 as much as any team in the NFL used their top tight end. He was on the field for 1,043 snaps -- more than every tight end except the New England Patriots' Rob Gronkowski -- and played the fifth-highest percentage of his team's snaps (94.5).

The Lions targeted Pettigrew on 115 passes, tied for the third-highest total among NFL tight ends, and his 83 receptions also ranked third.

In choosing Finley, I noted that he was used in a lower-percentage scheme that featured more downfield passes. Pettigrew, on the other hand, was in many ways an extension of the Lions' running game.

But that's the point, isn't it? Pettigrew demonstrated the diversity required in the Lions' scheme. It requires a level of pass-catching skill to haul in 83 passes, no matter how short they are. And because he is more than an adequate blocker, there was never a reason to take him off the field. As a result, Pettigrew's presence never tips off a defense about an upcoming play call.

On another team or in a different scheme, drafting Pettigrew in the first round would have been a luxury. But the Lions insisted he would be an integral part of their approach, and in 2011 he was.

Previewing some of the big decisions facing NFC North teams early in the 2012 offseason:

Our Air and Space division boasts arguably the top grouping of starting quarterbacks in the NFL. We have a presumptive MVP in the Green Bay Packers' Aaron Rodgers, a 5,000-yard passer in Matthew Stafford of the Detroit Lions and, in the Chicago Bears' Jay Cutler, an upper-level starter who was having perhaps his best season before fracturing his right thumb in December. The Minnesota Vikings, meanwhile, are hoping for a big jump from first-round draft pick Christian Ponder in 2012.

The relatively settled nature of those starters overshadows what could be division-wide change in their backups. The Packers' Matt Flynn, the Lions' Shaun Hill and Drew Stanton, the Bears' Caleb Hanie and the Vikings' Sage Rosenfels are all pending free agents. Let's look at the decisions awaiting each team:

Packers: Flynn could draw interest as a potential starter from several teams, most notably the Miami Dolphins -- who hired former Packers offensive coordinator Joe Philbin as their head coach last week. The Packers' only chance to keep him would be to use their franchise tag, requiring a commitment of about $14 million in cash and cap space. That's not going to happen. The logical successor is third-string quarterback Graham Harrell, and the Packers might have revealed their intentions by promoting him to the active roster late this season when he began receiving interest from other teams.

Lions: Quarterback depth is valuable, but you wonder if a team with tight salary cap problems can afford to keep two vested veterans behind their franchise quarterback. Hill ($3.02 million) and Stanton ($900,000) accounted for about $4 million in cap spacein 2011, and if the Lions desperately wanted to shave that figure, they could promote Stanton and sign him to a cheaper contract than what Hill was paid last season. But Hill has a longtime association with offensive coordinator Scott Linehan and is generally considered one of the most reliable backups in the NFL. There are no easy answers here.

Bears: Hanie's disastrous stint as Cutler's replacement might have sealed his exit from Chicago. But the Bears will have new offensive leadership with coordinator Mike Tice and a quarterbacks coach/passing coordinator who has yet to be hired, so it's possible the new regime will have other thoughts. The Bears didn't think enough of rookie Nathan Enderle to start him in a meaningless Week 17 season finale, making it hard to imagine his ascendance to No. 2. That could leave veteran Josh McCown, another pending free agent, as an option. Or the Bears could seek help on the free agent market themselves.

Vikings: The situation in Minnesota is less clear-cut. Ponder remains the starter, and 2011 backup Joe Webb is under contract for 2012. Webb was impressive in one start and appearances in 10 other games, accounting for five touchdowns, but the Vikings' continued commitment to Ponder suggests they might look for other ways to use Webb. If he develops into a hybrid receiver/quarterback/returner, it's possible the Vikings would want an established veteran behind Ponder. That could be Rosenfels, a longtime favorite of general manager Rick Spielman, or he could come from elsewhere.

In discussing a mailbag question Wednesday, we saw no indication that the Detroit Lions were planning any changes to their defensive coaching staff after a late-season slide. Thursday, general manager Martin Mayhew confirmed that defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham had signed a new contract to return in 2012.

The same goes for offensive coordinator Scott Linehan and special teams coordinator Danny Crossman. So there you go: all three will be back.

Cunningham's future wasn't an unreasonable discussion point, but coach Jim Schwartz had never suggested anything but support for his friend and longtime colleague.

Mayhew spoke Thursday to a group of Detroit-area writers, acknowledging that the Lions have some difficult offseason work ahead of them. He said he will approach receiver Calvin Johnson about a contract extension, presumably to lower a projected $22 million cap number, but said a deal this offseason isn't "something that absolutely has to be done." As we discussed Monday, if the Lions don't extend Johnson, he would be eligible for a crushing franchise tag figure of about $26.4 million in 2013.

Mayhew also said he hopes to re-sign defensive end Cliff Avril and left tackle Jeff Backus, both of whom are eligible to become unrestricted free agents. Mayhew wouldn't commit to using the franchise tag on Avril if the sides can't come to an agreement before the free agent market opens in March.

Here are reports from Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press, Chris McCosky of the Detroit News, Anwar S. Richardson of Mlive.com and Tim Twentyman of the Lions website.

We're Black and Blue All Over:

Minnesota Vikings tailback Adrian Peterson convinced Dr. James Andrews to perform a quicker-than-normal surgery on his injured left knee because he has been in "severe" pain, according to Tim Yotter of Viking Update, and wanted to get the rehabilitation process started as soon as possible.

Peterson will have surgery Friday, six days after tearing two ligaments and suffering other damage in the knee. Typically, doctors prefer patients to wait until swelling has reduced, but that was not the case in this instance.

The Vikings have set a goal of getting Peterson back for the start of the 2012 season, a timetable that probably represents a best-case scenario.

Continuing around the NFC North:

• The Vikings need a victory Sunday to avoid going winless in the NFC North, a sign of how much work they have ahead of them, notes Tom Pelissero of 1500ESPN.com.
• The Vikings are investigating a number of stadium sites in downtown Minneapolis, according to Mike Kaszuba of the Star Tribune.
• Brian Murphy of the St. Paul Pioneer Press profiles retiring tight end Jim Kleinsasser.
• Sunday could be a chance to change the career of Green Bay Packers quarterback Matt Flynn, writes Tyler Dunne of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
• Pete Dougherty of the Green Bay Press-Gazette: "It looks like Chad Clifton will get every chance in the next week and a half to move back into the Green Bay Packers’ starting job at left tackle for the playoffs after missing the last 2½ months because of hamstring and back injuries."
• The Packers are still rotating players at right outside linebacker, notes Jason Wilde of ESPNMilwaukee.com.
• Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford knows he will be judged by how he plays in the playoffs. Mike O'Hara of the Detroit News explains.
• Lions offensive coordinator Scott Linehan has resurrected his career over the past few years, writes Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press.
• Pro Bowl special-teams ace Corey Graham wants to play defense for the Chicago Bears, writes Vaughn McClure of the Chicago Tribune.
• Dan Pompei of the Chicago Tribune thinks the Bears are making a mistake if they don't use rookie quarterback Nathan Enderle extensively Sunday against the Vikings. Pompei: "You can't shove a young quarterback in the back of a freezer until you need him and then expect him to be microwave ready at a moment's notice. Getting a young quarterback ready to play is a process that should be deliberate and calculated."
• Bears linebacker Lance Briggs didn't bite on a question about his request for a new contract, according to Michael C. Wright of ESPNChicago.com.

Our investigation is complete. Yes, it's true. Calvin Johnson did not have a touchdown reception in the Detroit Lions' 25-19 loss to the San Francisco 49ers, his first scoreless game of the 2011 season.

We will give him a pass, especially after catching an NFL record nine touchdowns in the Lions' first five games. For those interested, Johnson remains on pace to challenge the NFL record for touchdown reception in a season, as the chart shows.

So what happened Sunday against the 49ers? According to ESPN Stats & Information, the Lions didn't target him on a single pass in the end zone after doing so nine times in their first five games, the second-highest total in the NFL over that span. And only one of the nine passes they threw his way came in the red zone.

First, we should be reasonable in our expectations. The pace Johnson set early this season was historic and, quite frankly, impossible to maintain. Randy Moss went three games without a touchdown in his record-breaking 2007 campaign, and we should be careful not to consider it a failure for Johnson to go scoreless.

He was an afterthought Sunday because, frankly, the 49ers made sure of it. Watching the game live at Ford Field, it was quite obvious the 49ers were not going to give him an easy opportunity in single coverage for one of his patented jump balls.

I can't account for every play on the Lions' four trips to the red zone, but he routinely faced a second and sometimes third defender near the end zone. Lions receiver Nate Burleson told reporters the 49ers were "masters of bracketology," meaning they consistently bracketed Johnson with multiple defenders.

Quarterback Matthew Stafford found Burleson and tight end Brandon Pettigrew for touchdowns on two of the red zone trips, but the Lions settled for short field goals on the other two. Coach Jim Schwartz lamented one deep pass that Stafford threw out of bounds in the direction of Johnson, but otherwise said: "There were a lot of other ones where there was probably a better place to go with the ball."

Schwartz added: "We want to get the ball to Calvin. We were moving him around a lot. A couple of those passes where he was getting glances inside of a corner, he's playing a position that he normally doesn't play. [Offensive coordinator Scott Linehan] was moving him around a lot to try and get him open. … We all need to do a better job of getting open and winning one-on-ones when teams take that approach with Calvin."

You were asking throughout our SportsNation chat Tuesday afternoon if the Detroit Lions would acquire a running back before the NFL's trade deadline. Many of you wanted them to pursue Cleveland Browns running back Peyton Hillis. As it turned out, the Lions had their eye on veteran Ronnie Brown, who has been wasting away on the Philadelphia Eagles' bench this season.

I'm not sure if we can immediately evaluate the impact of what could be a minor trade. The Lions gave up next to nothing to finalize the deal: A seventh-round draft pick and veteran Jerome Harrison, whom they were hardly using themselves. But Brown has gotten one fewer carry (13) this season than Harrison (14), and at 29 -- and after knee and foot injuries earlier in his career -- it's not clear how much he has left.

Said Matt Williamson of Scouts Inc.: "He struggles to make people miss now and I don't see much of a burst/acceleration."

At the same time, Brown offers some promising potential. He has always been an above-average receiver, a critical attribute in the Lions' passing offense, and at 230 pounds is a much better power option than starter Jahvid Best. As a rookie with the Miami Dolphins in 2005, his offensive coordinator was current Lions play-caller Scott Linehan. And if the Lions have any plans to use a version of the Wildcat offense, Brown was the key component in the original scheme the Dolphins introduced in 2008.

The biggest question this trade raises is one even the Lions might not be ready to answer: Did the Lions acquire Brown simply for depth at a relatively thin position? Or are they concerned about the long-term status of Best, who is dealing with his second concussion in three months?

Concussions are difficult to project and the Lions might not have a handle on Best's recovery timetable right away. If he can't play this week against the Atlanta Falcons, I would expect Maurice Morris to start in his place. If that's the case, the Lions should know better than anyone if they should trust Harrison as his backup. Obviously, they wanted a different option.

Calvin Johnson's 73-yard touchdown reception Monday night made him the first player in NFL history to catch nine touchdowns in the first five games of the season. It also provided further fuel to MegatronWatch, keeping the Detroit Lions receiver on pace to shatter the league record for touchdown receptions in a season.

I'm not sure if it's reasonable to expect Johnson to keep scoring at his current pace of 1.8 touchdowns per game. But he doesn't have to in order to break Randy Moss' record. At this point, Johnson needs 15 touchdowns to set a new record of 24. That's an average of 1.36 touchdowns over the Lions' final 11 regular-season games.

I realize those are some big numbers, but the key point of MegatronWatch is to track how Johnson's pace compares to the history before him. Moss had seven touchdowns after five games in 2007 for the New England Patriots. Jerry Rice, meanwhile, had six after five games in 1987. Rice finished that 12-game season with a stunning blitz of 16 touchdowns over the 49ers' final seven games to finish with 22.

One interesting development for Johnson has been his right-handed success this season. According to ESPN Stats & Information, Johnson has caught eight of his nine touchdowns outside the right hash mark. Overall, 65 percent of his receptions have come on that side of the field in 2011.

It makes sense that Johnson would have most of his success on the outside. And most right-handed quarterbacks will look to the right side of the field instead of across their bodies to the left. I don't see any great schematic clues here. To me, it's just a testament to offensive coordinator Scott Linehan's beautifully transparent scheme.

Linehan isn't trying to trick opponents. When he has a player who can win in any matchup, be it Moss in Minnesota or Johnson with the Lions, he'll line him up in a favorable place and get him the ball. The rest is up to the player. So far, so good for Johnson.

DETROIT -- Greetings from the general Detroit Metro area, where people keep telling me that Monday night will feel like a playoff atmosphere at Ford Field. I can tell you this much: Members of the tourist industry -- airline employees, car rental agents and hotel staff -- are all decked out in their Detroit Lions garb. When you arrive in Detroit, there is no doubt a football game is fixin' to be played.

That's a start!

I'll be heading downtown in a few hours. But first I wanted to hit a topic that ESPN's Trent Dilfer treated with better context than I could. In his weekly ESPN Insider column, Dilfer breaks down the Lions' offense in a way I haven't seen before.

First, the raw numbers from ESPN Stats & Information:

Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford has thrown 88 percent of his passes (141 of 161) from the shotgun. Through the first four weeks of the season, Stafford had thrown 27 more shotgun passes than the next most-frequent NFL quarterback.

But an interesting thing has happened on the rare occasion when Stafford has taken a traditional center snap. He's completed 15 of those 20 passes, including six for touchdowns, and hasn't thrown an interception.

Dilfer, naturally has a strong opinion on this dynamic. He thinks the Lions are smart to be in the spread as often as they are, considering their lack of a power running game and the premium they're putting on protecting Stafford. Their success in the small sample of under-center plays should not spur them to do more of it, Dilfer writes. Instead, it reflects in several cases an audible by Stafford. In others, the Lions lucked into favorable matchups.

Many NFL teams use the shotgun, some as their most popular formation. But Dilfer writes that Lions offensive coordinator Scott Linehan has devised the NFL's purest form of the spread offense that he's seen:

Without getting into all the nuances of the various spread offenses you see at the college level, I'll say this: In reviewing the film, I've watched every snap the Lions have taken on offense this season (more than once, in fact), and I don't remember a team running a system closer to what, say, Kevin Wilson was running for years at Oklahoma, producing a run of great quarterbacks. Even New England isn't quite like this, and Tom Brady is in the shotgun constantly. But that's what the Lions under offensive coordinator Scott Linehan are doing this season.

As we get closer to game time Monday, the Chicago Bears should know what the Lions plan to do. How to stop it will be their challenge. If you're interested, here is a handy filter link for all of our "MNF in Detroit" posts over the past week.

This week's Have at It covered the NFC North's four offensive playcallers. It quickly turned into a debate between two men: Green Bay coach Mike McCarthy and Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Scott Linehan.

I asked who you would hire to call plays on a new staff. Most of you eliminated Minnesota Vikings offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave based on his thin two-game résumé in the NFC North. And let's just say that Chicago Bears offensive coordinator Mike Martz isn't high on many lists -- at least those who want to see the Bears win games.

Wrote duckieduck78: "Usually OCs call plays that emphasize teams' strengths. Martz calls plays that expose teams' weaknesses."

Our SportsNation poll left McCarthy a clear winner with about 60 percent of more than 8,000 votes. Your comments were a bit less definitive, but sgunderson17 offered this blunt assessment: "MM, hands down. You don't win a SB with a coach that can't shred the Steelers defense."

I was a little surprised by how many of you are down on McCarthy's fourth-quarter play-calling, presumably when the Packers are leading. Biggest Cheese: "Play calling goes ultra-conservative, and we basically let teams back in. I'd take McCarthy in Q1-3."

Wrote ellamont76: "McCarthy needs to improve his 'four-minute offense' where they need to run out the clock at the end of a game with a lead. They seem to have trouble transitioning from pedal-to-the-metal to grind it out and chew up clock."

3c3PO19 termed this debate "a weird one for Packer fans" and added: "He does seem to back off the offense's strengths later in the game to try and grind out wins. While we understand that 'grind-out' nature limits turnovers and eats clock, I think we have all seen enough teams 'catch' the Pack to know he is playing with fire by not utilizing the weapons he has for a full 60 minutes. I still think MM is at the top based purely on past performance. But he's not perfect."

I think I get what you're saying, even if it might be an overreaction relative to the big picture. In Week 1 against the New Orleans Saints, for example, the Packers took a 42-27 lead early in the fourth quarter. Then they ran on five consecutive plays to open their next possession, had two unsuccessful passing plays and punted.

The series took nearly five minutes off the clock but obviously left enough time for the Saints to make things interesting. But if the Packers had opened that drive with a few passes that stopped the clock, I imagine many of you would be just as upset, if not more.

Few of you had anything bad to say about Linehan. In fact, the only time I've heard him criticized as a playcaller came when he was with the Vikings in 2004, when he got a little too cute at the end of a game against the Seattle Seahawks; a reverse pass by receiver Randy Moss halted a Vikings comeback.

For the most part, however, you recognized Linehan as flexible, open-minded and humble enough to recognize that what works best isn't always what he would prefer to do.

Wrote Zumayander: "Linehan seems to take Mike Martz's best quality, his aggressiveness as a playcaller, and temper it by making the scheme fit the personnel and maximizing potential."

Bobbyg640 thinks "Linehan gets the best out of his players" and praised his ability to craft an increasingly productive scheme without the benefit of a strong running game: "In spite of their weak ground game, they have been one of the highest scoring offenses over the past two seasons."

ESPN analyst Trent Dilfer offered some kind words in his weekly Insider column, writing that he likes Linehan "because he succeeds without being overly complicated." Linehan, wrote Dilfer, "finds successful plays, then runs plays off those plays, adding deception out of familiar setups. Defensive players will tell you, the gimmicky formations aren't as hard to deal with as teams that use the same formations to do a lot of different things. That's Linehan."

My take? Dilfer listed Linehan as an "underrated playcaller," and if anything, I hope this exercise brought to light that Linehan is running one of the NFL's top offenses. Regardless of what you might think of his time as the St. Louis Rams' head coach, Linehan has successfully developed quarterbacks and offensive schemes at every stop of his career as a coordinator.

With that said, I'm not sure if McCarthy gets enough credit for his creativity and his willingness to try new things. And I would classify your objections to his "four-minute" offense under game management rather than play calling.

Otherwise, let's not forget that on the way to their Super Bowl XLV victory, the Packers used more five-receiver sets and more three-back formations than any other NFL team. You don't see teams finding more distinctive spots on the NFL spectrum than that. And this season, McCarthy has unveiled a modified no-huddle offense that will give opponents a new wrinkle to consider.

Some of you might be tempted to give quarterback Aaron Rodgers credit for making calls or changing some plays at the line of scrimmage. That's fine. Rodgers is following the template McCarthy has established. After last season and the first two games of 2011, I think McCarthy deserves the benefit of our doubt.

NFC North playcallers have been in the spotlight during the first two weeks of the season, moreso than I think any of us would have imagined.

The Minnesota Vikings' Bill Musgrave has gone out of his way to listen to the suggestions of his players. But he went neo-conservative in Week 1 against the San Diego Chargers, calling a run of 15 of 19 first-down plays.

Mike Martz reverted to his pass-happy ways last Sunday against the New Orleans Saints, calling for a pass on more than 80 percent of the Chicago Bears' plays.

And Green Bay Packers coach/play-caller Mike McCarthy bristled at questions about what has been roughly a 70-30 pass-run ratio this season.

The only play-caller to escape scrutiny, one way or the other, has been Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Scott Linehan, whose group has scored 75 points in two games for a red-hot team.

So I figured now was a good time to dive into this realm. For this week's edition of Have at It, tell me which coordinator/play-caller you would choose if you were hiring a staff. The SportsNation poll embedded in this post puts the question a bit more bluntly, but the results will help form our follow-up post.

I realize we're only two weeks into the season, but I think we all have plenty of NFC North institutional memory for Martz, McCarthy and Linehan. Musgrave is admittedly a little bit more of a mystery.

The chart provides an interesting starting point for your discussion. It shows how each play-caller has approached first down, which theoretically is the uncommitted blank canvas that best reveals true intentions and philosophy. You'll see that McCarthy is nearly 50-50 on those plays, with everyone else veering in one direction of the other.

Keep in mind a few things:

• The numbers in the chart count sacks as passing plays. Most notably, Bears quarterback Jay Cutler has been sacked five times on first-down passing plays.
• Quarterback scrambles count as running plays, meaning these numbers are a bit conservative toward passing. But we're only two weeks into the season, so I don't know if a few scrambles would changes these ratios dramatically.
• First-down ratios are obviously not the only measure of a play-caller nor even the most important. Points are the bottom line, and here is how NFC North offenses stand in that category, excluding special-teams and defensive scores: Lions (75), Packers (65), Bears (36) and Vikings (30).

Leave your thoughts in the comment section below. As always, I'll publish a representative sample, along with my own thoughts, by the end of the week. Have at It.

After the Detroit Lions' 27-20 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, here are three issues that merit further examination:

1. Kevin SeifertThe Lions take their 1-0 record with them into the examination room.
   Offensive coordinator Scott Linehan picked the perfect moment for a play the Lions had been planning all week. They were convinced that Bucs cornerback Aqib Talib would play receiver Calvin Johnson tight and aggressively, making him prone to a double move. That's exactly what Linehan called for on fourth-down-and-3 from the Bucs' 36-yard line in the second quarter. Talib bit on Johnson's initial move, giving the Lions receiver a chance to get a step down the right sideline. Talib tipped quarterback Matthew Stafford's pass, but Johnson kept his concentration for what turned out to be a 36-yard touchdown play. "We knew Talib was going to jump on everything," Johnson said. "So we took advantage of it." A deep pass on fourth-and-3 isn't a high-percentage play, but the Lions felt as confident as they could possibly feel that Johnson would be open and trusted Stafford to drive the throw. Said Stafford: "Perfect play for that situation. We knew we had an aggressive corner over there guarding Calvin that wanted to make a name for himself against a great receiver, and Calvin made a great play."
2. Stafford called Johnson's second touchdown "one of the best catches I've seen him make." Stafford added: "It was just unbelievable for him to hold on to it all the way through the catch with the guy draped all over him." Indeed, Johnson leaped to catch a pass misdirected by sudden cramping in Stafford's right leg. He came down with both feet in bounds, maintained possession with Talib hanging on him and then held the ball high in the air until officials ruled it a touchdown. That final step wasn't by accident. A year after officials ruled he did not complete the catch on his now-infamous play against the Chicago Bears, Johnson said: "Oh yeah, I'm keeping that ball up. I don't want to give them a chance to make that call."
3. The heat was real and spectacular Sunday, as was the strength of the Florida sunlight. "It was one of the worst I've ever played in," said receiver Nate Burleson, who was one of several Lions players to suffer cramps. "I hydrated all week. I really did. It was something you couldn't do anything about." Temperatures reached 90 degrees with a heat index of 94 degrees. The sun was brutal itself. In the postgame locker room, backup quarterback Shaun Hill sported the most dramatic farmer's tan I've ever seen. The Lions will no doubt be thrilled to return to Ford Field this Sunday.

And here is one issue I don't get:

I'm not sure I realized how much of a difference an active, energetic and decisive middle linebacker can have on a team. Of all the talented players the Lions sport on defense, I thought middle linebacker Stephen Tulloch stood out more than anyone. You didn't see much action from the defensive line because they were rotating liberally to beat the heat. Tulloch, on the other hand, played most of the game and finished with four tackles, a sack and two quarterback hits. The coaching staff displayed its trust by assigning him spying duties on quarterbacks Josh Freeman and Josh Johnson. Tulloch sacked Freeman once and nearly sacked Johnson on another play. More important, Tulloch added a sure-tackling, hard-hitting dimension to the Lions that will complement the nastiness of their defensive line well.

The Detroit Lions' interest in adding a running back was one of the worst-kept secrets in the NFC North this weekend. Sunday, they claimed a power back who on paper has an appropriately different skill set than starter Jahvid Best.

Keiland Williams is a 230-pound power back who gained 261 yards and also caught 39 passes in 15 games last season with the Washington Redskins. He'll join a group that includes Best along with veterans Jerome Harrison and Maurice Morris. Aaron Brown was released Sunday to create Williams' roster spot.

I'm betting that Harrison will be the first runner off the bench early this season, but Williams is an intriguing prospect. Here's part of the Scouts Inc. player evaluation on him: "Williams is a big, strong back with power to move the pile on contact. He lacks great burst and speed but has good inline vision and cutting ability. He has reliable hands as a receiver out of the backfield and is able to pick up chunks of yards downfield."

As we've discussed, Best can be a big-time playmaker but isn't really a feature back. The Lions hoped to use rookie Mikel Leshoure in that role, but Leshoure's season-ending Achilles injury forced a change to those plans.

General manager Martin Mayhew is known for tweaking his roster throughout the season, so I wouldn't say he is finished dealing with the repercussions of Leshoure's injury. But for now, Harrison, Morris and Williams will provide offensive coordinator Scott Linehan some credible options.