VIDEO: Ben Johnson’s reaction to Lions’ fake stumble touchdown is priceless

The Detroit Lions dropped the mic’d up moment from their brilliant fake stumble trick play vs. the Chicago Bears.

The Detroit Lions’ crazy trick play against the Chicago Bears—officially called the stumblebum—continues to be the gift that keeps on giving. The play may be almost a full week old at this point, but on Friday, the team dropped their mic’d up video from the game, and it captures the absolute joy from that moment.

As a quick reminder, with the Lions already up 27-14 early in the second half, offensive coordinator Ben Johnson dialed up a trick play inspired by a 2023 gaffe-turned-touchdown from the Packers. On the play, quarterback Jared Goff pretended to stumble, running back Jahmyr Gibbs intentionally fell down to the ground, while several players on the field yelled that the team had fumbled the ball. That froze the Bears defense enough for tight end Sam LaPorta to leak out from his in-line position unnoticed. Goff then regained his balance and floated the ball over the defense’s heads to a wide-open LaPorta for a touchdown and a 34-14 lead.

In the mic’d up video, we see everything from this moment in the game. With Taylor Decker wearing the mic, we hear Goff make the play call:

“Hey, this is where we can finish them right here. Stumblebum,” Goff barks out in the huddle.

From there, it’s just pure joy. Decker is laughing his butt off, the Lions radio team is just putting it all together that it was a trick play, and the Lions sideline is going crazy.

But most satisfying of all is Johnson’s reaction. He tends to keep a pretty even-keeled demeanor on the sidelines, with his focus almost always being on the next play. But you can tell that play meant a lot to him. Just check out his isolated reaction:

Coach Dan Campbell called the play Johnson’s “baby” after the game, so it’s no wonder he was so excited when it worked. That said, this week Johnson downplayed how special the play was—but you can tell he’s just being a little modest.

“Honestly, I think the Penei (Sewell) pass is a little bit more special than that one, personally,” Johnson said. “That one, that’s a play that every team runs, and we just happened to put a little hot sauce on the ball-handling.”

You can watch the entire mic’d up segment below.

And the entire “Sights and Sounds” video from the Bears game, featuring Decker on the mic, is available on YouTube here.