Coaches

Todd Downing enters his third season with the Lions and his second as the assistant quarterbacks coach after being promoted last offseason. He spent his first season with Detroit as an offensive quality control coach. Before joining the Lions, he coached three seasons with St. Louis as an assistant secondary/defensive quality control coach (2008) and a defensive assistant coach/assistant special teams coach (2006-07).

LIONS COACHING HIGHLIGHTS: Despite injuries at the Lions quarterback spot, all three of the team's signal callers maintained production throughout the season and all three have led the Lions to victory. In all, the Lions started QB Matthew Stafford (3 games), QB Shaun Hill (10 Games) and QB Drew Stanton (3 games), and the team ranked third in the NFL in completions (383), third in attempts (633), 12th in gross passing yards (4,001) and were tied for 11th in touchdown passes (26).

• For the first time in team history, three quarterbacks each registered 20-or-more attempts and a passer rating of 90.0 each in two games during the same season.
• The quarterback unit also produced 26 touchdown passes and 16 interceptions for a +10 difference. The last team to finished the season having three quarterbacks start three games and finished with a +10 TD to Int ratio was the Philadelphia Eagles in 1993 (+10, 23 TD to 13 Int; Randall Cunningham, Bubby Brister and Ken O'Brien).

Downing originally entered the NFL with the Minnesota Vikings, spending three years on the Vikings coaching staff as the Offensive Quality Control Coach (2005) and football systems analyst (2003-04), helping the Vikings to a Top 5 Offense in all three years and a playoff appearance in 2004. During the summers from 2000-02, Downing played quarterback for a semi-pro team, the Minnesota Maulers.

Before entering the NFL ranks, Downing began his coaching career with Eden Prairie High School in Minneapolis (1999-2000). In 2000, he helped his alma mater to the Minnesota Class 5-A state title.

A native of Eden Prairie, MN, Downing studied Business Communications at the University of Minnesota (1999-2002) and now resides in Michigan with his wife Julie.