ALLEN PARK -- Jim Bob Cooter came into this week ready to defend the approach of a Detroit Lions running game that ranks next to last in the league with 77.4 yards per game and tied for last with 3.4 yards per carry. The offensive coordinator said it's been a work in progress of trying shotgun runs with pistol ones, trying to find the mix that can give runners a chance while keeping defenses on their toes.

"Our scheme is as versatile as anybody else's in the league with what we choose to do and what level we end up doing it at," Cooter said. "I would say it has not limited the backs."

Except the Lions play out of the shotgun for 74.3 percent of their offensive snaps, the most of any team in the NFL. Perhaps Cooter's point was more that the Lions will run out of shotgun and out of pistol, and they also mix in the occasional reverse with Jamal Agnew, Golden Tate or Kenny Golladay. In Sunday's 20-10 win over the Chicago Bears, the Lions had one of their more successful days running out of more pistol looks, averaging 4.6 yards on 20 carries.

Cooter went on about his challenge, of what he has to do as a play-caller to take advantage of the decreasing snaps a game that the Lions are devoting to the run game.

He had less to say about the men carrying the ball, specifically Ameer Abdullah, the starter he used to routinely give 14 to 20 carries a game who now has just one carry and eight snaps in two healthy weeks.

"I think Coach (Jim Caldwell) has covered the whole running back dynamic, depth chart, anything you guys want to talk about," Cooter said. "So, I'm going to fall under his answer."

When asked whether it was his decision or Caldwell's to bench Abdullah, Cooter held firm that Caldwell had the answers.

He was referring to Caldwell's use of a go-to line that every game is different and that the Lions build their strategies based on that week's opponent. What those strategies are or how they come to be are off limits to the public.

It's a strategy that Abdullah has shown he isn't entirely aware of either.

With two weeks to go in a playoff push, the running game remains the mystery the Lions have yet to solve. It's haunted them for the entirety of Caldwell's four seasons, as they have yet to feature a running back with 100 yards in a game.

"We could draw up nice round numbers like a hundred and figure out exactly why we have gotten to certain spots," Cooter said. "... Improvement is needed. I'm not too worried about round numbers."

Round numbers aside, the Lions have only hit triple digits in rushing yards as a team twice in 14 games, even though that was the target Caldwell listed for the production he wanted his group to average this season.

Detroit currently has a top-five passing attack, but the colder temperatures at outdoor stadiums like this week's game at the Cincinnati Bengals could put more emphasis on fixing an issue that has been broken for most of the season.

Time will tell if Abdullah earns work back in a backfield that has been split between Theo Riddick and undrafted rookie Tion Green as of late. Whatever the plan becomes, the time to find answers is running short.