The Detroit Lions dropped a divisional game to the Chicago Bears in gutless effort
Coming off their win against the New Orleans Saints the Detroit Lions went into the Windy City looking to down the Chicago Bears and earn their tenth win. Going into Chicago has never been easy for the Lions and today proved to be much of the same. They were outplayed by a last-place team and deserved exactly what they got.
Slow start, strong recovery in the first half for the Detroit Lions
The Lions started slowly against another NFC North opponent. Stop me if you’ve heard this before. A sack of a statuesque Jared Goff ended the first drive after a stupid penalty on Graham Glasgow. Then Goff threw an interception on fourth down ending the second drive of the day. And the defense wasn’t much better to start. Whether or not Aaron Glenn just isn’t a good coach is still after three years debatable at best. Pressure with no completed sacks, allowing Justin Fields to run (and throw!) at will led to a 10-0 Bears lead after one.
Ifeatu Melifonwu made an outstanding play on the Bears’ ensuing drive on fourth down to spark the momentum for the Lions. The Lions’ next drive continued with more penalties, giving them five to start the game not even halfway through the second quarter. Goff connected with Donovan Peoples-Jones on a huge fourth-and-three to keep the drive alive. Jahmyr Gibbs punched it in from 12 yards out to get the Lions on the board, but Riley Patterson missed the PAT continuing the unforced errors of the first half.
The Bears followed up the Lions’ score with a three-and-out, including a massive series from Aidan Hutchinson. The shift in momentum from the Melifonwu stop seemed to swing in the Lions’ favor. The Lions took the final four minutes of the half to sustain a drive that was capped by a Goff to Josh Reynolds touchdown toss. The sleepiness in the eyes of the Lions was wiped during the second quarter.
Woeful third quarter put the Lions behind the eight-ball
The Lions opened the second half with their own three-and-out and the Bears sustained an 11-play drive that knotted the game at 13-all. The Lions’ ensuing drive started with their seventh penalty of the game, a horrendous day for discipline in the Honolulu Blue. They completed that drive in another three-and-out, continuing their season-long woes during the third quarter. Their offense ran nine plays, gained 10 yards, and punted three times, giving the Bears half the field on offense twice.
The Bears took advantage of more third-quarter sluggishness on a wild sequence that resulted in a fourth-and-thirteen touchdown from Fields to D.J. Moore. Jared Goff continued to turn the ball over on the second snap of the Lions’ next drive when he lost the snap and gave it right back to the Bears. The third quarter finished with the Bears threatening and leaving 19-13.
The Bears capitalized on Goff’s fumble pushing the score out to 25-13. The Lions failed to gain another first down, including a horrendous counter play on fourth-and-short. The defense was able to hold and keep the game to two scores, something that ultimately didn’t matter.
What a disaster of a loss from the top down on this one.
