Offense

• It’s very evident that at least part of the Bears game plan was to run the ball as much as possible. The first 6 plays were runs of one type or another. Ultimately they ran 35 times for 258 yards.
• Quarterback Justin Fields was under a lot of pressure from the lions. They seem determined to blitz and put pressure on the offense. Fields was 12 for 20 for 168 yards and a passer rating of 99.4.
• Once again, Justin Fields legs was the most potent part of the offense. He ran 13 times for 147 yards and 2 touchdowns. He made some mighty tough runs, not the least of which was the first touchdown run, where he slammed into two Lions players to get into the end zone. Fields has me holding my breath constantly after every hit. The 50 yard touchdown run for his second touchdown was breath taking as well.
• However, once again, Fields was not the only contributor. David Montgomery wasn’t bad (9 runs for 37 yards) but Khalil Herbert got the bulk of the carries and had a very good day (10 runs for 57 yards).
• I’m trying to be patient, but I really wish that Fields would get rid of the ball more quickly. He holds it awfully long and I know he can get away with it because he can scramble with the ball. But eventually he’s got to develop into a better passer.
• One of the things I’ve noticed is that Fields is getting everyone lined up, but he’s waiting until fairly late. In the play. Clock countdown to snap the ball. I think he’s waiting to see if the defense performs any late shifts. This is something new and it sounds like a pretty good idea.
• Really nice job by Cole Kmet adjusting to the ball on his second touchdown of the day late in the third quarter. That was a tough catch even though he was wide-open. Fields threw the ball far behind him. Heck of a play. I’m finally starting to think that they might have something in Kmet. In the end Kmet had 4 receptions for 47 yards and 2 touchdowns.
• Byron Pringle had a good day, his first game back from injured reserve. Fields seemed to be looking for him.
• The Bears were 6 of 11 on third down and 0 for 1 on fourth down.

Defense

• It looked like Detroit’s plan was to run the ball against the Bears. They did do a nice job of mixing in short quick passes. But my impression was that they thought they could run on the Bears on the early downs. They ran 31 times for 95 yards for a below average 3.1 yards per carry in the end.
• As poor as the Bears defensive line, is it getting pressure with their front four, I will say that they did a bit of a better job of getting penetration against the run this game. There were a few tackles for loss from the defense from players like Armon Watts, Justin Jones and Jack Sanborn.
• The Bears seemed to blitz Jared Goff, quite a bit more than is their want. Evidently, they realized they had to get pressure on him to succeed in this game. Blitzing was the only way to do it. The defensive line is very rough for the Bears and they just cannot get pressure otherwise. In the end they still only sacked Jared Goff twice.
• On a related note, I might add that they were right to do everything that they could to pressure Goff. Anytime Goff had time, he ripped up the Bear is secondary. The Lions had a good day passing the ball (19 for 26 for 228 yards)..
• I do not think that I have to add that Goff did this by throwing away from Bears quarterback, Jaylon Johnson. Jaylon Jones saw a lot of action to his side until he was replaced by Lamar Jackson, who immediately committed a pass interference in the end zone. Golf picked on Kyler Gordon, and the safeties as well.
• Amon-Ra St. Brown had himself a day. My guess is that he was wound up and ready to compete with his brother who is a Bears wide receiver. He came out and performed. He had 10 catches for 119 yards.
• Jack Sanborn was all over the place. He had another good day. He had 12 tackles (2 for loss) , two sacks, and he should’ve had an interception that was taken away for a hands to the face penalty.
• The first Lions touchdown was really a nice play. The tight end slipped out unnoticed after making a fairly good fake block down on the defensive end. Goff needed plenty of time to pull it off, but he got it and it was a very smooth play to a wide-open receiver.
• The Lions were five for 11 on third down and one for one on fourth down. A comparable day to the Bears.

Miscellaneous

• Kevin Kugler, former Bears quarterback Mark Sanchez and Laura Okmin were your announcers. I have to say that I’ve never been a big fan of Sanchez. His charm is lost on me. But he surprised me and I thought he did a very good job in this game. Sanchez did a nice job of bringing in replays to point out good teaching points on the plays as the game progressed. It was good work.
• The broadcast was not helped by some lousy audio work. There was a microphone somewhere, possibly down on the field, that was making a lot of background noise and it made it very hard to hear Kugler, Sanchez and Okmin at times in the second and third quarters. That was some poor work.
• On special teams, Herbert had a nice kick return in the first quarter. He took it 50 yards. Cairo Santos has a rough day. He kicked a kickoff out of bounds to set the Lions up in good field position in the third quarter. Then as Fields ran for a magnificent touchdown to put the Bears ahead, he missed an extra point to keep it at a six point game. It ultimately cost the Bears the game.
• The Bears were very undisciplined today (9 penalties for 86 yards). They had some bad penalties that killed a fair number of drives. For instance:
  • one holding call in the red zone on Braxton Jones brought them back 10 yards to second and 14. The Bears settled for a field goal.
  • Jones had another holding penalty on the second drive that killed it.
  • On another drive a facemask penalty from Cole Kmet set them back 15 yards.
  • Jaylon Jones had a pass interference in the end zone that contributed to the Lions first touchdown drive.
  • An unnecessary roughness penalty when Jaquan Brisker shoved Goff out of bounds, helped along an important Lions drive in the fourth quarter. That drive was also helped by a holding call on Johnson. The unnecessary roughness penalty was borderline, but still dumb.
  • A hands to the face penalty on Johnson eliminated a Sanborn interception and kept a Lions drive going in the fourth quarter. Detroit scored a touchdown instead.

  Neither their offense nor their defense is good enough to make up for deficits like this.

• I’d say that turnovers weren’t a big part of this game. Fields interception in the fourth quarter hurt but he was under pressure, and it was not unusual. The Lions had no turnovers.
• This was a bit of a bad loss for the Bears as losses this year ago. The year was never about wins, but this one hurt because of the way it came about. Way, way too many penalties with the Lions getting almost none. The Fields interception was the only turnover.To be outplayed by the Lions, who played a very clean game, did not make for a great afternoon.

  I suppose ultimately the good news is that Fields continues to develop, and the rest of the team continues to develop around him. But it seems like they have a long way to go, especially the defense. Lots and lots of mistakes were made and these have to be corrected and some talent upgrades have to be made for the Bears are going to be able to play defense like a competent NFL team.