The Detroit Lions looked like they had chance to control this game and then the third quarter happened and all hell broke loose in the worst way and the Bears ran up the score. The Lions couldn’t get the comeback win this time and they lose 28-13 to the Bears.
As always, I have thoughts on this game. These are those thoughts:
Hell Quarter
Scientists need to take the Lions and study what it is that happens to them in the third quarter every week. This might have been the worst one yet. The Lions went three and out three times and fumbled on the fourth drive.
If that weren’t bad enough, the Lions allowed 10 points. The seven points in that equation came on a 4th-and-13 where the Lions just bit on everything they could and allowed a big D.J. Moore touchdown. Even worse, the Lions allowed a another touchdown on the other side of that fumble and went down 25-13.
Ben Johnson got outcoached
I know everyone loves Ben Johnson, but he had a very unimaginable day on Sunday. The Lions offense went out and had maybe the worst and most predicable second half of football that they’ve had in quite some time. I’m talking Patricia predicable. Lots of run, run, pass up the middle type stuff. The Bears sniffed out each and every one of them and kept the Lions off the board.
I don’t know where you go from here, but for a guy that’s expected to be the most sought after head coaching prospect in the NFL, it’s fair to expect a lot more from him.
Goff Report
Something happens to Goff when he plays this Bears team. He threw a bad interception early and nearly threw two more as the game went on before throwing a second one late when the game was lost. Then there was a lot of wobbly throws and some miscommunication. The fumble snap is bad as well of course. He finished the day going 20-35 for 161 yards one touchdown and two interceptions.
Stacking Problems
This is really the lesson of the day. The Lions took problems and then stacked more problems on top of them. Darnell Mooney catches a first down and then Alex Anzalone hits him out of bounds and that first down play that already hurt gets another 15 yards added to it. You fumble the ball in your own territory and allow a touchdown. Then you turn it over on downs in your own territory and allow a field goal.
Don’t forget biting on the fourth down touchdown to Moore. Just taking problems and stacking them. You can’t win that way.
The Bears largely did the same thing they did last time
The Bears really didn’t hit the Lions with anything that the Lions shouldn’t have expect to see. Justin Fields ran all over the place and they threw deep to D.J. Moore. The Lions defense just couldn’t stop it from happening. It’s a coaching problem for sure, but it’s also a personnel problem. The Lions just don’t have the talent on defense to get it done. That’s really it. The Lions are going to have to really make sure they bulk up on the defense in the offseason or they will be put into situations like this.
The Lions roster decisions look even worse now
I’m not saying that the Lions win this game if they make a few different elevation decisions, but what they didn’t do on Saturday really hurt them. They didn’t elevate guard Michael Schofield who has 86 starts at right guard and Goff got sacked four times in this game. Not to mention the Lions struggled to get the run game going.
They also didn’t elevate Bruce Irvin and didn’t sign Quinton Bohanna tot he active roster. Both sat this game out despite both playing well. The Lions got ran all over again and struggled to create pressure outside of a few instances in the first half.
I am not saying fire anyone. I know that will be the first reaction. All I will say is that the Lions have made some questionable decisions this season and this is one of them.
It’s not the end of the world
Some Lions fans are going to hate me for this, but at no time am I going to look at a 9-4 football team and just say that everyone needs to be fired and that they won’t win another game this year. There’s good days and bad days for every team. This was bad day. I don’t think that this is something that happens every week. The Lions need to clean things up and then hope that they can get healthier and back on track. Simple as that.