The Detroit Lions made headlines two weeks ago when they decided to trade wide receiver Golden Tate to the Philadelphia Eagles. On the surface, it looked like a strong deal for both sides. The Lions get needed cap relief and a 3rd round pick. The Eagles get a proven veteran receiver for their thin passing attack. However, according to members of the Chicago Bears defense it was also a major case of self-sabotage.
Tate had over 500 yards receiving at the time he was traded. So it’s not like he was over the hill. The decision felt entirely based on financial considerations. That’s all fine and good for the future, but this team isn’t built for the future. They’re trying to win now. Matthew Stafford is 30-years old. The last thing a team should do is take away weapons from him. Especially when the team is 3-5 going into a critical divisional game.
Prince Amukamara explained last week that the exit of Tate changed their game plan. In fact, it made things easier for them. One thing that always frustrated them was his ability to take short passes and turn them into longer games. With him gone, the Lions no longer had anybody at receiver capable of that. It showed on Sunday.
Bears defense forced Lions to run offense that would’ve featured Tate
Nate Atkins of MLive caught on to what the Bears were trying to do. It was a simple game plan. Stop running back Kerryon Johnson and take away the deep ball. This would force the Lions to shift to a quick passing game on screens, quick outs and slants in order to move the ball. The type of game that Tate was great at. Except they didn’t have Tate anymore.
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“We know they have double moves in their system, and we didn’t want to get beat by anything dumb,” Amukamara said. “Our job was just to keep things in front of us.”
When he was here, Tate could take passes out of the flat or a few yards downfield and make a stop-and-start move or break a tackle to rip off a big gain or at least move the chains. Without him, the Bears let Lions receivers get open in the flats only to zip in and slam them down for a minimal gain.
As a result, the Lions had no consistency in their offense. They went 3-and-out three times. And amid their comeback attempt, they had to work into third-and-long and move the chains with Marvin Jones or Kenny Golladay only to reset and take more time off the clock.
“This far into the year, offenses are going to run what they’ve been running. They’re not going to install something crazy this year,” Amukamara said. “Teams have their bread and butter. And that’s what we saw today.”
Put simply the Bears defense dared Detroit to try something new.
Something that could get other players on their offense more involved. They didn’t and paid the price for it. Stafford was sacked six times, threw two interceptions and completed just 59.5% of his passes. Detroit was 7-1 against the Bears since they signed Tate in 2014. They’re already 0-1 without him. That tells a lot.
It’s not a coincidence that Bears cornerback Bryce Callahan had a big day. That’s the guy who would’ve been primarily covering Tate in the slot. The Lions can complain about a lot of things from that loss, but the truth is they made things unnecessarily harder on themselves. Chicago knew it and wasted no time making them pay.
