Dhruv Koul shares his in-game reactions, thoughts and observations from the Bears-Lions Thanksgiving Day showdown at Ford Field. Follow him on Twitter @DhruvKoul to continue the conversation.
DETROIT — The Chicago Bears survived the woeful New York Giants at Soldier Field four days ago, improving their record to 5-6. While their playoff hopes are all but dashed, they maintained some level of respectability for another week, heading into the final game of the season where the Bears will likely be favored: Thanksgiving Day against the Detroit Lions at Ford Field.
With the pre-game news coming out that undrafted rookie QB David Blough will start for Detroit, this becomes about as must-win for respectability and, probably, job security, as a game can get. A win gets the Bears to 6-6, back-to-back wins, and perhaps some vigor entering the final month. A loss… and all bets could be off heading into the off-season.
In the end, the Bears played a maddeningly sloppy game, but came back to win an ugly one on the road on Thanksgiving. They are 6-6 and still breathing. Great job to seal it. And hats off to Mitch Trubisky for making some CLUTCH plays after a ghastly INT in the second half.
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I shared my in-game reactions, thoughts and observations from the game below. Follow me on Twitter @DhruvKoul to continue the conversation. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!
Thoughts and Observations
1. (Pre-Game) David Blough starting for the injured Matthew Stafford and Jeff Driskel is another bout of weirdness for the Bears. He’s a completely unknown commodity. When the Bears had to surprisingly face Driskel at Soldier Field a few weeks ago, his mobility and surprising accuracy (at times) caught the Bears off-guard. With limited tape on Blough, the Bears have to adjust their defensive gameplan for an unknown commodity yet again.
For the Bears on offense, with Taylor Gabriel and Ben Braunecker both out, the onus shifts to Javon Wims and Jesper Horsted to pick up the slack at WR and TE respectively. Let’s see if 4th-round rookie WR Riley Ridley gets to play today as well.
2. The game started very strangely, with off-setting penalties on the opening kickoff. Very Bears-Lions. Cordarrelle Patterson took the re-kick out from seven yards deep (???) and returned it to the 50 (!!!). And then the Bears went methodically down the field and scored a touchdown on their opening drive! No incompletions, no negative plays, just a steady, strong drive. Great start here in Detroit. And good for the Bears and Mitch Trubisky to start the game strong like that.
3. Well… that didn’t last long. Three plays later, David Blough’s first NFL completion went 75 yards to a wide open Kenny Golladay for a touchdown to tie the game at seven apiece. I mean, there was no one around for miles. Prince Amukamara clearly thought he had help — he didn’t. The Bears’ defense with a miserable blown coverage to start the game. That doesn’t happen too often, but it CAN’T when you’re going against very good WRs, even if the QB is a third-stringer.
4. Two drives for the Lions, two touchdowns without much resistance from the Bears’ defense. David Blough looks poised and accurate, the pass rush can’t do anything and the secondary is absolutely lost. It’s 14-7 Detroit in the first quarter. What a brutal start on defense. But I, for one, am not surprised.
The offense, meanwhile, has resorted to its regular ways. After the opening drive touchdown, the Bears have gone three-and-out on two straight possessions. Trubisky misfired all over the field, including a near interception on a max-protect play where he had all day. When the script dies and he has to improvise, he is bad. Also, the Lions have adjusted from a few weeks ago and are playing more zone coverage — which is what Trubisky always struggles with. He’ll have to beat it to win the game.
5. Anthony Miller is having a rough game after a good showing against New York. He nearly coughed up the football (ruled incomplete), and then had an illegal formation coming out of a timeout on fourth down. He’s so talented, but he just can’t do many things right consistently. Painful to see someone so talented play this inconsistently and make so many mental mistakes.
6. Near the end of the first half, Trubisky was driving the Bears to get points before halftime. He decided to take off on third down, had a clear first down available, and ran backwards instead to get tackled for a fourth down. It’s one of the most inexplicable decisions I’ve seen in a while… Bears settled for a field goal to make it 17-10 Detroit at the half. Nagy had a good talking to with his QB after that play. Let’s just say…
7. The Bears have had a tale of two third quarters. The defense forced a three-and-out, and Trubisky was putting together a nice drive before he was intercepted on a woeful throw in Lions’ territory. After the defense survived on the sudden change, Trubisky put together a beautiful drive with accurate, decisive throws, highlighted by a couple third-down conversions. Finally, Jesper Horsted (!!!) reeled in a beautiful throw for a touchdown (great catch, too), to tie the game at 17. We’re almost at the end of the third quarter, but that was a very good drive to rebound.
8. The Bears’ defense couldn’t quite hold it together on the ensuing drive. They got picked apart by a strong running game and good read/throws from David Blough to march Detroit down the field. Thanks to a touchdown-saving tackle by Kyle Fuller, the Bears held Detroit to a field goal. They lead 20-17. The Bears need a drive, what can the offense do?
9. Turns out, it’s a three-and-out. Trubisky once again decided to be gun-shy and avoided contact where he could’ve scrambled for more yards. It’s clear he doesn’t want to get hit. Next play on third down, he was sacked.
Matt Nagy’s expectation of his players is to be ready for “all out” war if they’re playing. If Mitch is worried such that it’s affecting his decision making, like it has at least twice today now, maybe he shouldn’t play…
10. After taking over inside their own 10 yard line and starting with a penalty, Mitch Trubisky led quite a brilliant drive down the field to get to the Detroit 2 before the two-minute warning. He connected on two great deep balls with Anthony Miller on that drive to keep it alive — both on third downs. A delay of game (how?) penalty pushed them back to the 7-yard line. But the Bears scored a touchdown anyway, before the two-minute warning. A beautiful drive down the field. Wow. Growth!
11. I’ll even venture out to say this:
12. Wow, after a miserable final two minutes with undisciplined play and stupid breaks for the Lions, the Bears survive. Roquan Smith with a HUGE sack to bring up 4th and 22, and then Eddie Jackson picks off the prayer to seal it. I mean, holy hell.
13. Just fucking win, baby. They did. The Bears are 6-6! Great job coming back on the road to win it.
14. The Bears play next Thursday night, hosting the Dallas Cowboys at Soldier Field. Dak Prescott has gone from the definition of replacement-level to a bona fide solid NFL starting QB. He’s the best QB the Bears will have played in weeks. And that might be too much for the offense to overcome.
Early prediction: Cowboys 27, Bears 17.
