September 13, 2020
I can’t remember the Bears ever overcoming a 17 point deficit entering the fourth quarter. It’s not often the Bear offense scores 27 points. It still took a sure touchdown drop by Detroit Lions receiver D’Andre Swift for the Bears to pull out a 27-23 victory.
Things were looking awfully similar to the 2019 team in the first half. The Bears had the ball in the red zone twice and came away with six points. Eschewing a field goal, Coach Matt Nagy went for a first down on fourth down and seven that failed. In the closing minutes of the half he called a timeout that backfired. The Bears went three and out. This gave the Lions time to score a touchdown before the half was over. Mitch Trubisky completed only 5 of 11 passes. The defense wasn’t much better, being picked apart by Lions QB Matt Stafford. On one possession, the Lions converted a third down and seventeen. The next series a third and 10. Running back, future Hall-of-Famer Adrian Petersen led all rushers with 93 yards.
After a long third quarter drive, the Lions converted a field goal for a 23-6 lead. I thought this game was over as the Bears rarely score 20 points per game. Then came the fourth quarter where Trubisky saved his job by throwing three touchdown passes. The third to wide receiver Anthony Miller was perfectly thrown. The defense also came up with a few good plays pitching a shut-out in the fourth quarter. An Akiem Hicks sack stymied a Lions drive. The key play was safety Eddie Jackson breaking up a pass that was intercepted by cornerback Kyle Fuller setting up the decisive touchdown.
There were some other positives. Nagy incorporated the run. For a change, this was a balanced offense until Trubisky had to pass for the Bears to come back. Nagy called 28 runs that gained 157 yards. Led by David Montgomery’s 64 yards, the Bears averaged over 5 yards per carry. Trubisky recovered from a poor first half, completing 15 of 25 passes in the second half.
The Lions are not a very good team and a loss could have set the tone for a bad season. Next up are two more winnable games, the New York Giants and Atlanta Falcons. Let’s hope that they can play a complete game and start the season 3-0.13, 2020
I love the word Eschew! I still think we are bad. The key to this offense is to go "no huddle" and treat every snap as if we are in the 2 minute drill. Asking Mitch to think and throw at the same time is dangerous! The Defense will be the first to tell you they sucked. Out of 60 plays, some good ones, but overall, not a strong effort. Worried about K Mack a bit. I did like the commitment to run and the 3 TE set!
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