Lions double up Bears for ninth-straight loss |
CHICAGO - It was more of the same for the Chicago Bears (4-11) on Sunday as their losing streak reached nine games. This time, it came against the first-place Detroit Lions (13-2), who came into Soldier looking to rebound from their first loss in over two months. They responded in a massive way as the Lions opened the game with a 13-0 first-quarter lead before doubling up Chicago 34-17.
This was another frustrating loss to add to the table, as rookie Caleb Williams played out of his mind and did everything in his power to win this game. Sure, he did lose a fumble early in the game, but he responded by going 26-40 passing for 334 yards and two TDs. 141 of those yards went to Keenan Allen, who hauled in nine receptions, one of which went for a score. One of the most significant question marks coming into the game was how the Detroit Lions would handle not having David Montgomery in the backfield and rolling with Jahmyr Gibbs as the primary back. Well, he answered those questions in a big way as Gibbs finished the day with 109 yards on 23 carries and added a TD in the win. This was one of those games where the Bears couldn't have asked for a worse start to their game. After punting the ball away on their opening possession, resulting in a Jake Bates field goal, the Bears continued to shoot themselves in the foot as they fumbled the ball on each of their next two possessions. The first of those came on a botched snap from Williams to set the Lions up with excellent field position as Gibbs took it upon himself to move the ball inside the one and finishing the drive off with a one-yard TD. Looking to respond, Williams and the offense got off to a great start, with DJ Moore starting things off with a first down before D'Andre Swift went to the ground for a rare first down. The big play of that drive came on the 19-yard Rome Odunze reception as that play ended with the Bears second fumble in as many possessions to give the ball back to the Lions once again. Just like they did on their previous possession, the Lions cashed in off that turnover. A big pass to Jameson Williams helped set things up for a second Bates field goal to extend the lead to 13-0. Already down by two scores, the Bears offense continued to struggle. Another short drive gave the ball back to the Lions, where Williams took the pass from Jared Goff for 82 yards to extend the Lions' lead to 20-0. It took Chicago until midway through the second quarter for their offense to finally settle in. Once they did, they started to show signs of life. It may have taken 14 plays to get the job done and nearly eight minutes, but all that mattered was the Bears found a way to put points on the board. Odunze played a massive role on this drive, with more than 25 yards receiving on two receptions before Moore came down with another first down inside the 20. Looking to break through with the ball on the one, Williams found Kmet for the first of his two TD passes to pull the Bears within 20-7. Unlike most of the season where the Bears defense kept them in games, it has been their defense that has let them down in recent weeks as the Lions put up more than 300 yards of offense in the first half. That included another long TD drive late in the first half as Detroit went 70 yards on 11 plays to make this a 27-7 game. Gibbs played a role both on the ground and through the air, with Williams coming down with another big first down. Goff would cap off the drive with his second TD of the first half as he found Amon-Ra St. Brown for the eight-yard score. With less than a minute to go in the first half, Williams took it upon himself to make things a bit more interesting as he found Allen not once but twice on the Bears final possession of the half, including a 45-yard TD to pull within 27-14. Hoping that late TD would be the momentum shift the Bears needed, it was up to the defense to come through with a big start to open the second half, but after the 25-yard strike to Williams, the Bears were in trouble. That was the beginning of what was to come for the Lions on this drive as Goff found Sam LaPorta late for the 21-yard TD and opened up a 34-14 lead. Those were the final points of the game for the Lions as the Bears defense did tighten up late, but it was far too late by that point. Chicago did manage to score on their opening possession in the second half, with Cairo Santos picking up a 30-yard field goal, but that was it in terms of the scoring as the Lions doubled the Bears 34-17. With the loss, Chicago has dropped nine consecutive games and are on the verge of an 11 game losing streak to cap off the season. Chicago will be back on the field Thursday night as they close out the home portion of the schedule against the Seattle Seahawks.
