The calendar may have said Thanksgiving, but it was beginning to feel a lot like September as the Chicago Bears have a winning streak for the first time in two months, beating the Detroit Lions 24-20 to improve to 6-6 on the season.
Both teams landed blows on their first two drives, scoring touchdowns to make the score 7-7. The Lions attempted to pull away but never led by more than 10 points. Bears quarterback Mitchell Trubisky then led his team to touchdown drives in the third and fourth quarter, putting the Bears ahead for good, while the defense survived a last-ditch effort from rookie quarterback David Blough, making his first NFL debut on the national stage.
Like sides at a Thanksgiving dinner, there were many different takeaways from this game, such as the continued strong play of inside linebacker Roquan Smith, what’s going on with special teams and Chris Tabor, how the referees could miss a blatant roughing the passer call on Trubisky, or how valuable wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson is to this team. But here are my 5 takeaways that stuck out to me most during this latest Bears win.
1. Mitchell Trubisky finally played like it was 2018
Ever since he suffered his shoulder injury back in 2018 when the Bears defeated the Vikings, Trubisky simply hasn’t been the same. Prior to the injury, he had been on a heater, throwing for over 300 yards four times in six weeks and averaging a quarterback rating of 112.3 during that span.
After over a year, he finally returned to that form, at least for one game, throwing for 338 yards and three touchdowns with a 118.1 quarterback rating. For the most part, Trubisky looked sharp, leading the Bears to their first opening-drive touchdown since Week 4 and orchestrating a 90-yard scoring drive late in the fourth quarter that ended up being the game winner.
His day wasn’t perfect, as he did look timid at times while running and under-threw wide receiver Allen Robinson on a crossing route, resulting in an interception, but it’s clear this was easily his best game since last year’s win against the Lions at Soldier Field. The question is, can he build on it and string together these types of performances to mount one final playoff push?
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