Third quarter
Chicago gets the ball first and comes out with the curious strategy of attacking Darius Slay. It works, amazingly enough. On the second play, Trubisky offers up a back-foot prayer as he’s about to get rammed by Flowers. Allen Robinson leaps up and catches the ball over an unaware Slay, who was in decent coverage position but didn’t recognize ball fast enough. Great catch. The gain of 33 moves the ball into DET territory.
Three plays later, on 3rd-and-1, Slay gets (rightly) called for pass interference inside the 10. Robinson is probably guilty of OPI as well, but the throw is smartly out in front and Slay is holding from behind with his inside trail technique.
One play later a simple swing pass to Tarik Cohen gets horribly botched by the Lions defense. Rashaan Melvin goes under the screen instead of following Cohen outside. Christian Jones is late to flow out. Slay and Will Harris never move in reaction. At least Pineiro misses the extra point wide right and it’s 13-6 Chicago.
Yet another kick return where Jamal Agnew goes down with the first available tackler. It was an otherwise well-blocked return set-up too.
Driskel on the bootleg option is fun. It’s a very different dynamic than Stafford because of Driskel’s ability to tuck and really run. The commentary noting the similarity between the Lions and Bears Qbs in this game is spot-on. And as I make that note, Driskel throws a dreadful, Trubisky-esque INT to LB Nick Kwiatkowski. Staring down Golladay on a short slant, Driskel might as well have just walked out and handed the ball to Kwiatkowksi.
Trey Flowers fires up the defense with an exceptional play. The Bears try an end-around but Flowers is not fooled. He quickly dispatches the block and hammers Gabriel behind the line for a loss. Picture-perfect backside containment. Alas, Gabriel gets his revenge two plays later on a deep crosser. Gabriel runs away from Ford in coverage. Harris is the deep safety help but he literally does not move a muscle until after the ball is thrown. It’s a good throw by Trubisky but also inept coverage from the Lions DBs. Pineiro bangs home the conversion and it’s 20-6 Bears just like that.
Driskel’s first pass almost makes it 26-6. He stares down Hockenson on a quick out and Kendall Fuller just misses the walk-it-in pick-6. Perkins follows that up by jump-cutting out of a nice hole and into two Bears. If he sticks with the blocking it’s a nice gain but instead it’s a TFL.
Randomly exceptional pass protection rep from Golladay on a well-designed backside screen to J.D. McKissic. Good blocks by Jesse James and Taylor Decker out front too. Another great downfield block from Graham Glasgow on a subsequent screen and the Lions are moving.
A fantastic sidestep move by DT Nick Williams (now a Lion) beats Dahl in an embarrassingly easy fashion and Driskel gets sacked. Decker is guilty of a hold on the next play, wiping out a nice completion to Amendola, and the drive stalls. Lions punt from the Chicago 42 and the Bears take over at their own 12.
Really nice work by Slay, Coleman and Melvin in sorting out coverage against a bunch trips formation on 3rd down. A good pass rush impacts Trubisky and Tavon Wilson makes a fantastic open-field stop to force a punt. Agnew again goes down when the first Bear in the area breathes in his general direction. To be fair to No. 39 the blocking was not good here.
The quarter ends, fittingly, on an underwhelming Sam Martin punt. Still 20-6 Bears.
Fourth quarter
Corey Moore replaces Harris as the high safety and the impact is easy to see in coverage right away. He’s far more reactive and better at anticipation. It helps create a coverage sack by Flowers on a well-designed 4-man rush with a great feign by Jarrad Davis. Impressive defensive series from the Lions.
Mack figures out the Driskel bootleg action and it’s a problem. A panicked Driskel misses an open James as an outlet. On the next rep Driskel wants Golladay but he’s bracketed and Kwiatkowski nicely wraps him up on an improv scramble. It’s a very nice defensive series by the Bears, too much for a backup QB.
Another missed opportunity: both Harrison and A’Shawn Robinson get two hands on Montgomery behind the line but he escapes and gets positive yardage. Two plays later Kennard blows a sack as Trubisky spins away. The Lions still get the 3-and-out.
Hockenson gets the Lions rolling with a couple of very impressive catch-and-runs. He breaks four total tackles in two plays, both first down conversions. Driskel then completes a pass to himself to set up the play of the game for Detroit.
Driskel on the scramble to Golladay in 1-on-1 coverage against Fuller. Golladay wins the mismatch on a dime from Driskel:
Kenny Golladay aka Megatron Jr- seems like he does this every week. 48 yard TD from Driskel. #Bears lead the #Lions 20-13. #DETvsCHI #OnePride
— OmniView Sports (@OmniView_Sports) November 10, 2019
Prater clears the net on the extra point while trying to apparently launch the ball into Lake Michigan and it’s 20-13.
The Lions defensive front strings together several nice plays once again. Flowers is simply destroying the blocking. Tavai wraps up Trubisky for a sack on 3rd down on a 6-man rush that thoroughly flummoxed the Bears offense. Detroit is back in business.
Because no Lions game can be played without at least one officiating controversy…
4th-and-1 from the Bears 36. Lions line up in tight bunch formation. Golladay releases out and does indeed initiate contact with Fuller on a designed quick out to McKissic. Driskel had to hold the ball because of the coverage, however. By that point Golladay has taken his route across the middle. McKissic makes the catch but the late flag for OPI on Golladay negates it.
Was it letter-of-the-law interference on Golladay? Yes, yes it was. Do the Packers get away with this exact sort of play five-plus times per game? Yes, yes they do.
Driskel can’t connect with a well-covered Golladay on 4th-and-11 and the Bears take over with just over two minutes to play. He had Amendola wide open on the slot but never looked off Golladay. Pass protection continues to be very solid but it didn’t help here.
Harris makes a great stop to clean up a missed tackle by Tavai (who was being held) to force the Bears to punt. Coleman once again thrived in run support on this 3-and-out series. Detroit gets the ball back at its own 10 with 1:41 to go and one timeout.
The Lions set up in shotgun with an empty backfield, a signal for the Bears pass rush to tee off. Driskel in under duress on every play and it’s different Lions linemen getting beaten by the rush (Glasgow, Dahl, Crosby at RT) on various plays. A clutch 3rd-and-long dart to Jones keeps hope alive. Hockenson narrowly misses a diving catch deep down the middle and the Bears dodge a bullet when there is no flag for contact to Hockenson’s helmet as he lands. Hockenson promptly toasts Roquan Smith in coverage on the next play to set up the Lions near midfield.
Jones catches two more passes, the second of which is challenged by the Bears but upheld via replay. Fantastic pass protection pickup by McKissic to stone the rush and give Driskel time to make that throw, too.
Driskel once again errs by locking in on a receiver. He hits Golladay on a shallow cross but he missed seeing Hockenson breaking free on a corner route over the top that could have been six points. Failing to take the shot costs the Lions. After spiking to stop the clock, Driskel runs across the line of scrimmage and then throws a duck into a cluster of players in the end zone. The penalty ends the game. Bears win 20-13.
Good games: Trey Flowers, T.J. Hockenson, Justin Coleman, Jahlani Tavai vs. the run, Jarrad Davis in the box, Taylor Decker (vs. Khalil Mack), J.D. McKissic, Kenny Wiggins in pass protection, Dee Virgin on special teams
Bad games: Paul Perkins, Kenny Golladay except for the TD catch (2 bad drops), Joe Dahl, Jamal Agnew, Sam Martin, Will Harris, Jesse James, Christian Jones
The Lions had opportunities but missed them. Punting three times while in Chicago territory, two of them in very realistic FG range for Matt Prater, was a major factor in the loss. The final play could have been a potential game-winning FG attempt by Prater had the Lions tried some earlier. Driskel was not to Stafford’s level but was also not the primary problem.