Post by D6 on Nov 14, 2022 2:29:11 GMT -5
Thoughts in ****
Instant observations: Lions win second game in row, snap NFL-worst road skid
Instant observations: Lions win second game in row, snap NFL-worst road skid
Updated: Nov. 13, 2022, 5:42 p.m.|Published: Nov. 13, 2022, 4:10 p.m.
By Kyle Meinke | kmeinke@mlive.com
CHICAGO -- The Detroit Lions busted one losing streak last week. This week, they slayed another.
Running back Jamaal Williams plunged across the goal line for a 1-yard, go-ahead touchdown run late in the fourth quarter, then the defense -- yes, that defense -- sacked the elusive Justin Fields on a wild fourth-down play to seal a 31-30 comeback win on Sunday against the Chicago Bears.
The victory snaps an NFL-worst 13-game winless streak on the road.
“Boy that’s brutal,” head coach Dan Campbell told MLive last week. “When you just said that, I haven’t thought of it like that. That’s rough. I think we will talk about that now.”
A few days later, the streak is officially dead. The Lions have now won two straight games overall, which might not sound like much, but it is their first winning streak of any kind since taking back-to-back games early in the 2020 season. And as strange as it might sound, the midseason spurt has catapulted the Lions from the top of the draft order to the outskirts of the postseason chase.
**** Tremendous job by the Lions in coming back from 14 points down in the 4th QTR to beat the Bears on the road, end the road games winless streak, and finally win two games in a row. The Lions Defense came up big on 4 out of Bears drives in the 4th QTR: Forcing two Punts, the interception return for a TD by Jeff Okudah, and the 4th Down sack by Julian Okwara on what became the Bears final play on Offense in the game. The Lions Offense had 2 TDs in the 4th QTR, including on a 91 yard drive that was the eventual game winning points, following the PAT. The Lions overcame differential plays by Justin Fields, the Bears overall running game, and numerous mistakes on both sides of the ball. It was the first time since 1993 that the Lions overcame a 14 point deficit in the 4th QTR to win a game. And the first time since 2018 that the Lions had an interception for a TD. ****
At 3-6, they’ve passed the Bears for second place in the NFC North and trail San Francisco by just 1.5 games for the final playoff spot. The 49ers host the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday Night Football. Detroit will return to action next week in New York against the Giants.
**** The 49ers beat the LA Chargers.
Realistically, the Lions aren't going to come close to making the playoffs, when factoring in the Lions schedule ahead and injuries. But at least the Lions have two straight wins, including a comeback road win, to try to build on. ****
The Lions prevailed in a dramatic back-and-forth game that saw them trail by as many as 14 points in the fourth quarter. Then the Bears began to unravel, committing three defensive penalties -- one of which nullified a Jared Goff interception that might have otherwise sealed Detroit’s defeat -- to set up a 9-yard touchdown run by D’Andre Swift. That drew Detroit to within 24-17.
**** Much like the Lions, the Bears are a young team that makes plenty of mistakes. Even before the Lions Offense came on to the field on the eventual TD drive that the Bears committed 3 Defensive Penalties on, the Bears were called for Holding when they Punted. That gave the Lions great field position (Detroit 45 yard line). ****
Then just two plays later, Fields -- so good with his feet all day, running for 147 yards -- made a huge mistake with his arm. He threw the football up for grabs while under duress, and Lions cornerback Jeff Okudah picked it off before racing the other way for a game-tying pick-six.
****Great play by Jeff Okudah. But also, by Aidan Hutchinson in recognizing the Bears were setting up a screen play. That threw off the timing of the play. Justin Fields lack of experience (relatively speaking) was a huge factor in Fields in throwing the ball in harm's way, when being pressured by Isaiah Buggs and Will Harris, after Hutch made Fields hold the ball earlier on the play. ****
Crushing penalties? Back-breaking turnovers?
The Lions can relate.
But the Bears didn’t go away, because Fields is just that good on the ground. One week after running for 178 yards against Seattle -- an NFL record for a quarterback -- he blasted up the middle of the Lions defense for a 67-yard touchdown that pushed the Bears back ahead. But they missed the extra point -- again trying to out-Lions the Lions -- and the lead was just 30-24.
**** The move Justin Fields put on Kerby Joseph to break free helps illustrate the movement skills of Fields. Then his speed was on display when he went the distance, with a great decision to take an angle in the latter part of the run, to help prevent Jeff Okudah from catching him.****
Late in the fourth quarter, with 91 yards of grass between them and the end zone, Detroit went to work. Goff hit chunk plays to Kalif Raymond and Amon-Ra St. Brown, although no play was bigger than the third-and-8 pass Goff threw to a wide-open Tom Kennedy. The deep reserve was playing because of injuries to wideouts like DJ Chark, Jameson Williams, Josh Reynolds and Quintez Cephus. He didn’t make a catch all day, until his team was on the ropes.
**** The Bears were blitzing much more in the 2nd half, playing much more man to man coverage. Their strategy worked well until the 91-yard TD drive by the Lions. ****
Suddenly, the Lions had the ball at Chicago’s 13-yard line with 3 minutes left on the clock. St. Brown took a shovel pass to the 1-yard line on the next play, then Williams barreled into the end zone to send the Lions to their first road win under Campbell.
Then for the second straight week, their league-worst defense showed yet more signs of life by shutting the door on a divisional opponent.
Rookie safety Kerby Joseph, the reigning NFC defensive player of the week, was flagged for defensive holding on a third-down stop. But Aidan Hutchinson sacked Fields to set up third-and-long, then after Fields danced out of two would-be sacks on fourth down, edge rusher Julian Okwara finally brought him down for good.
**** This was one of Hutch's best games of the season and it was definitely Julian Okwara's best game. Okwara lost contain on Justin Fields 28 yard run, the first Bears play from scrimmage in the game. After that, for the most part, Okwara played disciplined football, a necessity against Fields and the overall Bears Offense****
It wasn’t easy, and it certainly wasn’t pretty. But the Lions took advantage of their opponent’s mistakes, then turned the tables on them quickly in the fourth quarter. That’s encouraging progress from a team that had the worst record in the league just two weeks ago, and began offloading personnel like defensive backs coach Aubrey Pleasant and Pro Bowl tight end T.J. Hockenson.
Now the club is 2-0 since those moves, and moved onto the periphery of the postseason chase. Let’s be honest, they’re probably not actually in the chase. Not with winning teams on deck like the Giants, Bills, Vikings and Jets over the next five weeks. But confidence is clearly surging too, along with belief in Dan Campbell.
**** Winning 2 straight games, both against Divisional Opponents, when a late stop on Defense was needed, certainly improves the confidence level of the Lions. If the Lions can win at least a couple of games in the upcoming 5 game stretch (the Jaguars are the other opponent), a 7-10 record this season becomes realistic. ****
Let’s get to some observations:
-- Stopping Justin Fields at full strength is tough enough. But the Lions weren’t even that. They ruled out starting linebacker Malcolm Rodriguez before the game kicked off, then lost defensive tackle Josh Paschal (knee), defensive end Julian Okwara (knee) and safety DeShon Elliott (brain) to injuries in the first half. Paschal and Okwara later returned, and Okwara delivered the game-deciding sack -- his second of the day -- although Elliott never did. He suffered a brain injury trying to stop Fields on the quarterback’s incredible touchdown run at the end of the first half. The ball was snapped from the 1-yard line, then Fields ran for more than 32 yards -- including stepping out of a would-be sack by Isaiah Buggs deep in the backfield -- before finally crossing the goal line.
**** Justin Fields made a terrific play. While Hutch had an overall good performance, he lost contain on the eventual TD by Fields.****
C.J. Moore, a special teams ace, replaced Elliott to open the second half. Moore was cut coming out of training camp before returning to the team this month. Fields went right at Moore and rookie safety Kerby Joseph, and found Cole Kmet for touchdowns of 6 and 50 yards on the next two series to open up a 14-point lead.
****C.J. Moore struggled at Safety when coming into the game for the 2nd half. Especially, in the 3rd QTR and against the run. ****
-- D’Andre Swift hasn’t looked like D’Andre Swift since the first couple weeks of the season. He’s now been totally cleared of the ankle and shoulder injuries that have plagued him this season, yet looked worse than ever in Chicago. He made his first start since Sept. 25, but lost 5 yards on his first three carries and faded from the offensive game plan. He did have a 9-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter -- his first touchdown run since Week 1 -- but finished with 6 yards on 6 carries overall. It’s hard to make of what’s going on with the third-year back, but at this point, Jamaal Williams looks like Detroit’s best running back, injuries or not.
****
D'Andre Swift is far from relatively healthy. If he was relatively healthy, Swift would be handling a much greater workload. ****
-- To be fair, Swift wasn’t the only running back who struggled. The Lions averaged just 3.1 yards on 31 carries against Chicago and were awful in short-yardage situations. There’s no real reason for that either, because the Bears’ defensive front hasn’t played well this season. Meanwhile, Detroit has spent first-round picks on guys like Frank Ragnow, Penei Sewell and Taylor Decker, while Jonah Jackson just went to the Pro Bowl last year. Yes, right guard Halapoulivaati Vaitai hasn’t played this season because of a back injury. But Evan Brown has played enough snaps there this year to get comfortable. Yet that group was pushed around in short-yardage situations most of the day, before finally paving the way for Williams at the goal line in the final minutes.
**** The Bears run Defense has been much better in recent games than earlier in the season. They played aggressively against the run. In the 2nd half, they were much more aggressive in calling blitzes, with a much higher rate of man to man coverage. The Bears didn't respect the Lions deep passing game. ****
-- Amon-Ra St. Brown hasn’t looked like Amon-Ra St. Brown in a while either, due in part to a high ankle sprain that slowed him after the Minnesota game in Week 3. But he sure looked healthy in this one, catching his first seven targets, all of which moved the chains. He personally accounted for seven of Detroit’s first 12 first downs while lining up just about everywhere where a wide receiver can. Detroit clearly believed he was ready to be more involved, and was committed to making it happen. St. Brown finished with 10 catches on 11 targets for 119 yards overall. With 140 career catches, he’s now on the top-10 leaderboard for most catches through 25 career games in NFL history.
****Amon-Ra St. Brown deserves a game ball. His passion, heart, effort, and savvy were on display. ****
-- Dan Campbell said the Lions would be fine -- and perhaps even better -- without T.J. Hockenson. Through two weeks, it’s fair to say Jared Goff misses his security blanket. Hockenson was leading this team in receiving at the time of his trade to Minnesota, after all. But the other tight ends have stepped up in his stead. On Sunday, Brock Wright became the third tight end to catch a touchdown pass since the trade, and he caught it on fourth down no less. That gave Detroit a 10-3 lead in the first half.
**** I thought it was a mistake at the time for the Lions to go for the TD on 4th and Goal from the Chicago 2 yard line. Jared Goff made a bad decision on 1st Down, in not throwing the ball away when he was out of the pocket and there wasn't an open receiver Goff could throw to. The sack he took, making it 2nd and Goal from the 4, could have been very costly. ****
-- No, you’re not losing your mind. Yes, that really was Jarrad Davis wearing his old No. 40 for the Lions. The former first-round pick returned to Detroit over the offseason hoping to resurrect his career after busting out in Detroit, then spending one bad season with the New York Jets. He didn’t make the team out of training camp, but agreed to sign with Detroit’s practice squad, where his experience in the league has been a valuable resource. But with rookie linebacker Malcolm Rodriguez unable to play in Chicago because of an elbow injury, Davis was elevated for his first action with the team since 2020. He didn’t wait long to make his presence felt either, breaking up a Fields pass in the first quarter. Davis finished with two tackles.
**** I was surprised Jarrad Davis didn't play more on Defense, based on how he was playing. Very good play by Davis on the deflection, which was a major factor in the Bears ending up settling for a FG on the first possession of the game. Davis was far from perfect. But the same for Derrick Barnes. ****
............
This new thread is a continuation of the following thread:
Lions at Bears preview: Game # 9 ( 2022 )
detroit-lions-forum.proboards.com/thread/1605/lions-bears-preview-game-2022
