Bear Digest

Chicago Bears Report Card for 23-20 Loss to Detroit Lions

Analysis: Was it the last Bears report card under coach Matt Eberflus or will they continue with status quo even after six straight defeats and four crushing losses?

Gene Chamberlain

Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs tries to elude Bears safety Kevin Byard III on Thanksgiving Day at Ford Field.
Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs tries to elude Bears safety Kevin Byard III on Thanksgiving Day at Ford Field. / Kimberly P. Mitchell / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
In this story:

Fortunately, the Bears played Detroit early and many fans planned to have their Thanksgiving dinner right after the game ended.

If they had eaten before seeing the end of the game, then digestion might have been in question.

There is actually some good going on in his series of late-game Chicago catastrophes.

Detractors laughed and called Caleb Williams a wasted draft pick earlier this season, but the joke is now on them. His performance is the only thing giving value to yet another worthless Bears season.

A 16-0 deficit, a 16-7 deficit, a 23-7 deficit and he just kept firing away.

Coach Matt Eberflus' late-game decision making or lack thereof aside, the Bears now have a quarterback who set the franchise rookie record for consecutive passes without an interception and NFL rookie record for the same thing.

No other rookie has thrown three touchdown passes in a half this year like he did in the second-half rally with his 31-yard touchdown passes to Keenan Allen and DJ Moore and 9-yarder to Allen.

The Bears had plenty of time to not only force overtime but win the game.

Instead, they took a timeout home with them after they actually had to burn a timeout with 43 seconds left because they were running out of time to get a play started before being slapped with a delay-of-game penalty.

Who gets delay-of-game penalties during two-minute drills?

They should have taken that timeout to get organized before the sack and then definitely should have taken one after it in order to make sure they had time left to move it a short distance to get into field goal range.

When it was all over, Cole Kmet had to scratch his head over the ending.

"Honestly, I don't even know," he told reporters. "I ... all the sudden everyone comes off the field and game's over. So I was kind of like what the 'fff' just happened?"

Lots of Bears fans had to be asking the same thing.

Here are the grades for the turkey day game as the Bears once again deserve to be told that famed line Harry Dunne delivered to Lloyd Christmas after the dog van has been traded in for a minibike.

"Just when I think you couldn't possibly be any dumber, you go and do something like this... and TOTALLY REDEEM YOURSELF!"

Passing Game: B

The first half was so atrocious it's difficult to give them anything higher than a B. Williams threw for only 34 yards. The second half didn't end well. But Caleb Williams' passer rating of 132.29 in the second half with 15 of 24 for 222 yards and three TDs was just further indication of where he's come as a passer in the last three games.

DJ Moore with a 97-yard game on eight catches and Allen with 73 yards on five receptions, and all of this despite an offensive line effort in which they allowed five more sacks of Williams. He's at 49 sacks on the year. Cole Kmet's penalties for offensive pass interference proved annoying, and one of the two actually did look like a penalty.

Running Game: D+

There wasn't much to it beyond a 12-yard D'Andre Swift run and a 13-yard Williams scramble. Their 78 yards on 15 carries went for an average of 5.2 yards per carry, inflated largely by Williams 9.8 yards per scramble. The run blocking gave Swift little room beyond 2 or 3 yards on his first burst. Few blockers got downfield.

Pass Defense: B

By limiting Jared Goff to a 100.2 passer rating they actually held him below his season's average. The touchdown passes he threw to Sam LaPorta were easy as they came off of play-action and froze the coverage near the goal line. The Bears actually held LaPorta to three catches for 6 yards, Jahmyr Gibbs to two catches for 17 yards, Jameson Williams to 28 yards on five catches after all were averaging much better numbers. Amon-Ra St. Brown didn't even hit his average number of catches with five, and was only 6 yards over his season average. The pass rush produced only one sack by Gervon Dexter but much steadier pressure in the game's second half, as they made it possible for the offense to turn around the game.

Run Defense: D

The 194 yards rushing on 33 carries by Detroit would normally rate a solid F but they made a turnaround in the second half, allowing only 50 yards as they shut down the cutback Jahmyr Gibbs had been relying on and forced both backs into gang tackles. Dexter picked up his play against the run in the second half, especially.

Special Teams: B-

With a 55.8-yard average for four punts, Tory Taylor also had one inside the 20 and was good enough that even their normally weak covergage team could help keep his net average at 45.3. Allowing four punt returns for 10.5 per return didn't help Bears field position but the real problem on special teams was D'Andre Carter again misfielding a punt, letting one get past to roll to the 1-inch line. It's two straight weeks of problems from Carter fielding punts. The kick coverage group performed better, coming up with a key stop after 23 yards in the second half. They also had a solid rush on Jake Bates' missed field goal.

Coaching: D-

While Thomas Brown got the play calling back in order in the second half, the blunders with the clock and not using a timeout by Matt Eberflus eventually proved decisive. Inexcusable coaching at the end of the game for a team with a head coach already under scrutiny.

Overall: C

C is an average grade and the way the Bears finished that game was really pretty much average for them this season.

Twitter: BearsOnSI

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.