Bears and Lions Live Blog

An in-game blog with analysis and commentary on the Week 11 NFC North game between the Chicago Bears and Detroit Lions.

Epilogue

Teams don't lose games with plus-3 turnover ratios, especially when they're up 12 with 4 1/2 minutes remaining. 

Fourth Quarter

• The Bears did everything required to win this game except score after a few of the turnovers and it killed them, but the defense was handed a 12-point lead and threw it away.

• The only thing you can take from this game is Justin Fields played his guts out and did what a team needs from a quarterback, and the coach, his defensive scheme and the defense failed him.

• Lions get the high free kick attempt, as the Bears hope for a muff or something.

• Fields needed to have more pocket awareness. He stepped over into Hutchinson and Wright got beat at about the same time. 

• Safety as Fields is sacked by Hutchinson and Darnell Wright knocks it out of the back of the end zone for two points. Lions 31, Bears 26
• Bears get two seconds taken off the clock on a fair catch on the kickoff. How does that happen? Now they put it back.

:29: Lions 29, Bears 26

• The Bears are going to lose a game when they had a plus-3 turnover advantage.
• First and goal at the 1 and Montgomery scores with 29 seconds left. The Bears blew a 26-14 lead in a matter of less than four minutes. LaPorta gets open for the two-point conversion. Lions 29, Bears 26
• Gibbs runs to the 1 inch line and Bears finally call a timeout. Eddie Jackson with a TD saving tackle and Gibbs nearly fumbled it. Lost control for a bit.

• Catch by St. Brown only went for 8 and so after an incompletion the Lions face third-and-2 at the 8 with 38 seconds left.
• Eberflus should have been using timeouts himself. They've let the Lions go down the field so fast that they would have had time to come back.

• St. Brown with a catch at the 8 an they are at the Bears 8 and use their last timeout.  First-and-goal.

• Short pass to Montgomery and Lions then run Montgomery with 1:08 left to the 15.

• At the Bears 34.

• Two plays and another first down without using a timeout. 

• Letting the Lions score on that 32-yard pass to Jameson was terrible for the Bears defense because they could have forced Detroit into running more time off the clock. Now it's coming back to haunt them.

1:59

• Detroit hasn't even had to use a timeout yet and they're in Bears territory trying to drive for the lead. Bears defense starting to look like it did against Denver. Blowing the lead and panicking.

• On second-and-10 after an incompletion, Montgomery runs up the middle on an audible into Bears territory with 1:59 left. 1:59-MINUTE WARNING!!!!

• First play Montgomery catches a short one, breaks it 13 yards. 

• Lions have it back with one timeout at their own 27.

2:33

• Fields deep to Scott and he gets behind the coverage but the ball is just behind his reach diving.
• A 1-yard gain by Herbert if that and another timeout. Thought Fields should have been running that play.

• Lions with a timeout after Herbert fails to gain on first down.
• Scott with a good fair catch decision on the kick. Bears at the 25 with 2:59 left. Everyone has three timeouts remaining.

This is where Fields made the big mistake in the past.

2:59: Bears 26, Lions 21

• Right in the soft spot of the cover-2, Goff gets time and finds Jameson Williams for a touchdown. Bears 26, Lions 21
• A bad mistake by Edmunds trying to tackle Gibbs. Let him go and he gained 15 yards and stopped the clock.
• Goff throws over the middle for the first down just before Yannick Ngakoue got there.

• Lions get fans booing because they ran on first down.

4:15: Bears 26, Lions 14

• The Bears with almost 40 minutes possession time doing exactly what the Ravens did to the Lions, and what Carolina did to them last year.
• An 8:45 drive totally what the Bears needed there. And they get points to boot.
• Santos boots a field goal and Bears go up 26-14.
• The Bears run it on third down and long and take their chance at a field goal.
• Fields scrambles for a first down on a huge run. The Lions are called for a picky penalty on it but Fields darn near broke it for a TD. A 30-yard run by Fields for the first down and clock continues. That's a season-long run for him and second longest run by the Bears this year.

• A smart decision by Fields. He had no one open and the rush came in. Alim McNeill with the sack. Fields should have thrown it away but he held it and took the sack, and that's a good decision with the clock running down. 

• Officials move Fields run back 2 yards becaus he slid but the slide didn't come until very late and the official marking it was well behind the play.

8:30

• Fields was down on a bootleg run and Anzalone came head hunting  at the end. Fields pointed it out to officials and no call. The Bears make the Lions pay with a first down run by Herbert as the clock continues to run.
• Officials must have looked at the ledger and saw how one-sided they had called the game. Holding on Branch. He was hugging Cole Kmet for 10 yards.
• Fields with a nifty cut in a crowd and gets it to makeable range. Third down again and 4.
• First-down toss play loses yardage. Lions were cheating up in the box.
• Middle opens up from the 9-yard line after yet another official's intervention and Herbert bursts forward for 9. Then he gets the first down on the next play to the 22.

• That's six penalties for 69 yards on the Bears, three for 15 on the Lions.

• Jack Fox booming punt and Trent Tucker with an excellent return but the Bears, of course, are penalized. They get Josh Blackwell for push in the back. 
• Pass rush gets to Goff from Dexter and he floats a pass that Jaylon Johnson can't hold on to. All-Pros hold onto the ball.

• Edwards running on the sideline now.
• The weakside linebacker is critical in this scheme and I wouldn't think they'd use Tremaine Edmunds there. It might be Sanborn playing it or Gates might have to come in and do it. Dylan Cole could play strong and Sanborn weak.
• TJ Edwards hurt while plastering Kalif Raymond on a tackle over the middle. That would be a huge Bears loss.  Edwards was second in the NFL in tackles coming into the game.

• Montez Sweat's first sack witht he Bears and Lions face second-and-18.

14:12: Bears 23, Lions 14

• Santos with a 40-yard field goal and at least they get points after the fourth Lions turnover of the day. Bears 23, Lions 14
• Fields sneak looks like it's short. But the way they are taking yards away from him today there is no way he's going to get the benefit of the doubt.
• Fields can't get a spot today and comes up inches short on second down. End of Quarter.
• Third-and-5  Getsy goes to his pet play, a run. It works as Johnson toughs out a first down.

• Frank Ragnow was holding and it caused the ball to be tipped on the pick, So the Lions actually got what they deserved. How did the officials miss that holding call? Gervon Dexter was being held and deflected it.

• Throw intended for Josh Reynolds and the Bears are at Detroit's 43. They can't let this opportunity go away like earlier with the other pick.
• Tremaine Edmunds in the deep zone drop with the pick. Third pick of Goff today.

• Penalty count is five for 60 on Bears, three for 15 on the Lions. In the last five games it's 36 on the Bears and 13 for opponents.

• Smart by Lions going back to Gibbs on the run. Some teams panic after a big switch like just happened.

• Haven't seen acting like Hutchinson in sports since Vlade was in his prime with the Lakers. Terrible mistake by officials on that play, on the play when Braxton Jones was poked in the eye and on Fields being knocked down out of bounds. Yet they scored. Perseverance. 

• Fields steps up in the pocket like a real quarterback and sees DJ Moore in the end zone. behind Jacobs. Touchdown from 38 yards. With 4:41 left in third quarter. Bears 20, Lions 14
• On second-and-10, Braxton Jones is pulled from the game and is irate. He was poked in the eye with no call. Then they call holding on Wright when he Aidan Hutchinson put on an act for the official. Great acting. Holding penalty on the Bears.
• Fields a yard out of bounds after gaining a first down on a sweep and is shoved to the ground. No. call as usual.
• DeMarquis Gates with the fumble recovery on the kick. Gates came up from practice squad this week with Noah Sewell hurt.

• That's plus-2 in turnovers again for the Bears. And they're still behind. They need to take avdvantag  of this.

• Tyrique Stevenson with the forced fumble to make up for a terrible kickoff by Santos. Bears get the fumble recovery on a big special teams play.

6:41: Lions 14, Bears 13

• On third-and-11 from the Lions a draw sets up Cairo Santos for a 53-yard field goal. Bears pull within 14-13.

• Herbert makes a poor decision and tries to go outside instead of cutting in and the Bears now face second-and-12.
• The Yellow Flag Bears are back. A false start on Wright. 
• Big block by Feeney and Davis and Roschon with a big stiff arm to gash Lions for a first down up the middle.

• Feeney situation comes to the surface. Delay of game as Fields was trying to get him to snap it with the clock winding down and the stadium noisy and then it almost happened again. Illegal contact on Branch with a shove downfield and Bears get a first down.

• Another run blitz. Branch blows up the toss to Herbert. Bears face third-and-10. 
• Herbert looking more like he's healthy, cuts behind Wright and Nate Davis for 6 into Lions territory.
• Fields with all kinds of time off play-action and finally finds DJ Moore in the zone for a first down rolling out at the 48.
• They need Roschon Johnson to step up right now. It's obvious Herbert isn't back full speed after his injury by the way he's running and Foreman isn't going to be able to go. Time for the rookie to put his concussion from earlier into the past.
• Foreman with a nice cut behind Feeney for a huge run but Foreman's ankle is hurt again.
• Lucas Patrick has left and Dan Feeney is in at center, not Whitehair.

• The Bears need to show they can run the ball again after running well eca
• A third-and-2 sack and the Sackhammer comes around on a blitz, Jack Sanborn. He gets the sack at the Lions 47 and Detroit will punt. A third-down stop finally after six straight converted by the Bears. Two teams can play at the blitz game.

• First big play by Montgomery, a 20-yard run to start the half. The Lions blasted away the Bears defensive line . Bears have Montez Sweat back on the field now. For some reason they had him off the field at the end of the drive to Detroit's last touchdown.

• As can be expected, the Lions took advantage of their turnover. The Bears didn't take advantage of two of them and they're losing at halftime.

• A 9-yard TD over the middle to St. Brown. Tough catch on a gamble with 16 seconds left, throwing over the middle with no timeouts left. He was well covered but hauled it in inches off the ground. The drive was a killer for the Bears because now the Lions will get the ball back too starting the second half. Lions 14, Bears 10
• Should have been an intentional grounding call on Goff. No receiver in the area, he hadn't gone out of the pocket and he just threw it away with the rush coming in. That was the definition of intentional grounding. 
• On second down at the 10, DeMarcus Walker was held blatantly and no call.
• Screen catches Bears blitzing with 26 seconds left and breaks to Gibbs at the 10.
• Goff dangerously comes back on third down over the middle and gets the first down by beating Jackson. The Bears didn't adjust when he looked the other way like tehy did on an earlier interception.
• Too much underneath yardage allowed by Bears and Lions kind of st upid to not take any timeouts. Third-and-2 coming.
• St. Brown eludes tackle from Edmunds on first down, then makes an easy catch in the middle on Brisker to the 50. 
• Fields 11 of 16 for 103 and passer rating of 86.2. Needs to continue avoiding picks. He flirted with two of them on floating throws.

• Late pressure and Fields throws incomplete outside to Herbert. That was a play they needed a quicker throw. Santos makes the short kick. Bears 10, Lions 7
• Big play coming because they can take the clock down if they get the first down. It's not third-and-4, third-and-6. Another bad spot.
• Fields scramble sets up third down and 4. TWO-MINUTE WARNING
• Pure brilliance on the part of Fields and DJ. Fields beats the all-out blitz and Moore broke two tackles and plowed like a back for the first down.
• Camera close-ups show some blood on Fields' finger on his throwing hand, not his thumb. 
• Fields waited to long to throw to Moore and floated it and should  have had it picked but Branch dropped it. Not a good play at all. 
• Mooney got in Fields' way when he could have cut in for a first down on the run but the Bears go on fourth-and-1 and Roschon Johnson delivers with the big first down ru up the middle to the 28 of Detroit. Great blocking on fourth-and-1 at point of attack.
• The other St. Brown brother catches another one. EQ at the Lions 35. But Herbert gets only 2 on second down and the Bears face third-and-5.
• Boot pass under heat and Fields drills it to Mooney for 24 before Anzalone's blitz gets there. Great Fields play. Vintage.
• Herbert gets the first down on a short pass but he really made a poor play after the catch. Looks a tad slow. 
• Lions run defense has been bolstered by all that run blitzing and they stuff Khalil Herbert.  Running game has ground to a halt after a good early start.
• Travis Homer back for returns. That's a different twist since Velus Jones isn't getting off the inactive list anytime soon.
• You don't get two gift turnovers from a team like the Lions and come away with nothing on one and then turn it back over on the next one. It's going to mean only bad things later in the game.

9:23: Bears 7, Lions 7

• Gibbs a 2-yard toss left for an easy TD. Where was Johnson on teh play. Why was he out? That was his side of the field. Lions 7, Bears 7
• Jayon Johnson the guy who wants the multi-million dollar contract just dropped a 99-yard pick-6 and comes off the field after it.
• Brisker doesn't tackle on a shovel pass to St. Brown to the 2. They gave the Lions an extra yard.
• Edmunds with a tackle in the open field on Montgomery. It's good to see because of his knee injury. Looks like he's fine after missing two games.
• Gibbs gets 14 off rright side. Solid blocking on that side and Bears run support took some bad angles.
• D'Onta Foreman got hurt on the play. He had a bad ankle anyway and then looked like he hurt it earlier in the game.
• Bears return the favor with a turnover. Lost fumble on a completion to Tyler Scott. at the Bears 33.

• Once again the presnap penalties are a problem. Delay of game as Fields doesn't get the play off. 
• Detroit run blitzing again destroys the RPO play. The Bears need to be ready for that up front. They do have Lucas Patrick back at center.
• That was a really deep drop for Edwards. He's usually in the short zone.
• Late and over the middle by Jared Goff and he gets what you get when that happens. He looked away then came back to the middle and there was T.J. Edwards making the interceptions. Good pressure inside from the whole Bears line late on the play as they didn't quit on it after not initially getting there. It helped make Goff panic a bit. First down at the Bears 37.

• Makeup call on Lions for holding. But it doesn't make up for half the yardage.
• Jaylon Johnson burned with another questionable call.  The ball couldn't have been caught.  Pass interference at Bears 35.

• Fields 6 of 9 for 52 yards after one. Has 41 rushing yards.

• TFL for Tyrique Stevenson on toss to Jahmyr Gibbs. Great penetration by Bears defense. Blitz forces Goff incompletion but on third-and-10 Bears secondary is burned. They're terrible on third-and-long. Eddie Jackson burned by Josh Reynolds, who owns the Bears. An 11-yard gain. Quarter Ends.
• Not capitalizing on a turnover with at least three is a total waste.
• Fields overthrew open Moore in the end zone. Mooney also was open deep on the play. Bears must punt after third-down pass then is batted down. It wouldn't have been close to a first down but they could have at least gambled if it hadn't been batted down. Gill then just punted it right into the end zone with the line of scrimmage Detroit's 44. Knowing how the Lions move the ball, they might have simply been better off going for it or trying a 62-yard field goal.
• Branch run-blitzes out of the slot and nails Foreman on first down for  a loss. That's a tactic easy to burn if they try to, but usually they don't and get burned by it.
• Bears gamble on fourth-and-2 and Fields has DJ easily for the first down out of a three-man bunch right. Jerry Jacobs got there too late.
• Lucas Patrick injured trying to chase down a player on an unnecessary hit blind side with no call. Should have been flagged an illegal blindside block
• Kmet drops ball on pass broken up by Alex Anzalone hit. Wasn't incomplete or a fumble. He was down by contact after a 4-yard gain.
• Terrible spot for Fields on a 9-yard run. Took 2 yards from him I could see 1 yard but they took 2. Bears face third-and-5 after a loss on a run by Herbert on his first carry since returning.
• Another great read by Fields on first down and he gets 5 on an option when if he gave it to Herbert it might have been a loss. Then he checks one down to Kmet for a first down. Bears are at their own 49.
• CB Tyrique Stevenson's first NFL pick on a slant over the middle off play-action with Rasheem Green bearing down on Goff. Bears have the ball and the rare takeaway. 
• Kyler Gordon gets the Amon-Ra St. Brown coverage early and can't prevent a first down on third-and-5 with a short pass to midfield.
• A third-and-5 coming after Montgomery gets 5 up the middle on first down. They give him the extra yard when he had hs knee down after 4.
• David Montgomery gets  a first down on a second-and-short on his first carry. He's tackled by one tackler, which doesn't happen very often.
• Might have been the best Bears drive of the year. The Lions obviously are trying to protect that edge to keep him within the pocket with pressure but he found the openings with his runs and found the receivers in the middle of the field.

9:43: Bears 7, Lions 0

• Easy touchdown by Tonyan on a neat, quick cut right behind Darnell Wright. A 75-yard drive in 5:37.  A 10-play drive with no third downs. Gonna take a lot more than 7 against the Lions. Settle in. Bears 7, Lions 0
• Robert Tonyan interfered with by Will Harris on a fade route deep. Held his jersey in the open
• D'Onta Foreman left briefly with what appeared an injury but returned and ran it to the 1 but on second-and-goal from the 1 the Bears have to take a timeout to avoid a delay of game. Terrible mistake but at least a worse one averted.
• Still no respect from officials for Fields as a QB sliding.
• Fields slid again after a scramble to the 5 and is clobbered from behind by a 300-pounder on the turf. No call. If that was the Bears hitting Goff, it's 15 yards and they eject the guy.
• Aidan Hutchinson has read the plays right every time and getting pressure on Fields but not getting there. Fields with a nice short naked bootleg past Hutchinson and completion to EQ at the 21.
• Drive moving along through the air with Fields waiting, moving and throwing to DJ Moore and Cole Kmet to gget them to the Lions 32. Not getting rid of it fast but completing them anyway.
• Fields with one of his better zone reads since coming to the team. Not because he ran it for a long distance but because he made the read correctly and had to run upfield, then slid. Of course, it would have been nice if the Lions didn't touch him when he slid. Instead he got hit with no penalty.
• Fields has to throw it away the first play rolling right but on the second play he finds a lane around left end and goes 11. The QB wide run is back in the Bears offense this week.

• The Bears start from their own 25 with Justin Fields for the first time in 4 1/2 games.

Pregame

This is apparently what the Bears have to look forward to. They have been penalized 31 times to 10 for opponents in the last four games, so you can expect flags and people complaining on social media today.

Sales Manager Scott Novak will referee today's #Bears at #Lions game. Novak and the replay officials were criticized last week when they ruled against the Packers in the Steelers game on a play that looked like a lateral but was ruled a forward pass.
~Graphic from… pic.twitter.com/EPbwIZYz5v

— Barroom Network | Aldo Gandia (@BarroomNetwork) November 19, 2023

Justin Fields has supporters and detractors still. One way or other many of those could change in the next seven games.

The weirdest thing I’ve seen in the Bears fanbase right now is saying you are part of the “Fields cult” if you support Justin Fields lol

Like god forbid a Bears fan supports the current QB of the team

— Rishab 🐻⬇️ (@RishabSikri) November 19, 2023

Velus Jones Jr. can't even catch a break from Bears followers while he's watching from the sidelines on the inactive list.

please just cut the “receiver” who makes a backbreaking mistake every time he touches the ball already.
the charade has gone on long enough.
pass the message along, social media person https://t.co/tDx6ZreiSw

— robert (@RobertZeglinski) November 19, 2023

This shouldn't scare anyone off of Caleb Williams. The Bears have plenty of guys who over the years were good players and decided they weren't talking to media in different weeks of the year even though they should feel obligated to do it because fans want to hear from them.  As far as part-ownership, good luck with that.

LMAO and he wants to require part-ownership of the team that drafts him?

— Brian Nichols (@BNicholsLiberty) November 19, 2023

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven