Grading the Bears Against Lions

Hallelujah the Bears stopped the run but they didn't seem to do much else right when it really mattered against the Lions.

Matt Eberflus started his press conference after Sunday's mind-numbing 31-30 loss to Detroit by talking about what a great job the Bears did in the second half against the run.

"We ended up getting it 10-10 there at halftime, and I thought it was much improved on the defensive side of the ball in terms of stopping the run," Eberflus said. "We ended up being 3.1 (yards a carry) I think it was for the day, so certainly improved there."

A traditional "Aside from that Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play," probably is the best response in this situation.

Eddie Jackson was distraught afterward about how poorly the Bears covered the pass against the Lions, and for good reason. 

The Lions didn't exactly have their A-Team playing receiver. Tom Kennedy caught a huge 44-yard pass right across the middle on the Bears. They were missing more decent receivers than the Bears probably have on their roster.

"Most definitely the same feeling," Jackson said. "They (the Bears offense) gave us—continue to give us everything they've got—go up 14, let them drive down the field. You know, especially stuff like that the game won't allow it. We've got to get these stops. We've got to be better on third downs."

They were actually much better stopping third down than the Lions were in this one.

The defense gave up the winning drive, but hardly owned a monopoly on losers' laments.

When Justin Fields constantly runs through defenses or hits big passes on the move in the first three quarters, it's reasonable to expect something similar at crunch time.

To date, the Bears are 1-5 in tight ones and are the ones being crunched at crunch time. Fields couldn't find receivers and ran around in circles when the Lions finally figured out he has trouble passing from within the pocket.

And if you think special teams got off scott free, well, there's kicker Cairo Santos. He still has a consecutive field goal streak intact but now he has three missed PATs this year and this one was for the game.

He also kicked off out of bounds to tee up the Lions for a short TD drive.

"Everybody makes mistakes," he said. "That's just the nature of the sport, of the position. I don't know how many times that I kicked off out of bounds in my career but not that many. Probably, I think two that I can remember. So it's not something that happens. It's not me. But it happens and you've just got to correct it."

What's next, an appearance tomorrow on Good Morning America?

The Bears gave one away to a really bad team that was shorthanded, not that they are any better than Detroit. 

It's just that after so many times going through the same scenario, you'd think they could change the outcome sooner or later.

Here are the grades for their Week 10 loss to the Lions, and Eberflus will be glad to know they get a good mark for stopping the run.

Running Game: A-

Justin Fields was the first Bears QB with back-to-back 100-yard games, first to rush for consecutive 100-yard games since Jordan Howard in 2016-17, gained the most rushing yards in two games by a quarterback in league history, yadda yadda yadda. None of it means a thing and Fields even admitted it. He got 147 yards, they ran for 258 yards on 35 carries, but surprisingly they lost time of possession because they scored so fast and the Lions used passing to possess the ball. Khalil Herbert and David Montgomery did look a little more like themselves in this one, averaging 5.7 and 4.1 yards respectively.

Bears Passing: D

It was good until it really counted. Pass blocking caved in at game's end, but then again it's not realistic to expect them to hold out pass rushers when Fields is doing figure eights in the backfield. Fields threw a 50-yard TD pass but it was schemed wide open. He really had trouble throwing from the pocket all day and even struggled a bit throwing on the move. His 12-of-20 effort for a 99.4 passer rating could have been so much higher without his ridiculous pick-6 mistake to Jeff Okudah. The Bears spent a second-round draft pick on Chase Claypool and threw to him once. He had an 8-yard jet sweep which goes in the books as a pass but is actually a run. Byron Pringle was active instead of N'Keal Harry and Velus Jones Jr. and caught one pass for 12 yards on two targets. It's difficult to believe either Harry or Jones couldn't have done that much.

Run Defense: B

Yes Matt, it wasn't bad as they were going against a very respectable Lions offensive line. Justin Jones with an impactful game at three technique with two tackles for loss and a quarterback hit. Jack Sanborn's 12 tackles looked like Roquan Smith numbers. They held the Lions to 95 yards rushing and that's usually part of a winning formula. What they didn't do well was stop Jamaal Williams or D'Andre Swift inside the red zone as they had relatively easy touchdown runs, a 9-yarder by Swift and he could have walked into the end zone.

Pass Defense: D-

Wasn't Tom Kennedy a game show host? The Bears made him into a dangerous receiver with a huge 44-yard completion. Sanborn's pass rush was the highlight of the front seven but the Bears didn't have a pass rush when they really needed one on the Lions' four-play march to the game-winning points.   The Bears gave up 45.5% on third downs and were complaining it needs to be better. That is better. They'd been over 50% coming into the game. Does Amon-Ra St. Brown use the Harry Potter Cloak of Invisibility or something? He wasn't to be found by the Bears' secondary. Ten catches in 11 targets for 119 yards. 

Special Teams: F

Your kicker can't miss an extra point in the fourth quarter—flat out missed it. And he can't kick off out of bounds. He almost kicked another one out of bounds later in the game. It skirted the pylon and rolled out in the end zone.

Coaching: D

HITS principle? They had nine penalties to the Lions' two. Admittedly, three penalties looked like trash calls by the officials but that's still six they committed. Doesn't the S in HITS stand for smart play or is it stupid play? Give Alan Williams a little credit for coming with the blitz regularly in the game because Jared Goff doesn't stand up well to pressure. The problem was they rarely got actual pressure with the blitz except when it was from Sanborn, who excelled on the day and had two sacks.

Matt Eberflus said after the game that they will probably take a hard look at what they're doing on offense at the end of games. Yah think? They're 1-for-6 at game-ending drives: Dolphins, Vikings, Lions, Giants and Commanders all could have been OT or wins on the final drive.

Overall: D

Alcohol can numb the pain for now, and just think about how that top five draft pick will look next spring.

Special Grade for Game Officials: F-

Did I miss something and Tony Corrente came out of retirement for Sunday's game?

Normally you have to set your house on fire to get a hosing like the Bears got. Poor Jaylon Johnson.

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