David Blough to Make First Start Thursday Against Bears

Blough will take his first NFL snap on Thanksgiving against the Bears, with Jeff Driskel serving as the Lions' backup.

Lions third-string quarterback David Blough is making his first career NFL start on Thanksgiving against the Bears, the team announced Wednesday.

Undrafted out of Purdue, Blough was traded to Detroit from the Cleveland Browns at the end of the preseason. He slotted in behind starter Matthew Stafford and backup Jeff Driskel, who was listed as questionable for Thursday's game with a hamstring injury on the latest injury report. Driskel has started each of the Lions' last three games after Stafford was sidelined with fractured bones in his back.

In addition to it being Blough's first professional start, it will also be the first time he takes a regular-season NFL snap.

During Tuesday's media session with reporters, Matt Patricia addressed the quarterback situation and how much Blough has prepared for this moment. 

"We’ve put him in certain situations," Patricia said. "We have different team periods throughout practice normally when we’re out there. We’ll have competitive periods against offense versus defense, along with our preparation periods that we use each week. We like to take those different kind of chances during the week to mix up some of the huddles, and who is out there and who is not. We do it really at all positions, and certainly, Blough is one of those guys that it’s important for us to do that with, too.”

Blough will be the third quarterback to start for the Lions this month after Stafford had started every game for them since the end of the 2010 season.

Patricia also said tight end Logan Thomas, who was Virginia Tech's starting quarterback from 2011-13, will be Detroit's emergency quarterback.

"Obviously Logan with his background, is a pretty good possibility in there too from that standpoint," Patricia said. "But really you do that on [all] game days just in general in case something happens.”

David Blough will start at quarterback for Thursday’s game vs. Chicago. Jeff Driskel will serve as the backup quarterback. pic.twitter.com/4CoML7YMuK

— Detroit Lions (@Lions) November 28, 2019

In four seasons with the Boilermakers, Blough completed 871 of his 1,429 passes (61%), threw 69 touchdown passes and 41 interceptions, and posted a 128.1 quarterback rating. He ranks third in school history in completions and touchdowns, and fourth in passing yards (9,374).

Blough is also the most recent quarterback to beat Ohio State, when he went 25-for-43 with 378 passing yards and three touchdown passes in Purdue's 49-20 upset of the second-ranked Buckeyes on Oct. 20, 2018.