The Lions badly needed a bounce-back win this week to keep their playoff hopes alive and boy did they deliver. Not only did the Lions bounce back, they absolutely destroyed the Bears at home 41-10 and made it known they are still one of the better teams in the league. Let’s break down what the Lions did to win this game and if they can continue this against the Packers next week.
What Did The Lions Do To Win This Game?
The biggest thing the Lions were finally able to get going to win this game was the rushing attack. The Lions’ offense has been lacking an actual rushing attack the past few weeks and teams were starting to catch on and were planning for the passing game, then out of nowhere the rushing attack turned back to prime form. The Lions rushed for a total of 265 yards and two touchdowns this game which is their most of the season. The success they had running the ball opened up so many more opportunities for the offensive play calling and it showed how great their offense could be.
The second biggest thing the Lions did was force Fields to have to pass the ball for the majority of the game. It wasn’t looking good in the first quarter, as Fields already had 105 rushing yards and there was no sign of him stopping until the Lions’ defense woke up and returned to what they were doing in Weeks 10-15. Justin Fields proceeded to only rush for 27 more yards and was sacked a total of seven times. The Lions also were able to expose Fields by making him throw, knowing he’s not very good at that yet, as he only completed 33% of his passes.
The third thing the Lions were able to do to win this game is to capitalize on almost every opportunity the defense gave them to make sure the Bears couldn’t come back. If you want to win in the NFL you can’t give away great opportunities that your defense gives you, because it’s not often they can stop the opposing offense every drive. The Lions were able to capitalize on almost every opportunity, making this game out of reach for the Bears very early and making it so almost the whole second half of the game was already over and they didn’t have to do much.
Can The Lions Do These Things Against The Packers?
Running the ball is going to be a lot tougher this weekend against the Packers as the Packers have a much better overall defense than the Bears. This game was also just announced to be the Sunday Night Football game and Detroit has shown it’s harder for them to run the ball in the cold weather. This game will not only be at night but also in Green Bay, where it is projected to be in the low 20s the whole game and will likely make it a little harder for the Lions to run the Football.
As for the rest of it, they will need to focus on stopping Green Bay’s rushing attack which is a tough task, as Detroit’s defense has not been great overall at stopping the run. Aaron Jones and AJ Dillion make for a scary combo for Detroit’s defense along with Aaron Rodgers’ ability to move outside of the pocket, this will be rough for Detroit. Ultimately the Lions will have a much tougher ask next week against the Packers when it comes to what they did well this week, but it won’t be an impossible task.
