Breaking Down The Lions’ Comeback Win Over The Bears

After being down 14 points going into the fourth quarter the Detroit Lions rallied back to get a comeback win on the road against the Chicago Bears. While it wasn’t a pretty win, the Lions managed to prevail when it mattered most. The Bears seemed to control the game after the half, being led by their rushing attack. What did the Lions do differently to make this improbable comeback? Let’s break down what they did well, and what can be cleaned up in the coming weeks. 

What Changed To Help The Lions Comeback?

The biggest game-changer for the Lions was being able to finally adjust to the Bears’ dominating rushing attack. Justin Fields and every Bears running back was running all over the Lions throughout the first three quarters, and they showed no sign of stopping. Then the Lions’ defensive linemen were able to get off blocks quicker, and the Linebackers began tackling better. The Edge Rushers did a great job at containing Justin Fields so he couldn’t escape out of the pocket and was forced to either pass or take a sack.

Justin Fields being forced to pass was the biggest turning point in this Lions’ comeback, as he’s not great at throwing the ball whatsoever and his receivers don’t help him out at all. The biggest threat in the receiving game, Chase Claypool, was completely taken out of the game by Jeff Okudah, only putting up one catch for eight yards. This brings the next turning point, which was not allowing separation down the stretch. Fields had to scramble for at least seven seconds a play in order to find anyone open and would likely still not hit them. High IQ plays as we saw out of Hutchinson on Jeff Okudah’s pick-six is one of the biggest reasons the Lions made this comeback.

The final biggest reason for this comeback is Jared Goff finally coming to his senses and leading meaningful drives down the stretch. Throughout most of the game it seemed Goff needed Amon-Ra St. Brown to make plays for him, or else the play would not have gone anywhere. He was making bad throw after bad throw, which lead to many three-and-outs and missed opportunities. Once the fourth quarter hit, however, Jared Goff hit a different level of player and was ready to lead a comeback. He threw players like Tom Kennedy and Khalif Raymond open to extending drives and ultimately winning the game in one of the best comebacks this year.

What Can Be Improved After This Comeback Victory?

While they played way better down the stretch, the linebacking core for Detroit played terribly throughout most of the game. The tackling in the run game was absolutely atrocious from the Linebackers this week, except for during the comeback. They also could not cover a very medicare tight end, Cole Kmet, the whole game as he went off for four receptions 74 yards, and two touchdowns. While they kind of have an excuse because Malcolm Rodriguez was out today, there can not be only one linebacker doing everything, these other guys need to step up throughout the whole game. 

The other thing that needs to improve in order to have a chance to beat the Giants next week is the run game needs to be better consistently. The Bears have one of the worst run defense’s in the entire league, and the Lions only averaged 3 yards per carry the whole game. While Swift got one of the biggest touchdowns of the game to lead the comeback, the run game was very lackluster the rest of the game. The best way to solve this is to get Swift in the game more, even though he didn’t look like himself today, if you get him going he can be a game-changer.