Halas Intrigue Bears Report: Breaking down Week 13 vs. Lions

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Bears receiver Anthony Miller hauls in a catch against the Lions.

Rey Del Rio/Getty Images

The good: Whatever the circumstances, Mitch Trubisky played his best game of the season, writes Patrick Finley. Granted, he faced a Lions defense that ranked third-worst against the pass, but he took advantage of another favorable matchup and came through in the clutch. With the Bears trailing 20-17 with 6:40 left, Trubisky led a 90-yard touchdown drive.

The bad: With little knowledge of Lions third-string quarterback David Blough, the Bears’ defense struggled out of the gate, writes Finley. They allowed touchdown passes on the Lions’ first two drives, with Blough going 4-for-6 for 131 yards. The Bears trailed 17-7 late in the second quarter before outscoring the Lions 17-3 the rest of the way.

The ugly: A two-game winning streak has the Bears back at .500 and feeling good about themselves, but their playoff prospects remain bleak. According to playoffstatus.com, the Bears have a 3 percent chance of making a wild-card game. At 6-6, they’re 212 games behind the sixth-seeded Vikings with four to play.

Let’s get to it ...

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Offense: Lion or lyin’ eyes?

The Bears had their highest offensive output of the season with 419 yards. What that means exactly is up for debate. The Lions entered the game ranked 29th in the league in total defense, but the Bears will take what they can get. Anthony Miller had a career day, catching nine passes for 140 yards and restoring the Bears’ faith in him, writes Mark Potash. The Bears also had their longest scoring drive of the season, the 90-yard march that put them ahead with 2:17 left.

By the numbers:
  • 331 PASSING YARDS: Mitch Trubisky completed 29 of 38 passes for a season-high 338 yards
  • 88 RUSHING YARDS: David Montgomery bounced back with 16 carries for 75 yards
Offensive play of the game:

Defense: A Game of Bloughs

The unit struggled out of the gate against David Blough, who started in place of backup Jeff Driskel (hamstring). The Lions acquired Blough at the roster-cutdown deadline and have kept him as the third quarterback all season. On his second NFL pass, the undrafted free agent out of Purdue connected with former St. Rita and NIU receiver Kenny Golladay for a 75-yard touchdown. On his sixth pass, he threw an eight-yard touchdown to Marvin Jones. But it was downhill from there as the Bears’ defense caught on and closed out the game on Eddie Jackson’s interception with 29 seconds left.

By the numbers:
  • 2 SACKS: Roquan Smith not only recorded both Bears sacks, but posted a career-high 15 tackles
  • 1 TAKEAWAY: Eddie Jackson sealed the game with his last-minute interception
Defensive play of the game:

Special Teams: A perfect day — sort of

Eddy Pineiro made all four of his kicks, but coach Matt Nagy didn’t give him the chance to try a 50-yarder, despite the turf field and indoor conditions. The Bears faced fourth-and-six trailing 14-7 with 8:13 left in the second quarter, but Nagy chose to go for it. The plan backfired when Mitch Trubisky threw incomplete. It didn’t matter, though, because the Bears were flagged for an illegal formation — coming out of a timeout.

By the numbers:
  • Eddy Pineiro: 1-of-1 on field goals (30 yards); 3-of-3 on extra points
  • Cordarrelle Patterson: 2 kick returns for 90 yards. He returned the opening kickoff 57 yards to set up the Bears’ first touchdown drive.

What They’re Saying

  • Matt Nagy had high praise for his QB after the win: “Today was Mitch’s day. It was his day. Special throws at special times.”
  • David Blough revealed the Lions’ game plan: “We were hoping they would think a guy like me would come in, throw some check-downs, so we were going to throw it around a little bit.” 
  • Eddie Jackson dismissed Blough’s early success: “It was really nothing he did. It was on us. We came out sluggish the first two drives.”

From Our Notebooks

  • Bears tight end Jesper Horsted scored his first NFL touchdown on an 18-yard pass to tie the game at 17 in the third quarter — but he doesn’t remember much from the play, writes Jason Lieser. “I don’t really know what happened, to be honest,” Horsted said.
  • The Bears had their streak of consecutive games of not allowing a touchdown on their opponent’s opening possession snapped at 21 games, which was the longest active streak in the NFL. The last time it happened was against the Patriots in Week 7 last season.
  • Allen Robinson, who hauled in a 10-yard touchdown pass among his eight catches and 86 yards, has caught at least one pass in all 68 career regular-season games in which he has played, tied for fourth-most to start a career among active players.

Here are even more game highlights.


What’s Next?

The Bears have a full week to prepare for the Cowboys’ high-powered offense on “Thursday Night Football” at Soldier Field (7:20 p.m., Fox-32, NFL Network). It’ll be the first meeting between the two teams in the Matt Nagy era. The Cowboys (6-6) lost to the Bills 26-15 on Thursday, their third loss in four games.


View From Detroit


On the Podcast

On today’s episode, Patrick Finley, Jason Lieser and Mark Potash break down Mitch Trubisky’s performance in the Bears’ Thanksgiving win in Detroit and talk about an interesting final month on deck. In the Pot-Cast, Mark rates Motown artists and songs.

Listen here.

Also, got any questions for the Bears? Email us or tweet at @suntimes_sports and we’ll see if we can get them answered in one of our next newsletters.


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