In a big game for both teams, the Lions handed the bears the victory. It was so bad that Jon Gruden, the TV announcer, repeatedly said the Lions “self-destructed” and talked about their “red-zone self-destruction.” Self-destruction means you do this to yourself, not that the other team is beating you.
The bears were playing their safeties 20-25 yards off the line of scrimmage, which helps to take away the deep ball, but leaves the middle wide open. The Lions have a great receiver, Calvin Johnson, who could have capitalized on this, as well as the other receivers and tight ends who could have. I made the statement in the first few minutes that the Lions had to attack this, but they didn’t. On sports radio a day or so after the game, an NFL expert (Matt Bowen) and the Chicago announcers also said the middle was wide open.
On the first Lion drive, the Lions did go after this area, and Calvin Johnson dropped a pass right to him with no one near him, which might have gone not only for a big-gainer and first down, but for a touchdown. The NFL expert and announcers correctly pointed out that there was a good chance Johnson would have split the safeties for a TD, and as they said, this “would have made it a completely different game.” This drop was a completely unforced error, as no defenders were near him. The bears then scored a touchdown, and the momentum change could have contributed to this.
Bowen said the Lions were “undisciplined and poorly coached.”
The bears got a field goal to go up 10-0 largely due to a roughing penalty on the Lions where a Lion blocked a bear in the back well away from the play and with no need to do so. Another gift.
The Lions missed a wide-open receiver at the bear 20, down 10-0, for another gift.
On a later drive, the Lions dropped another third-down pass that would have been a first down, prompting Gruden to talk about the “two big drops on third down.” Another gift.
The Lions got to the bear 18 in the last two minutes of the half, ran on first down, and fumbled. Another first-down run that backfired. This kept the score 10-0 bears at half.
The Lions fumbled a punt at their own 27 on a fair catch, resulting in a bear field goal to go up 13-0. Another unforced error and gift.
The Lions, down 13-0, had a first down at the bear 1, trying to cut the lead to 6. I made the following statement at that point: “The Lions will run the ball here and fumble.” This is exactly what happened, and again, was a gift. The runner was short of the goal line, but reached the ball out even though he was too far to reach the goal line, and lost possession. A complete gift. Another reason this was such a bad play is that I have always said teams need to focus on protecting the ball since the bears always try to strip it and don’t hide this fact. Many games have been decided because teams don’t prepare for this. The Lions had already fumbled numerous times this game (they didn’t lose all of them) as a result, but still didn’t focus on protecting the ball at this critical point of the game. This is after already having fumbled numerous times!
Cutler got hurt in the first half, and it was obvious the bears weren’t going to be able to score points as a result since he was being protected, so the Lions had this game there for the taking. However, they kept self-destructing. In addition, Calvin Johnson had no catches in the first half because the Lions didn’t work the middle which was open.
The Lions missed a wide-open Calvin Johnson at the bear 32, which resulted in a punt.
With 3:25 left, the Lions had a first down at the bear 6 and didn’t score.
The Lions did score a touchdown in the last minute, to lose 13-7. Any one of the unforced errors above, if not made, would have resulted in a different outcome, as the bears were not going to score with Cutler hurt. Bowen and the Chicago announcers also talked about a hold on Webb that wasn’t called, which I think was a big play, a Marshall pushoff for a completion, and how Tillman had his hands around Johnson’s waist on plays, which I commented on during the game.
I guess there will never be a game where the Bears win and Larry admits that they “legitimately won.”
The number one defense in the NFL and he still won’t give them credit!
Cutler got hurt and although the refs didn’t call a penalty, it was a “dirty play” on Suh’s part. He did not have to slam Cutler’s head into the ground.