If you thought the Chicago Bears had a chance at playing spoiler to the Detroit Lions’ Thanksgiving party, one early sequence from Lions All-Pro tackle Penei Sewell quickly put that talk to rest.
Let’s head to the early first quarter from Thursday’s early-slate holiday game on CBS.
With the Lions driving on their first possession, offensive coordinator Ben Johnson called a trick pass that had Sewell acting as the de facto quarterback. As the big offensive lineman scanned the field looking for a receiver, Bears linebacker Jack Sanborn tried cutting Sewell down in the open field.
Sewell responded by brutally stiff-arming Sanborn before a host of Chicago defenders brought Sewell down for a loss.
And after the Lions took a 16-0 lead into the halftime break — where the margin felt a lot worse — this Sewell broken play became the perfect symbol for how hard the Bears would have to work just to force the Lions into a negative situation:
Penei Sewell tried it 😅
📺: #CHIvsDET on CBS/Paramount+
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/tPb5KRWNCr— NFL (@NFL) November 28, 2024
Here’s how stark it got between the Lions and Bears through one half of play:
- The Lions’ offense generated 19 first-down plays. The Bears had 19 total plays.
- After struggling to generate any rhythm for most of the early afternoon, the Bears finally got their first first-down conversion … with just a few minutes left in the first half.
- The yard differential was 279 for the Lions and a paltry 53 for the Bears.
- Overall, the Lions had over 22 minutes of possession, and were never really stopped by the Bears defense, as they scored points on each of their four extended drives.
- By gaining just two first downs in a half, the Bears became the first NFL team to manage such a “feat” in nearly a quarter-century.
As you can see, it was complete dominance for the NFL’s premier team.
Oh, wait, there’s still some good comedy here. Sewell is so good as a pass-blocker that he might have become the first NFL lineman ever to get sacked himself before allowing a sack in a season. I mean, that has to be a record, right?
It’ll get lost in the shuffle, but don’t let the symbolism of Sewell’s initial brute power over the inept Bears be forgotten.
