It’s been too long since the Detroit Lions tasted victory away from Ford Field. The sweet taste of a road win finally came for Dan Campbell and the Lions in Chicago in Week 10.
Detroit’s 31-30 comeback win had the emotions swaying all over the place. In the end, the happiness won out thanks to a great offensive drive engineered by Jared Goff and a truly remarkable defensive stand to close out the win.
Here are some of the things I took away from watching the Week 10 game in real-time.
The defense stepped up when it needed to the most
The Detroit defense has taken its lumps this season. And deservedly so. They brought the NFL’s worst ranking into Chicago.
Trailing 24-10 entering the fourth quarter and with Bears QB Justin Fields blistering them with both his arm and his legs most of the afternoon, it looked bleak. But Aaron Glenn’s defense found a way to tighten up and make plays.
Jeff Okudah started it off with a pick-six, the Lions’ first of those since 2018. Aidan Hutchinson and the front brought some pressure and it finally got home. Aside from one awful blown coverage, the secondary kept receivers from getting open. Hutchinson bagged a huge sack on 3rd-and-15. The Lions followed that up with a coverage sack on what proved to be Chicago’s final offensive snap, with Julian Okwara and Alex Anzalone combining to put Fields on the ground.
The defense deserves serious credit for figuring things out after a very rough patch in the middle of the game. Doing so against a uniquely skilled player like Fields makes it even more impressive.
Jared Goff redeems himself
Goff didn’t have a great four quarters of football. He was solid for the most part but made a couple of crucial errors in the game, notably a bad sack just when the Lions offense could afford it the least. He was aided by a Bears penalty waving off an ugly interception, too.
But when the Lions needed a game-winning drive, Goff delivered. No. 16 was crisp and patient on the final drive, confident in his protection and his receivers. Instead of taking the easier, quicker option, Goff stayed with the design and burned the Bears with deeper throws to Tom Kennedy and Amon-Ra St. Brown to rip off big gains. Good protection up front and strong running by Jamaal Williams certainly helped, but Goff made the plays he hasn’t consistently delivered in a Lions uniform.
Goff deserves the praise for the game-winner.
Take a long drive
The drive west on I-94 from Detroit to Chicago normally takes about four hours. Sunday’s game cut that drive time back thanks to a lot of running and some pretty accurate passing.
Each team managed just three possessions in the first half, which ended in a 10-10 stalemate. Detroit’s final possession was a one-play Hail Mary that came up painfully short of the end zone.
The game flew by. The third quarter was over before the Jaguars-Chiefs and Broncos-Titans games that kicked off at the same time exited halftime. Even with all the late action, the game still ended in plenty of time to catch the truly astonishing fourth quarter (and overtime) of the Bills-Vikings game.
D'Andre Swift didn't listen to Duce Staley
Lions RB coach and assistant head coach Duce Staley challenged D’Andre Swift to play with more passion and purpose. It’s a message Staley has sent to Swift for months.
Alas, it’s just not getting through.
Swift had an opportunity to score on a 3rd-and-goal from the Chicago 1-yard line. Swift took the off-tackle pitch in space and needed to beat one Bears defender by the design of the play. TE Brock Wright didn’t block well and that inserted another defender into the mix, but Swift had a chance to try and grind for the yard. Instead of lowering a shoulder or trying some sort of evasive move, Swift jumped into the air and out of bounds.
He played sparingly thereafter, though Swift did earn back good graces with a 9-yard touchdown run to kick off the comeback. Hopefully Swift can build off that 9-yard jaunt and not get overcome by the six carries, six yards overall stat line.
Quick hits
–Last week, rookie safety Kerby Joseph earned the NFC Defensive Player of the Week. This week he played the worst game of his young career. That’s the rookie life. Zero worries long-term about Joseph shaking off a bad game. They’re going to happen.
–Julian Okwara got toasted on the first play of the game, giving up outside containment and letting Fields rip off a big gain. After that mishap, Okwara played a whale of a game. Two sacks including the game-sealer, another tackle-for-loss and solid containment angles on Fields.
–Michael Badgley barely made the extra point to push the score to 31-30, but it snuck inside the upright. Bears K Cairo Santos missed his final conversion. The Bears cut Badgley for Santos earlier this season after a week where Badgley made four field goals in a win. Sweet payback for the Lions kicker, who remains perfect on placekicks in a Detroit uniform.
–It didn’t show on the stat sheet but I thought John Cominsky played very well at DE.
–The 3-6 Lions took over second place in the NFC North with the win, dropping the Bears to 3-7. Detroit will remain there if the 3-6 Packers lose to the Dallas Cowboys in the late-afternoon game.
