The Lions Put Together A Shitty Performance In Chicago And Drop A Game To The Bears
This was a Lions loss. I’ve been fortunate enough that I haven’t been able to say that a whole lot over the last few years, but this game reeked of all Detroit Lions shit. They got off to a bad start, had some stupid turnovers, and completely stalled out offensively in the second half. If you would’ve told me before the season that the Lions would be 9-4 after 13 games, I would’ve taken it every day of the week. I still think the division is comfortably in hand, but they have not played their best football over the last month. The offense has been good enough to help them pull out a few close victories, but I shiver at what will happen when this team gets to the playoffs.
At what point is Aaron Glenn going to realize that an NFL football game is 60 minutes? I can’t tell you how demoralizing it is to start every game down by a score. I’ll give them credit for holding their own in the second half for a bit when the offense stalled out, but the defense is still soft as baby shit. The Bears will give Fields another year at quarterback solely off the backs of these two games against Detroit when he’s looked like Randall Cunningham in 1998.
The consistent offense has been the Lions identity this year. They are simply not a good enough defensive team to survive on days in which the offensive is sloppy, and the offense has been pretty darn sloppy over the last several games. I don't know what happened, but Jared Goff, who went a long time without turning the ball over in the previous two seasons, has become something of a turnover machine over the last four games. As ineffective as he was at points, the offense lost its identity in the second half today. Three straight three-and-outs to start the half just won't cut it.
Right now, Dan Campbell is someone in Detroit who can do no wrong. His tenure up to this point has been a success. A loss today doesn't change that. But over time, you start to notice flaws in coaches, and I found one in Campbell. I don't think he's great with second-half adjustments. His teams play with a lot of heart, and we've seen this Lions team pull off some pretty miraculous wins. They've gone into halftime with leads in both these games against the Bears, and they're pretty darn lucky that they aren't 0-2 against them. They got torched in the first half against Green Bay and didn't adjust. In the first half against Los Angeles, they got torched and didn't adjust. This is becoming a running theme. If the first half game plan isn't good, the performance probably won't be.
The pressure is heating up for the Lions now. They've lost two out of three games, and next week, they have a matchup with Denver on Saturday night. I'm not saying that this Denver team is dangerous, but mobile quarterbacks give Aaron Glenn's defenses nightmares. This team has done a great job of bouncing back from losses this year, but their flaws are increasingly exposed with each passing week. Next week at home in prime time would be a great time to stop the bleeding. Throw this one in the trash.