It looks like the Detroit Lions got scared straight. After a rough outing in Week 1, the Lions looked like their normal selves against the Chicago Bears, handing their division rival their sixth loss in the past seven matchups. It was a massive win by every definition of the word, and it certainly eased concerns that this team may take a step back after losing both coordinators.
Let’s hand out some grades for the Lions’ performance in their 52-21 victory over the Bears.
Quarterback: A+
That is about as close to a perfect
performance as you can get in a single week of football. In Week 2, Jared Goff ranked:
- 1st in passing touchdowns (5)
- 1st in passer rating (156.0)
- 1st in completion percentage over expected (+16.8%)
- 1st in EPA (+23.3) and EPA per dropback (+0.80)
- 1st in yards per attempt (11.9)
- 2nd in completion percentage (82.1%)
Goff also managed the pocket well, staying patient when he needed to, and sliding out to avoid any sacks on the day.
Running backs: A-
Statistically, the Lions’ duo of Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery were electric. They combined for 23 carries, 151 yards (6.6 YPC) and two touchdowns on the ground—plus an additional four catches for 14 yards in the passing game. However, for the second game in a row, Gibbs turned a negative play into a massively negative play by trying to do too much. The statistics are a little bolstered by a few explosive plays, but for the Lions to generate three explosives (15+ yards) is also a credit to both backs.
Tight ends: B+
Not much statistically to show for the Lions tight ends. Sam LaPorta caught three passes for 26 yards, and Brock Wright actually outgained him with three-for-28 yards and a score. But I thought on initial viewing that this unit did a much better job both in terms of pass protection and run blocking.
Wide receivers: A+
Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams were consistently torching what is a pretty decent Bears secondary. St. Brown looked damn-near unguardable, catching nine of his 11 targets for 115 yards and three touchdowns. Meanwhile, Chicago looked fully incapable of matching Williams’ speed. While he only finished with two catches for 108 yards and a score, Williams was open two additional times. On one, Williams lost his shoe, which likely impacted his ability to get under the ball. The second was a wide-open post route that Goff and Williams simply couldn’t connect on.
And I’m certainly not going to overlook Isaac TeSlaa’s one-handed grab.
Offensive line: A
No unit had a bigger turnaround from Week 1 to Week 2 than the Lions’ offensive line. After averaging just 2.1 yards per carry last week, the Lions averaged 5.9 against the Bears. Perhaps most notable is the fact that the Lions’ rushing attack averaged more yards before contact per attempt (3.55) than any other team in Week 2. Last week, they ranked fourth-worst (-0.53). There were still too many negative plays in general, but it was obviously a massive improvement here.
Pass protection was even better. Jared Goff faced the second-lowest pressure percentage (20.7%) of any NFL quarterback this week.
“It always starts with the o-line here,” coach Dan Campbell said. “It does and I would say probably most teams, and for sure us. When they play well, it really allows us to do a lot. It allows us to do a lot and that’s a prideful unit. There again, we had a couple of young guys in there that I thought played better, and they’re only going to get better the more reps they get. So, that was good to see.”
Defensive line: B
If Detroit’s pass rush plan was to keep Caleb Williams in the pocket and prevent him from scrambling, the Lions did an excellent job. Williams only managed to scramble twice for 19 yards. And they were eventually able to get to Williams, with the defensive line producing three of the defense’s four sacks on the day. It still feels like the pressure is coming a little too late, and a quarterback who can read the defense quicker would have taken advantage. But, again, this is a step in the right direction.
Detroit’s defensive line also did an incredible job with their two QB sneak stuffs, resulting in a turnover on downs. Rookie Tyleik Wiliams was largely responsible for the fourth-down stop, and in addition to that, he added two pass breakups on the day, the last of which shut down another fourth-down attempt from the Bears.
However, their run defense was not up to par. Detroit struggled to set the edge on a few occasions, and there were a surprising amount of holes up the middle. In the end, the Bears rushed for 134 yards and 5.0 yards per carry, which is way too much for the Lions’ run defense standards.
Linebackers: C
The linebackers were part of the problem when it comes to the run game, sometimes over-pursuing their own gap responsibilities. Also, while it’s unclear who was responsible for the blown coverage on Rome Odunze’s first touchdown, Jack Campbell apparently took responsibility for the breakdown in communication. Blitzing also remains a problem with this group, as no linebackers registered a single quarterback hit on Sunday.
Secondary: B-
A very mixed bag from the Lions secondary. Brian Branch was a stud, logging a sack, a forced fumble, two tackles for loss, and a pass breakup. But he also committed a roughing the passer penalty that erased Terrion Arnold’s first career interception. Kerby Joseph logged a diving interception on a terribly-thrown ball.
As for the outside cornerbacks, there’s still some room for improvement there. Odunze finished with seven catches for 128 yards and two touchdowns, giving the Lions fits all day. Both Arnold and D.J. Reed haven’t quite lived up to expectations yet, but it’s also worth noting that with pressure slow to get to Caleb Williams, they had to stick in coverage for a long time.
Special teams: C
Coverage teams were fine against the Bears, with nothing particularly bad or good, but I continue to be underwhelmed by the Lions’ kick return team. Grant Stuard averaged just 24.0 yards on his two kick returns, although Jacob Saylors did make a heads-up play to catch the initial kickoff out of bounds.
It wasn’t the best day from Jake Bates, who badly missed a 55-yard field goal and had a kickoff short of the landing zone, but credit to Jack Fox for dropping two of his three punts inside the 20.
Coaching: A
Detroit’s ability to bounce back after a loss should not be overlooked when it comes to leadership of this team. So many times here in Detroit—or in other cities—we see teams crumble when adversity hits. This team thrives in adversity. This is the kind of game that should give you immense hope that when a problem pops up with the Lions, they will not only address it, but master it.
Beyond that, the offensive gameplan found ways to hit on the explosive plays they were missing against the Packers. Defensively, the strategy of making Caleb Williams beat them with his arm instead of his feet turned out to be the right one.
