Tag: chicago bears

Five things to know about Lions vs Bears on Thanksgiving

A Thanksgiving tradition like no other — a winless NFL team playing a struggling, dysfunctional team.

Pass the Tums.

The Lions (0-9-1), who started playing Thanksgiving games in 1934, will face the Chicago Bears (3-7), who have lost five straight which sparked rumors about Coach Matt Nagy’s tenure. It’s the second meeting of the NFC North basement dwellers after the Bears won 24-14 on Oct. 3.

“We did some things good the last time we played them and the turnovers killed us. And so, I think some of that is us just trying to be smart when we get down there and give ourselves a chance to possess the ball and then see if we can get it in there,’’ Lions coach Dan Campbell said. “But, we ran it pretty good until we got behind and then we weren’t able to run it anymore. Look, we scored with (Kalif Raymond) Lif down there, but certainly those turnovers killed us.”

Five things to know about the nationally televised Thanksgiving game:

1. Boy did the Lions ever miss Jared Goff in the loss at Cleveland on Sunday. On Tuesday, Campbell said Goff is improving and it looks like he could play. He is officially listed as questionable and was able to practice on limited basis. Still it could be a gametime decision. Certainly Goff gives the Lions a better chance of winning than Tim Boyle who struggled in his first NFL start on Sunday.

2. Once again, the Lions will face a backup quarterback. Andy Dalton will start for the Bears. Rookie Justin Fields is out with bruised ribs. It will be Dalton’s third start this season where he’s amassed three touchdowns and one interception.

3. Campbell said there are a couple calls he’d like back after calling the offense in the past two games. “I think that certainly finding some runs has been pretty good. I feel like just mixing it up and letting those guys go up front has been pretty good and it’s helped us,’’ Campbell said. “We’ve kind of found a running game here, but I think that maybe there were a couple of calls there where – it’s tough to say because you could say, ‘Well maybe we ought to pass it here.’ But also, wanting to be mindful of – the first week you’ve got a guy who you don’t feel like can push the ball down the field, you want to be smart, the conditions aren’t good and then we come back with another game where the conditions aren’t great. Boyle hasn’t – it’s his first start. You go back and forth on that. Do you try to take care of them? Do you try to get it with (D’Andre) Swift on the ground or do you put it in his hands? You play that game a little bit, but certainly there are things I wish I could have back, but I’m growing at it as well.”

4. “I think what’s going to help us is getting a first down. If we can get a first down to sustain a drive, then we get a couple more plays to try to put it in the hands of our receivers, whether that’s a run or a short pass. I think to be able to really helps those guys out, I think we’ve got to convert on third down. We’re way too low right now. Even if you can convert one or two more times in a game, you allow yourselves a minimum of six plays and then you don’t know where that’s going to go. I think everything starts there.”

5. The defense has been doing a good job of creating turnovers and they need to keep it up.  “I think you’re always talking about them. You’re always preaching them. You’re always working. Like, we work turnover drills. We’ve been doing them all year, but sometimes it just takes – you’ve got to get a little momentum and all of a sudden you get one and guys start feeling it and smelling it,’’ Campbell said. “And next thing you know, one guy sees his teammate doing it, he starts doing it, and then the next one starts doing and it does, it becomes contagious. Unfortunately, it’s no different than offensively. If you start fumbling the ball, pretty soon that becomes contagious the wrong way.”

PREDICTION: Bears 24, Lions 17

Five things to know about Lions 24-14 loss to Bears

In the first three losses, the Detroit Lions showed flashes on both sides of the ball, but never could put it all together. The team took a step backward in Chicago on Sunday with a 24-14 loss to the Chicago Bears.

Injuries played a factor but every team has injuries so that is not going to fly as an excuse.

The ugly loss was on everyone from Dan Campbell on down. 

Communication was a problem in the last-second loss to the Ravens the previous week so they worked on it last week, but it remained an issue all-around.

The Lions scored on a pair of touchdown passes from Jared Goff to Kalif Raymond in the second half, but it was too little too late. That always seems to be the case.

Five things to know about the loss:

  1. The Lions fumbled the ball twice in the red zone. Center Frank Ragnow appeared to snap the ball early, Goff was not looking for it and the Bears recovered in the first quarter. Then later in the half, Goff fumbled when sacked by Robert Quinn on Chicago’s 3-yard line. Khalil Mack recovered for the Bears.
  2. Instead of going for a field goal from the Bears’ 5-yard line on fourth-and-goal, the Lions went for it and Goff’s pass intended for D’Andre Swift was deflected and incomplete. Again late in the game with a fourth-and-one — and down by 10 points — instead of going for the field goal Goff threw an incomplete pass. Six points is six points. Not enough to win but enough to matter.  Goff finished 24 of 38 for 299 yards and no interceptions.
  3. Lions defense allowed too many chunk plays. Bobby Price, a safety just converted to corner, could not keep up. But it was not all on him.  Rookie Justin Fields completed 12 of 18 pass attempts for 215 yards with one interception.
  4. The Lions looked unprepared for the Bears. They didn’t know until Saturday that Justin Fields would start at quarterback but Campbell said earlier in the week he didn’t think Chicago’s offense would change no matter who got the nod. So, again, no excuse. Not to say Campbell and his staff don’t work hard, they certainly do. But along the way whether it’s on the players or the coaches the team did not look ready. They know they can’t get in a hole early and they were down 14-0 at the half.
  5. At 0-4 the Lions are at a critical point. Dan Campbell can’t lose the team. He has said all along the margin of error was small in part because the team is so young. 

NEXT UP: Lions (0-4) at Vikings (1-3) on Sunday, Oct. 10. The Vikings lost 14-7 to the Browns on Sunday.

Five things to know as Lions face Bears in Chicago

In the NFL losses are losses and then there was the last-second loss to the Baltimore Ravens last Sunday. That could be a tough one to get over for the Lions but they have no choice.

The Lions (0-2) face the Bears (1-2) at Chicago’s Soldier Field on Sunday.

“Between my coaching staff and myself, we’re just trying to preach the right things every day. You go back to work. It’s about being resilient. It’s about learning from your errors. It’s about not giving up,’’ coach Dan Campbell said this week. 

“It’s all of the things and I think that the veterans that we have here that have been retained or that we have brought in believe the way we believe. They’ve been winners in other programs and they know what it takes and I think while we’re bringing them along, particularly the young guys, I think their voices are beginning to get louder,’’ he added.

The Bears are coming off a 26-6 loss to Cleveland in quarterback Justin Fields’ first start.

Five things to watch: 

1. Fields will get his second start on Sunday. All week the Bears were mum about who would get the nod, but announced on Saturday it will be Fields. The rookie completed 6 of 20 pass attempts for 68 yards with zero touchdowns and zero interceptions in the loss to the Browns last week. He was sacked nine times for a loss of 67 yards. It was not pretty.

2. Trey Flowers (shoulder/knee) will miss his second straight game. It looked like he was trending to play but was officially declared out on Friday. Holding him out is not devastating because of the depth on the defensive line. “I think, to be honest with you, we’re in a pretty good place just depth-wise and it’s more – I just feel like if we are – this is the right thing for Trey, too, which in turn is also the right thing for us long-term,’’ Campbell said. “I think if we can get him back to where he’s feeling really good, I think in the long run, that’s going to be a good thing for him and for us.” DE Michael Brockers and OLB Romeo Okwara are both questionable due to shoulder injuries.

3. They say if you have three quarterbacks you really don’t have one. That’s an issue for the Bears but at least starting quarterback is not a problem for the Lions. Jared Goff has been steady in the opening three losses with five touchdowns, two interceptions and a 69.6% completion percentage. He’s had the offense rolling for stretches, but not a complete game yet. “I think we’re really close. It’s a constant, ‘How do we get better today? How do we get better the next day?’ It’s always that way, but you feel close, you always do and we have to do it,’’ Goff said. “We have to put it on the field, we have to do it on game day on Sundays and make it come to life. Yeah, I do feel like we’re close to doing that and putting four quarters together.”

4. Tight end T.J. Hockenson is the leading receiver in yards with 18 catches for 173 yards, but Campbell things Quintez Cephus could be ready for a breakout game.”I think he’s – you see things last week, though he didn’t get targeted as much, I thought he did some good things on tape. He’s getting there. I think (Amon-Ra) St. Brown is close. I think he’s due to have a game for us. He does a ton of dirty work for us. I think his opportunities are going to come. And so, there again, it’s got to happen,’’ Campbell said. “I think once one to two of those things happen, then there will be confidence in those players and then, in turn, in all of us. It helps the quarterback, helps us game plan, all of those things.”

5. While the 66-yard field goal crushed the Lions hopes of a win last week, it was the fourth-and-19 conversion that allowed that kick to happen. Campbell blamed lack of communication for the breakdown on that play so they worked on it in practice this week. “Everything that we talk about emphasizing has really shown up and you can hear it. You can hear the communication, you can see them talking, you can see the hand signals. We do pre-practice walkthroughs, we do walkthroughs before practice. So, we have a pre-practice, pre-practice, then a pre-practice,’’ Campbell said. “It has, it’s really shown up. Now, do we still make mistakes? We do, but the point is, the emphasis, and it is, it was better. I thought (Thursday)  was one of the best practices that we’ve had all year. I was encouraged. It was good.”

PREDICTION: Lions 24, Bears 10