Justin Fields – Lions Lowdown

Detroit Lions stay calm, come back from 12-point deficit to beat Bears, 31-26

DETROIT — While there is no easy explanation for Detroit Lions’ two-touchdown comeback for a 31-26 win over the Chicago Bears, coach Dan Campbell said when the pressure went up, their heart rate leveled out.

No one appeared frazzled, no one shrugged his shoulders. Instead the Lions, who are 8-2 for the first time since 1962, went calmly about their business. They weren’t playing well with four turnovers and the defense struggling to contain Bears quarterback Justin Fields. Didn’t matter.

With 4:15 left, they were down 26-14 and there was no doubt in their minds that they still had a chance.

“As long as we have the ability to get a stop and we’ve got three timeouts, we can do anything. We had three timeouts and we were close,’’ Campbell said. “They’re sitting there with the lead, they’re going to do what they need to do to hold that and not do something too aggressive, if we could just find a way to get a stop I felt pretty good about where we were going to be at.’’

Before the final defensive play when Aidan Hutchinson strip-sacked Fields for a safety, Campbell said he had a few words for the defense.

“I remember him saying something like you’ve got to love this -hit,’’ linebacker Alex Anzalone said. “When you see a head coach, and you know he’s an offensive-minded head coach, when you see him come out and see him do stuff, alright let’s go. It’s fun to play for him. It’s the most fun I’ve had playing football probably in my whole career.’’

Turns out winning is fun.

The Lions are still atop the NFC North and are 2-0 in division games. They face the Green Bay Packers (4-6) on Thanksgiving at Ford Field.

Five reasons the Lions won:

1. Jared Goff will be the first to tell you he didn’t play his best game with three interceptions. One ball was tipped, on another Sam LaPorta ran into a defender, but on the third he threw it right at the defender. That all won’t be remembered as much as this two-minute drives. One ended the first half, giving the Lions a 14-10 halftime lead. Then with 3:29 left he hit Jameson Wlliams on a 32-yard touchdown pass to get within 5 points. Then he drove the offense down the field ending with a David Montgomery TD run and a 2-point conversion to take a 29-26 lead with 29 seconds left. “Here’s what we know about Goff, at the very least he’s going to be mentally tough and physically tough,’’ Campbell said. “You can bank on that. Today he showed his resiliency.’’

2. For three and a half quarters, the defense struggled to stop Fields and the Bears offense. But with the game on the line, they came through big-time. With 2:59 left the Bears got the ball with a 26-21 lead. The Lions defense needed a stop for a chance to win and they got it, forcing a three-and-out. “We just embody our head coach, we feed off him, we feed off what he preaches to us, we’ve all bought in to how we operate and how we go about doing things,’’ Anzalone said. “At the end of the day we know we’re always in the fight with the talent we have on our team and the want-to we have on our team. It really starts top down.’’

3. Aidan Hutchinson’s strip sack for a safety with 29 seconds left, sealed the win. It was huge. “That to me, those are the moments we are built for. That’s how we have to think,’’ Campbell said.

4. Running back David Montgomery lined up against his former team for the first time since signing with Detroit. He tried to downplay the matchup earlier in the week. He was all in. On the final game-winning drive Montgomery had two catches for 22 yards and three runs for 23 yards, including the 1-yard TD run to win the game. “What you see is what you get with David. He’s steady, he’s reliable, he’s explosive,’’ Campbell said. “He can help you in pass game, run game protection. If there’s anything I say I wish we could’ve gotten him the ball more. He was huge for us on those last couple of drives.’’ Montgomery finished with a dozen carries for 76 yards and 2 catches for 22 yards.

5. Wide receiver Jameson Williams had two huge plays. He made a beauty of a catch for 12 yards on a third-and-1 just before the half. That allowed the drive, which resulted in a touchdown, to continue. Then in the fourth quarter, Williams’ 32-yard touchdown catch got the Lions within 5 points. Both were key plays in the win and showed the trust that the coaches have in Williams. “He’s part of the herd. He’s been accepted and the way he works and the way he goes and blocks, and he’s starting to run some pretty good routes and making some catches,’’ Campbell said. “A lot of guys are starting to trust him and that’s been earned.’’

Next up: Green Bay Packers (4-6) at Lions (8-2), 12:30 p.m. on Thursday. The Lions defeated the Packers, 34-20, at Green Bay in Week 4.

Five things to watch as Detroit Lions host Chicago Bears; plus prediction

While the season is more than half over, the Lions are prepping to play just their second divisional game when they host the Chicago Bears at Ford Field on Sunday.

Sitting atop the NFC North at 7-2, the Lions are obviously in a good spot but they see a rising team in the Bears (3-7). And they know the division title is not a lock yet especially with the Vikings winning five straight.

“If you aspire to win the division, you have to win your division games. That’s the bottom line and we’ve only – we’ve got one under our belt and this is number two. So, it’s as simple as that,’’ coach Dan Campbell said. “You don’t know how these games are going to unfold. You don’t know how the season’s going to entirely unfold at the end, but certainly, you better have a majority of the division wins if that’s what you plan on doing. So, it’s that – I always say they count for two. This is like winning two games a little bit when you play these division games. So, it’s important, it’s important. It’s a conference game and more importantly, it’s a division game.”

Lions quarterback Jared Goff said the Bears remind him of the Lions when they went on their big season-ending run last year.

“I think they’re a whole lot better than their record shows. They’ve been banged up a little bit throughout the year and getting their quarterback back now and have done some really good things on defense, so we’ll have our hands full,’’ Goff said.

Justin Fields, coming off a dislocated thumb, is expected to start after missing four games.

FIVE THINGS TO WATCH:

1. Lions must pressure quarterback Justin Fields, who is expected to return after missing four games with a fractured thumb. The mobile quarterback is always a threat even though he hasn’t been running as much this season. “(He) brings a whole other element to the game we haven’t seen in a while,’’ Campbell said. The Bears were 1-5 when he started the first six games. He had 11 touchdowns and six interceptions.

2. Overall the Lions defense must improve over the way it played in the 41-38 win at the Chargers on Sunday. Certain issues must be corrected. “Communication, to me, was the biggest piece of it. It’s not about the plays being made when they happen,’’ Campbell said. “Just like last week we know that’s a good offense and a good quarterback, you want to know if something comes up it wasn’t because of us – a communication error on a few plays.’’

3. The Lions run game has been on fire with 200 rushing yards against the Chargers and 220 against the Raiders in the past two games. The Bears’ rushing defense is ranked second in the NFL, allowing just 76 rushing yards per game while the Lions’ rushing offense is ranked fourth averaging 139 yards per game. “They’ve got length, they’ve got size, they’ve got quickness, they move a ton,’’ Campbell said of the Bears’ rushing defense. “This is a stunning defense. They’ve got a ton of different looks coverage-wise, and I think when you’re able to play multiple coverages, you have length, you play with speed and you move, it creates problems. It can create problems. If we can’t handle their movement upfront, it’ll be one of those long days for us.’’ With David Montgomery’s return and rookie Jahmyr Gibbs’ maturation they should be fine, but yards on the ground could be tough to come by.

4. Expect Campbell and offensive coordinator Ben Johnson to call the same aggressive game that has brought them so much success. Johnson said against the Chargers, it felt like almost anything was going to work. “So that’s really a credit to the guys. It’s less the plays, it’s more the style of play. Those guys played hard from play one all the way until the end and were able to put up some yards and some points, which was great,” Johnson said. “And we kind of talked last week that some guys were going to be unhappy because we’ve got so many mouths to feed and, fortunately we were able to feed quite a few of them.’’

5. Veteran pass-rusher Bruce Irvin, 36, who was signed to the practice squad this week won’t be active on Sunday. After a workout for the team, Campbell said Irvin has superhuman genes. While he’s in great shape he wasn’t in football shape. “We want to be smart about this, let’s see where he goes,’’ Campbell said on Friday. “Just getting him in football shape is important. I don’t think you want to throw anybody out there and set him up for disaster with an injury when they’re not quite ready. I don’t see him being up this week.’’ Defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn said they will build different packages for Irvin and also in base he operates the SAM linebacker role.

INJURIES: DT Isaiah Buggs (illness) and LG Jonah Jackson (wrist/ankle) are out; S Ifeatu Melifonwu (hand) is questionable.

ROSTER MOVES: DL Quinton Bohanna and OL Connor Galvin were elevated from the practice squad on Saturday.

PREDICTION: Lions 24, Bears 10. While the Bears should put up a good fight, they don’t have the talent to match the Lions at Ford Field.

Five reasons the Lions were able to hold on to beat the Bears, 31-30

On Sunday, Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields was tough to stop, but when it counted the Detroit Lions found a way.

When it was over Detroit squeaked out a 31-30 win at Soldier Field. It was Detroit’s first road win since Dec. 6, 2020, the first game after Matt Patricia was fired. That makes it the first road win for coach Dan Campbell and the second straight win for the 3-6 Lions.

The Lions were down 24-10 to start the fourth quarter and were able to claw back.

“We got ourselves back in the game. We’ve gotten back in a lot of games but haven’t been able to finish them out. And we got ourselves back in the game and won it,’’ Campbell said.
“That to me, more than anything else means everything to me, to this team. That’s above ‘on the road.’ The fact that we battled our way back and they stayed true to what they’ve been coached to do and we made the plays we had to to win the game.’’

Tied 10-10 at the half, the Bears scored a pair of touchdowns to take a 24-10 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Midway through the quarter, D’Andre Swift’s 9-yard touchdown scamper got the Lions back into the game, down 24-17.

Then one minute and 8 seconds later, cornerback Jeff Okudah intercepted Fields and brought the ball back 6 yards for a touchdown to tie the game at 24-24.

Of course there was no quit in Fields and he busted through the middle and ran 67 yards for a touchdown with Okudah on his heels as he headed into the endzone. After the extra point was missed, the Bears led 30-24 with 9:11 left. Each team went three-and-out and the Lions got the ball back with 5:23 remaining.

Running back Jamaal Williams completed the 91-yard scoring drive with a one-yard touchdown run. The extra point was good, giving the Lions a 31-30 lead.

Five of the many reasons the Lions won:

1. Even after the Lions’ final score, the Bears had enough time to get downfield and kick a field goal to win it. But Aidan Hutchinson, Julian Okwara and the entirety of the defense had another plan. In that possession, Fields was sacked twice. Once by Hutchinson on second-and-10, then by Okwara on fourth-and-8. “That’s two weeks in a row where our defense has come up huge. That is a tough offense to play, that quarterback it’s everything we talked about. You can play perfect and play the game you want to play and if you just let him out four plays it will kill you, it could be four touchdowns,’’ Campbell said. “At the end of the day we bottled him up enough and forced him to have to stay in there and make some plays that’s hard for him to do. … Even though we got hurt on a couple of plays they stayed true to it.’’ Fields finished with 13 carries for 147 yards and two rushing touchdowns. He was also 12 of 20 for 167 yards, two passing touchdowns and one interception.

2. Another huge play came with 3:14 left and the Lions needing a touchdown. On third-and-8 from Detroit’s 42, Jared Goff connected with wide receiver Tom Kennedy for a 44-yard gain getting them to Chicago’s 14-yard line. Two plays later Jamaal Williams ran in for the game-winning touchdown. “It doesn’t shock me or surprise me that TK came up with a big play. He’s there when needed and that was big for us,’’ Campbell said.

3. Jeff Okudah’s interception and return for the touchdown early in the fourth was also key. (Notably, Okudah and Fields are both Ohio State products.) “Our defense came up big. When we desperately needed a takeaway we get that and we get points, Jeff (Okudah) makes a heck of a play,’’ Campbell said.

4. The offense had struggled a bit in the win over the Packers a week ago, but came back to life in Chicago. Goff finished 19 of 26 for 236 yards and one touchdown. His only interception was negated by a Bears penalty. “I thought Goff threw the ball well today, it wasn’t perfect all the time but I thought he was feeling it,’’ Campbell said. “He made some pivotal throws when we absolutely needed them. I thought he played quarterback for us very well and, there again, when we needed a huge drive he made some monster plays.’’

5. Over so many losses during so many years, the Lions have shot themselves in the foot with penalties. Not on Sunday. “As a whole our team played very disciplined today overall. We ended up with two penalties, their penalties really helped us,’’ Campbell said. Indeed the Bears were called for nine penalties costing them 86 yards. Also, another tried-and-true method of shooting oneself in the foot is turnovers. The Lions never turned the ball over on Sunday.

BY THE NUMBERS: The Lions only went for it on fourth down once and converted it. That was a fourth-and-2 from the Bears’ 2 in the second quarter. Goff connected with tight end Brock Wright for the score. … Alex Anzalone led the defense with 10 tackles, one pass defense and on forced fumble. Hutchinson had eight tackles and one sack. Julian Okwara had a pair of sacks. … The Bears finished with 258 rushing yards compared to just 95 for the Lions. But Detroit had 228 passing yards compared to 150 for Chicago.

(Photo courtesy of Detroit Lions)

(Next up: Lions (3-6) at N.Y. Giants (7-2) at 1 p.m., on Sunday, Nov. 20. The Giants topped the Texans 24-16 on Sunday.)