When you look at the scoreline of how the Bears bested the Lions, you’d be forgiven for thinking this was a game where Chicago were simply too good for Detroit. Now while they were certainly better, the score somewhat flatters them and is a more accurate representation of how careless Detroit got with the football.
That’s not to take away from a Bears team who were always in control, making the big plays when they needed to. Despite some familiar problems on the offensive line, they moved the ball just well enough, along with a defense that was always in position to make plays. Winning football from a team that has now picked up four wins on the trot.
What now for both teams? Well the Lions need to get their quarterback in rhythm and the Bears … well the Bears just need to keep doing what they’re doing. Let’s look at some of the key performances from both teams.
Detroit – Three Performances of Note
Forcing the issue
Careless. If there was one word that summed up Matthew Stafford (-0.8) against the Bears, that was it. Now a little disclaimer here, our QB grades are not normalized at the moment (though they will be soon), so throwing 58 ‘aimed passes’ and getting a negative grade? That’s a terrible display. The problem with Stafford, something I’ve speculated on before, is he either trusts his arm too much, doesn’t care about the coverage unit enough, or quite simply assumes things will work out. You can pick apart his horrible pick sixes, but it’s the constant forcing of throws that has to be a worry with all of his interceptions being balls that really shouldn’t have been thrown. The Lions have a defense that won’t give up a lot of points, so you don’t need to be the Peyton Manning of Detroit. You just need to give your playmakers a chance to make plays. He can and did show this with some really good throws. He was able to split coverages at various points and his completion to Calvin Johnson on a go route with 5:12 to go in the third was a textbook example of hitting your receiver in stride. The talent is there but it takes more than talent in this league.
Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuh
We get called out a lot on being haters of Ndamukong Suh (+4.4). Perhaps we are, or perhaps we just appreciate him all the more when he puts in well balanced displays like this. If I’m honest it wasn’t so much the hit or the two pressures he picked up that impressed me, but rather his work in the run game. Four defensive stops, as he gave Chris Spencer all he could handle, show what kind of impact Suh can have on every down, not just the passing ones. Even when the game looked over he was still hustling away with 13:29 to go in the fourth, dealing with Spencer with the kind of contempt he deals with talk of being a dirty player, swift and dismissively. No eye popping stats so no eye popping press, but there was very little to fault the Lions DT on in Week 10.
Making plays isn’t always a good thing
The Lions crippled themselves with mistakes as eluded to earlier. If it wasn’t Calvin Johnson (-1.9) fumbling the ball, it was Nate Burleson (-0.7). If it wasn’t Maurice Stovall (-1.2) dropping a ball, it was Johnson dropping one in the endzone. If it wasn’t Matthew Stafford throwing an interception, it was … well that was all on Stafford but you get my point. The Lions didn’t play badly in this, limiting the Bears ability to generate pressure with a four man rush, even if Stafford let his feet get a little happy, but turning the ball over and dumping the ball on the ground killed them. Time to work on the basics this week.
Chicago – Three Performances of Note
Lions allergic to Peanut
I know Calvin Johnson is good, but maybe when throwing at him means throwing at Charles Tillman (+4.6), you need a plan B. This was one of those days where Tillman seemed to know what Stafford was doing before the Lions quarterback himself. Sure he gave up some yards, but when you’re thrown at 17 times what do you expect? The Bears cornerback only allowed 6-of-17 balls thrown his way to be complete for 78 yards, while adding his a pass deflection and interception returned for a touchdown. While it’s easy to rave about the aforementioned interception, it was plays like 2:09 to go in the first half that summed up his day. Megatron looked like making a big completion in the redzone, only for Tillman to disrupts him and prevent him securing the ball. A small screenshot of a simply terrific display. This won’t be the last time I mention Tillman in this piece.
Hello old friend, we missed you
Recently we’ve looked at the Bears offensive line in a different light. No longer the weak link, they were starting to hold their own. Well with a combined grade of -8.4, this wasn’t a great week for them. The biggest culprits came on the right side of the line with Chris Spencer (-2.7) having a tough time of things with Suh, and Lance Louis (-5.7) just having a tough time all round. In fairness to Louis, he did play a part on the big 40 yard run by Matt Forte (Q8 03:45), pulling across to the left side and then sealing Andre Levy. However that doesn’t make up failing to execute in the same fashion on the next play, and the sack, hit and four pressures he gave up as Willie Young, in particular, beat him off the edge. When does Gabe Carimi return? Answer, not soon enough on this showing. If there’s any plus side to this it’s that they were a lot better than that Monday Night Football game.
Peppering the opposition
If you know how the Bears rotate personnel you’ll know they’re loathe to take Julius Peppers (+1.8) out of the lineup. They’ve been forced to though, and despite the reduced playing time (51 of 85 snaps) he’s still making plays. He set the Bears tone on defense by forcing a fumble from Calvin Johnson, followed it up with a sack and a batted pass, and even forced a throw away when he dropped into coverage and picked up the TE in the flat. A do it all display from a player who many, myself included, questioned when the Bears invested substantial funds in him.
Games Notes
– Back in Week 5 the Bears gave up nine penalties on offense. This week? Just one. Homefield matters.
– Jay Cutler actually completed more throws (55.6%) when pressured, as opposed to when he wasn’t (40%).
– Shame about that fumble. Nate Burleson managed to catch 8-of-9 balls thrown his way for 83 yards, and forced a missed tackle to boot.
PFF Game Ball
Remember when I said I wasn’t done talking about Charles Tillman? Well when you’re defending Calvin Johnson and you get thrown at 17 times you’ll do well to maybe give up a touchdown, one hundred plus yards and 60% of those balls. Tillman gave up no touchdowns, just 78 yards and 35.3% of balls thrown his way. Superb.
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