Lions bounce back, tame Bears for franchise-record 13th win

Nolan Bianchi, The Detroit News on Dec 22, 2024

Published in Football

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

CHICAGO — How's that for a response?

After having their 11-game win streak snapped against the Buffalo Bills, the Detroit Lions showed no mercy against a desolate Chicago Bears squad at Soldier Field on Sunday, racing out to a 20-point lead before pulling away in the second half of a 34-17 Lions victory.

Detroit scored on its first six possessions (excluding a last-chance field-goal attempt before halftime) and set a new single-season franchise record for points scored (493) as Detroit maintained control of the NFC North and the conference's No. 1 seed, with two games remaining in the regular season.

The Lions' most dastardly deed of the day came on their opening drive of the second half. Quarterback Jared Goff and running back Jahmyr Gibbs pretended to trip on a play-action fake, which opened up tight end Sam LaPorta for a 21-yard touchdown pass to put the Lions up 20 points.

In the Lions' first game without running back David Montgomery, Gibbs shined as the lead back. Though the Lions said he would split his workload with running backs Craig Reynolds and Jermar Jefferson, Gibbs had 23 carries for 109 yards and totaled 154 yards from scrimmage, including 45 receiving, torching the Bears to complete the Lions' season sweep of Chicago and improve to a 5-0 record in the NFC North.

Goff was borderline-perfect in the contest, totaling 336 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions on 23-of-32 passing. His best throw of the afternoon went to wide receiver Jameson Williams to put the Lions ahead, 20-0, with 12:49 left in the second quarter.

Williams went streaking down the middle of the field and Goff put it on him in stride for an 82-yard touchdown, the longest receiving touchdown of Williams' career and the second-longest touchdown pass of Goff's career.

Williams finished with a career-high 143 receiving yards on five catches. Receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown caught six passes for 70 yards and a touchdown.

Bears quarterback Caleb Williams was impressive but Chicago's non-existent run game made the unit one-dimensional and often killed the momentum Williams and his receivers created. He finished 26-of-40 passing for 334 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions.

The Bears were a disaster offensively to begin the game. Rome Odunze fumbled twice on the Bears' first three drives, leading to 10 first-quarter points for Detroit.

The first was an unforced error, as Odunze dropped the exchange on a jet sweep; Lions defensive lineman Josh Paschal pounced on it to give the Lions a short field for a seven-play touchdown drive that culminated with a 1-yard touchdown run by Gibbs.

The second was forced by Lions defensive backs Amik Robertson and Brian Branch and recovered by linebacker Jack Campbell. Detroit capitalized with another seven-play drive, this time ending with a 34-yard field goal from kicker Jake Bates to make it a 13-0 Lions lead.

The Lions' defense bent but didn't break often, stopping the Bears on eight of their 10 third-down attempts and holding them to one touchdown on two red-zone trips. Detroit accumulated six tackles-for-loss in the game.

After Chicago got on the board with a 1-yard touchdown pass to tight end Cole Kmet, the Lions and Bears exchanged touchdowns in the final minute of the half.

Amon-Ra St. Brown caught a third-down screen pass and rumbled his way into the end zone for an 8-yard score to put Detroit up 27-7, but the Bears answered with a three-play touchdown drive.

Bears receiver Keenan Allen, who scored twice in the first meeting with Detroit, beat cornerback Terrion Arnold with a double move and went streaking down the sideline for a 45-yard touchdown with 39 seconds left in the half to make it a 27-14 game.

Detroit had a chance to add a field goal before halftime, but long snapper Hogan Hatten was flagged for a false start before a 60-yard field-goal attempt from Jake Bates, and the Lions kicker couldn't drive home the 65-yard attempt.

Chicago waved the white flag with 8:21 left in the fourth quarter of a 34-17 game. Lions edge rusher Al-Quadin Muhammad crushed Caleb Williams on third down to bring up fourth-and-20, and after a delay-of-game penalty, the Bears punted as their fans headed for the exits.

Chicago threatened to cut its deficit with 2:30 left in the game but Lions defensive backs Ifeatu Melifonwu and Terrion Arnold broke up a fourth-down throw to D.J. Moore in the end zone to end the threat.

____