CHICAGO (WGN) — The Chicago Bears spotted the Detroit Lions an early 20-0 lead and despite catching their groove midway through the game, Chicago came up short for the second time this season against Detroit.
The loss was the Bears’ ninth in a row, which is the second longest losing streak in franchise history, behind the ten-game losing streak the 2022 Bears went on. The Lions set a franchise record with their 13th win of the year.
Here’s how the game played out between Chicago and Detroit.
Game Recap
The Bears started the afternoon on offense how they have all season.
Incredibly slow.
Chicago went three-and-out on their first drive of the afternoon and followed that up with back-to-back fumbles involving Rome Odunze that were both recovered by the Lions.
Meanwhile, Detroit’s offense scored on each of their first five possessions of the game.
Jake Bates hit a pair of field goals, Jahmyr Gibbs punched in a 1-yard TD run and Jared Goff hit Jameson Williams for an 82-yard TD pass to help the Lions sprint out to a 20-0 lead.
The 82-yard TD pass represented Detroit’s longest passing touchdown of the year and also set a franchise record for most points scored in a single season — 479 at the time, and 493 by game’s end.
The Lions and the Bears traded touchdowns over the next three combined offensive drives.
Caleb Williams found Cole Kmet on a 1-yard TD pass before Goff found Amon Ra St. Brown on an 8-yard touchdown.
Next, Williams connected with Keenan Allen on a 45-yard TD pass and Bates missed a 65-yard field goal to end the first half.
“I saw they had a two-high shell and right before the snap, I yelled for Keenan,” Williams said postgame. “I was thinking it was going to be Cover 2 and Keenan ran a great route. He ran it near perfect. We’ve practiced this route many times and we were just on the same page right before the snap.”
According to ESPN Stats and Info, the 45-yard TD was the longest scrimmage TD of Allen’s career. His previous long was 43 yards, which he accomplished twice; once in 2019 and again in 2023.
Williams finished his day 26-for-40 with 334 yards passing and 2 TD passes. The former USC Trojan now has 3,271 yards passing on the year, which is the sixth-most by a Chicago quarterback in a single season in franchise history.
Williams passed Mitchell Trubisky, Rex Grossman and Jim Harbaugh’s best passing seasons and now only trails four different Jay Cutler seasons and Erik Kramer’s 1995 season for the most passing yards in a single season in Bears history.
Allen had his best day in a navy blue and orange uniform. He finished with 9 catches for 141 yards receiving and one touchdown.
The back-to-back offensive touchdowns for Chicago was their best first half offensive performance since their last win of the season. They scored 14 points in the first half of their London game against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 6, which ended in a 35-16 victory.
Going into Sunday, the Bears were averaging 6.9 points per game in the first half (31st in the NFL), and scored zero first-half points in their last three games.
On the other side of halftime, Chicago’s offensive performances have been much better. The Bears were averaging 12.1 points per game in the second half, and had a +38 point differential after halftime (9th in the NFL) before playing Detroit this weekend.
But that’s not how things played out this time around.
The Lions outscored Chicago in the second half thanks a 21-yard TD pass from Goff to Sam LaPorta before both offenses slowed down during the fourth quarter.
Cairo Santos added a 30-yard field goal with six minutes remaining in the third quarter for the Bears’ lone score of the second half, and 34-17 ended up being the final score. Both sides went without crossing the goal line or knocking a ball through the goalposts over the last 23 minutes and 57 seconds of the ballgame.
“We got to do better with execution. Obviously, the penalties, they shoot you in the foot and it’s tough,” Williams said. “The NFL is tough. Winning games is tough. [Detroit], I don’t even know how many wins they have, but I think they only have two losses over there so, going versus a team like that, you can’t have those moments.”
The Bears were penalized ten times for 70 yards and went 2-10 on third down against Detroit.
Injury Tent
Teven Jenkins and Braxton Jones left the game Sunday with injuries after six other Chicago players were ruled out just before kickoff.
Jenkins left early in the second quarter with a calf injury, while Jones was carted off the field with what appeared to be a lower leg fracture after the Bears converted on 4th-and-3 with a little more than nine minutes to go in the first half.
“I think we were solid overall, for the most part,” said Thomas Brown, Chicago’s interim head coach, on how the Bears’ offensive line held up in the face of more injuries Sunday. “[We] still got to be better. I’ve got to find better ways to get them in the flow of the game.”
Jenkins and Jones joined Gervon Dexter Sr, Kiran Amegadjie, Doug Kramer, Travis Homer, Ameer Speed and Noah Sewell as Chicago players held out of Sunday’s game due to various injuries.
Ryan Bates was downgraded to “out” with a concussion after the team released their final injury report of the week on Friday.
Up Next
The Chicago Bears take on the Seattle Seahawks a day after Christmas this Thursday at Soldier Field. Kickoff is set for 7:15 p.m. CT.