This column is going to be a bit lopsided this week. Given we completely dominated a team it is harder to find the bad and the ugly.
THE GOOD
Don't know how often we will get to see this, so I am getting it down in writing for posterity. Orton finished with a 121.4 rating, second only to Eli Manning's 136.6.
Secondary. It would be easy to put down the run defense, but they play good every week. Our group of cornerbacks and safeties did a great job on the Lions receivers. Roy Williams and Calvin Johnson are both big, strong and talented receivers. The Bears never let them get behind them and limited their yards after the catch. CJ was all but shutdown and Williams yards came late in garbage time. The Bears pass rush did improve, they knotched 4 sacks, but still did not bring consistent pressure the Lions QB tandem had time to throw and still could not.
Ron Turner. Everybody has been hard on our offensive coordinator and most of the time rightly so, but recently with a QB who can make the throws and a running back who can run the ball his play calling has improved. He is letting Orton do what he needs to do and giving him the best chance to do it. I still don't know if he is the best answer for us, but he certainly isn't holding us back.
Receivers. The Bears receivers stepped up. There were some concerns with Brandon Lloyd out, but between Devin Hester, Rashied Davis, Marty Booker and Greg Olsen Orton had more than enough open targets to get the job done.
Marty Booker's one handed catch....nuff said.
Devin Hester's spin move/cut back...nuff said.
THE BAD
The run game. I know that the Bears overloaded the Lions with Matt Forte early and that they were keying in on him, but I still think they should have been able to do more against the 32 ranked run defense. 36 yards just isn't a lot for a lead back. It was only 15 carries for Forte, but whatever it wasn't needed.
Devin Hester's fumble. Hester fumbled on a return that led to Detroit's only score. This was going to go into the ugly section since Hester does have issues holding on to the ball, but I upgraded it to bad since it was a pretty hard hit and hits like that will dislodge a ball now and again. At least he made the initial catch.
THE UGLY
The Lions. The Lions as a team were unorganized, sloppy and just could not get anything going on any front. They couldn't run, they couldn't pass and they couldn't get out of their own way.
Roy Williams. I haven't looked at the NFL's biggest chump list in a few weeks, but he has to be high up on it. Every week we see the best receivers, even the second tier guys, making routine catches that are not directly to them. Roy Williams missed every ball that was not throw right at his face and then compalined to anybody who would listen or anybody who wouldn't openly ignore him rather that it wasn't his fault. The Lions are a bad team, they need their guys to make plays and he doesn't. TO drops the ball a lot too and he complains more than anybody, but he always seems to be there for the team and he makes some tough catches when the team needs it. Williams does not.