Bears biggest offensive output this year propels them to victory

It wasn’t easy for the Chicago Bears in their 24 to 20 victory against the Detroit Lions, but a win is a win, and climbing back to .500 after twelve games puts this team in position for a... (gulp) playoff push.

Sure it’s still a long-shot, but at least they’re putting a little pressure on the Packers and Vikings, and the Bears are still playing meaningful football into December.

I’ll take it.

The Bears had a season high 419 yards of total offense today which was their most since putting up 453 against the Patriots on October 21, 2018. Detroit’s defense has been bad all year, but a struggling offense like Chicago's really needed this. That makes it two decent weeks in a row for Mitchell Trubisky and the Bears’ offense. The Lions had 364 yards on offense and each team went 50% on third downs, with the Bears being 5 for 10 and the Lions going 8 for 16. Both teams went 0-1 on fourth downs and the Bears had a narrow edge in time of possession 30:50 to 29:10.

It was a sloppy game as the Bears were penalized 10 times for 89 yards with the Lions being hit with 9 for 85.

Let’s take a closer look at the playing time break downs for the Bears and also some individual stats.

OFFENSE

With 29 of 38 passing for 338 yards, 3 touchdowns to 1 interception, and a passer rating of 118.1, this was Mitchell Trubisky’s best game of the season. More impressive was that he only had 2 incomplete passes in the second half (one was the pick, but what evs). He came up with some plays when his team needed him to, and he looked like the guy we saw a year ago.

The Bears spent a lot of time in four wide sets with two tight ends out of the lineup and Trubisky flourished.

Anthony Miller had a career game with 9 receptions and 140 yards and Allen Robinson had 8 for 86 and a TD. Javon Wims got in on the wide out fun with 5 catches (a career high) for 56 yards. Wims played 89% of teh snaps with Taylor Gabriel injured.

David Montgomery had the first TD reception of his career among his 2 catches for 12 yards, and he got going in the run game with 16 carries for 75 yards (4.7 ypc).

Jesper Horsted had 1 reception for an 18 yard TD, the first of his professional career.

Tarik Cohen had 3 runs for 9 yards, 4 catches for 26 yards, and 2 punt returns for -4 yards.

Alex Bars and Riley Ridley made their NFL debuts!

DEFENSE

Roquan Smith had a career high 15 tackles (2 for loss) and a career high 2 sacks.

Nick Kwiatkoski had 7 tackles (plus one more in the third phase), 1 TFL, and a pass defensed. Kwit again stayed on the field in most passing situations and it seems the Bears have a good plan with utilizing him in coverage now.

Kyle Fuller had 7 tackles and a PD, and Prince Amukamara had 5 tackles and a PD.

Eddie Jackson had the game sealing interception and 2 tackles, and Ha Ha Clinton-Dix had 2 tackles and a PD.

Bilal Nichols had 4 tackles and a QBH, and Eddie Goldman had 3 tackles and a TFL.

Leonard Floyd had 3 tackles and Khalil Mack had 2.

SPECIAL TEAMS*

Patrick O’Donnell punted 3 times with a 48 yard average.

Eddy Pineiro was a perfect 3 for 3 on extra points and he made his only field goal too.

Cordarrelle Patterson had 2 kick returns for 90 yards.

Deon Bush had 2 special teams tackles.

*The above image has players that only played in the third phase.

All statistics and snap counts are taken directly from the NFL’s Game Statistic and Information System, as are the accompanying pictures.

To check out the full box score I find that ESPN has an easy to navigate site.