Bears vs Lions: Snap counts, stats and more

The Chicago Bears actually looked competent for most of their game against the Detroit Lions, and it really seemed like they would break their five game losing streak. They went into the half with a ten point lead, and they even landed a counterpunch fourth-quarter touchdown after the Lions pulled to within 3 points late in the third.

It sure seemed like Chicago was finally going to play a full 60 minutes. But no, they only managed to make it through 55:27 before falling apart this week.

The final 4:33 of this game was a nightmare for the Bears as Detroit went 96 yards in two minutes and fifteen seconds to close the gap to three. The Bears then fumbled on their own 7-yard line, which led to another Lion TD and the lead for Detroit.

The Bears were trailing 34 to 30 with plenty of time to come back (1:37), but they suffered a disastrous ending to the game as they failed to pick up a 4th and 1.

Offensively, the Bears took advantage of a bad Lion defense, but Chicago’s defense looked tired and nothing like the top ten DVOA unit they’ve been. The Lions outgained the Bears 460 yards to 389, and they were better on third-downs (55% to 36%).

The Bears won the time of possession battle (32:18 to 27:42) and had fewer penalties (3 for 20 yards to 7 for 45).

We’ve been waiting for things to click with the Bears offense all year long, but now that they have a few easier defenses to close out the schedule the defense is slipping. The Houston Texans, Minnesota Vikings, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Green Bay Packers (who may be playing backups) are all up next, and if you’re betting on NFL games the odds may favor Chicago actually winning those games, but unless this team can get all three phases to play in unison we may be looking at Chicago ending up with a 10-game losing streak before starting another rebuild for 2021.

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

OFFENSE

It’s unfortunate the he had the ball stripped out late in the game because Mitchell Trubisky was having a decent afternoon. He went 26 of 34 (76.5%) for 267 yards, with 1 TD, and a passer rating of 108.3 in the game, and he was 5 for 6 on their final drive before the failed 4th-down conversion.

The Bears leading receiver was Allen Robinson with 6 receptions for 75 yards, but Anthony Miller chipped in with 5 for 56.

The Bears had 140 yards rushing and were paced by David Montgomery 17 carries for 72 yards and 2 TDs, and Cordarrelle Patterson’s 10 for 59 and a TD of his own.

Javon Wims went from being inactive last week to playing 41% of the snaps yesterday.

Cole Kmet had a career day with 5 catches for 37 yards and a TD, and he continues to look like the Bears number 1 tight end. He had the most reps at the position and his 7 targets tied for the team lead. This is the third game in a row that Kmet played the most among the tight ends, and his blocking has been coming along as well.

DEFENSE

Here’s an interesting stat for you. Between Akiem Hicks, Khalil Mack, and Robert Quinn (the Bears Rule of 3 pass rush threesome) they only had 1 tackle and 1 assisted tackle, and both of those came from Hicks.

Mack and Quinn were shut out.

Mack does plenty to affect a game even when he’s not getting sacks or tackles, but the Bears need him to put his personal stamp on games. He’s too good to not scratch the stat sheet.

The Bears leading tackler was Roquan Smith with 9 and he added a quarterback hit.

Kyle Fuller and Buster Skrine led the defensive backs with 6 tackles each.

Besides their usual nickel defense sub-packages, in which Skrine played 74% of the snaps, the Bears used safeties DeAndre Houston-Carson (13 snaps, 3 tackles) and Deon Bush (3 snaps, 1 PD) this week.

Bilal Nichols had a nice game with 4 tackles, 1 sack, 1 tackle for loss, and an interception.

The Bears other sack went to Barkevious Mingo.

SPECIAL TEAMS*

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

Patrick O’Donnell had 4 punts with a net average of 37.5, while placing 2 inside the 20 yard line.

Cairo Santos opened the scoring with a 45 yard field goal and he had an extra point blocked.

J.P. Holtz, Joel Iyiegbuniwe, and DeAndre Houston-Carson each had 2 special teams tackles.

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

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