Reports of the Detroit Lions’ demise were greatly exaggerated.
After a dud of a performance in Week 1 against the Green Bay Packers, the Lions put the Chicago Bears on the wrong end of an absolute smack down. Detroit’s offense exploded for 52 points and over 500 yards in a complete blowout, ruining Ben Johnson’s return to Detroit after leaving his offensive coordinator position to become the Bears head coach.
Jared Goff nearly had a perfect passer rating with 334 passing yards and five touchdowns. Amon-Ra St. Brown caught three of those scores to go with his 115 yards receiving. And the Lions rushed for over 170 yards in a masterclass offensive performance.
The decisive victory certainly calms some early concerns about Detroit’s offense sans-Johnson, as the Lions move to 1-1 on the season with a big game in Baltimore next week.
Here’s our full game recap, with highlights.
First quarter
The Bears won the coin toss and deferred, giving the Lions’ offense—sans-Ben Johnson—the opportunity to kick off the scoring. With the kickoff out of bounds to start, Detroit got a nice start to the drive at their own 40-yard line, and they immediately hit on a big play of 34-yards to Amon-Ra St. Brown.
Detroit drove further inside the Bears’ 10-yard line, and then a toss to Jahmyr Gibbs found the edge for a 6-yard touchdown and an early 7-0 Lions lead.
The Bears answered, however. Utilizing a no-huddle offense, Chicago got downfield with a 20-yard run from D’Andre Swift and an 18-yard pass to DJ Moore. Then, facing a third-and-9 from the Lions 28-yard line, Caleb Williams hit a wide open Rome Odunze for the 28-yard touchdown. 7-7 tie.
The Lions ensuing drive got off to a promising start with a 16-yard pass to St. Brown. But after missing an open Jameson Williams and a 4-yard run from Gibbs, Jared Goff was flushed from the pocket and couldn’t connect with Sam LaPorta on third down. Detroit punted from midfield, pinning the Bears at the 10-yard line.
After two unsuccessful runs from Chicago, the Lions again had a chance to get off the field on a third-and-8. Williams completed a pass to Olamide Zaccheaus, but Terrion Arnold tackled him 2 yards short of the sticks, and the Bears punted back. After a decent return from Kalif Raymond on a line-drive punt, the Lions started up again at the 50-yard line.
Goff connected with Raymond for a 14-yard gain to get to the edge of field goal position. Then he hit St. Brown for 32 yards as he wrestled his way near the goal line.
From there David Montgomery punched it in for the 1-yard touchdown. 14-7 Lions.
Chicago, still in no-huddle, drove down into Lions territory. However, on a toss play, Swift was hit hard by Brian Branch and fumbled, with the ball bouncing right into the hands of Lions linebacker Jack Campbell for Detroit’s first turnover forced of the season.
Second quarter
The Lions couldn’t take advantage of the turnover, unfortunately. They tried a deep shot to Jameson Williams, but the receiver lost his shoe and couldn’t run under it. Then on third down, Goff checked down to St. Brown and couldn’t connect with the All-Pro receiver.
The Bears quickly faced a fourth-and-inches, and opted to go for it. But the Lions stuffed a second Caleb Williams QB sneak in a row, forcing a turnover on downs.
That left the Lions offense to start on the Bears’ 37-yard line. Again, the offense couldn’t take advantage of the big defensive play. Detroit went three-and-out when Goff’s pass to St. Brown was broken up by Jaylon Johnson. Jake Bates trotted out for a 55-yard field goal, and missed it.
The Bears next drive was a disaster for Chicago. A couple of penalties pushed them into a second-and-32. Then, with Aidan Hutchinson pressure bearing down, Williams threw the ball away, but Kerby Joseph chased it down and picked it off.
During the drive, Marcus Davenport suffered an injury and headed straight to the locker room. He was officially listed as questionable to return with an ankle injury.
A couple runs from Lions receivers moved them to Bears territory—a draw play to St. Brown and a reverse to Raymond. Then David Montgomery took a run to the outside for 18 yards and into Chicago’s red zone. Gibbs followed it with an 11-yard run to the Bears 8-yard line. Then a perfect play-action fake left Brock Wright open for an easy 8-yard score and a 21-7 Lions lead.
Newly-signed Monty Rice made an error on the kickoff, giving Chicago 15 free yards for after-play roughness. That put the Bears on the 43-yard line. Williams hit Odunze for a big 21-yard gain, then Odunze again for 16 yards. Detroit was able to get the Bears into a third-and-3, but Williams picked up the first down on a designed draw to set up first-and-goal at the 6-yard line at the two-minute warning. Then, Williams hit Odunze for the score with 1:55 left in the half. 21-14 Lions.
Detroit had 1:51 and two timeouts left to try and add to their lead before halftime. It only took them three consecutive completions to get into Bears territory. Then the half ended with some controversy. Isaac TeSlaa made an incredible one-handed grab down the sideline to the Bears’ 4-yard line.
The Lions hustled down the field and tried to spike it before the time ran out. It appeared they failed, but officials conferred, and here’s how the rest played out:
Officials used instant replay to confirm whether TeSlaa was out of bounds when he caught the ball with 16 seconds left. Upon review, he was inbounds, leading to a 10-second runoff, and giving the Lions six seconds left. Detroit used that time to run one more play, and Goff hit St. Brown for a 4-yard touchdown and a 28-14 Lions lead at halftime.
Third quarter
The Bears opened the second half with a quick three-and-out after pressure force Williams to throw well behind his receiver on third-and-9.
The Lions struck big on their first play of the next drive, with Goff hitting Williams on a crossing route he took upfield for a 64-yard gain.
However, the Lions had to settle for a field goal after Jahmyr Gibbs run got blown up and he ran backwards for a loss of 11. Bates drilled it from 34 to make it 31-14 Lions.
Chicago faced an early third-and-14 after Marcus Davenport—returned from injury—sacked Williams. Williams scrambled to make it fourth-and-5, and the Bears would go for it for a critical play. Williams pass was tipped at line by Tyleik Williams, and Terrion Arnold knocked it to the ground for the turnover on downs.
It took the Lions just three plays to take advantage of the turnover on downs. On third down, Goff found an wide-open Jameson Williams for a 44-yard touchdown, and a 38-14 Lions lead.
The Bears next drive never got off the ground. An illegal chop-block penalty (that clearly put Hutchinson in pain) and a sack from Al-Quadin Muhammad, forced a third-and-34. Williams prayer wasn’t answered and the Bears punted again.
Detroit looked to put the game away with a healthy dose of the ground game. Montgomery picked 13 yards, and two plays later Gibbs broke one for 42 yards into the red zone.
Fourth quarter
St. Brown capped off the drive with his second touchdown of the day, pushing Detroit’s massive lead to 45-14 Lions.
Chicago would get back on the board thanks to a couple of big plays, including a roughing the passer call on Brian Branch that negated what would have been Terrion Arnold’s first interception. Eventually, Swift punched it in from 4-yards out to make it 45-21 Lions with 11:45 left.
The Lions recovered Chicago’s onside kick attempt, essentially ending any chance at a comeback.
… but Detroit wasn’t done. A nifty little pitch to Gibbs gained 26 yards and put the Lions in a goal-to-go situation. The Lions, looking to send a message, apparently, went for it on fourth-and-goal, and St. Brown caught his third touchdown of the day, earning a 50-burger for the offense. 52-21 Lions.
It’s worth noting in one of the final Bears possessions, Brian Branch suffered an injury and limped to the locker room.
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