6 winners, 3 losers in Lions’ Thanksgiving win over Bears

Here are the biggest winners and losers from the Detroit Lions’ narrow Thanksgiving win over the Bears.

For a half, it looked like the Detroit Lions were in control of this game on a level they have been all season. Then things fell apart in a hurry in the final two quarters against the Chicago Bears, but a late-game meltdown from Caleb Williams and Matt Eberful saved the day.

Let’s dive into the Lions’ performance a little deeper with six winners and three losers from the Thanksgiving Day game.

Winner: DJ Reader

The Lions signed Reader this offseason to bolster their run defense to an even higher level, and he’s done a good job of that, especially as of late. But he has really come on as a pass rusher, too. In the last two games, he has FIVE quarterback hits, including three against the Bears, two of which turned into sacks.

For the season, he now has a career-high 3.0 sacks, and his eight quarterback hits are second-most in his illustrious career.

Winner: Al-Quadin Muhammad

Sticking with the defensive line, when Josh Paschal went down, it looked like bad news for Detroit’s already thin EDGE room. However, Muhammad jumped into the lineup and made a solid impact in the pass rush. He tallied one of the Lions’ five sacks of the game, and provide a few other pressures.

“I thought Al-Muhammad played big for us,” coach Dan Campbell said after the game. “It was good to get him back in the lineup. He’s a relentless player, gives you all he’s got. Great job with the defensive staff getting the next guy up.”

But his best play of the game may have been when he dropped into coverage and batted away a pass on third down on the final drive of the game. That should have been the final fourth down of the game, had it not been for an egregiously bad pass interference penalty that kept the Bears alive.

Loser: Lions’ linebacker depth

The injury bug has been cruelly unkind to the Lions’ linebacker room. Going into this game, three of their top five linebackers—Derrick Barnes, Alex Anzalone, and Jalen Reeves-Maybin—were already on injured reserve. Unfortunately, it looks like a fourth may be joining them.

Malcolm Rodriguez suffered a knee injury in the second half against the Bears, and Campbell did not sound optimistic about it.

“Rodrigo is the one (injury) that could be the worst,” Campbell said. “And I don’t know how significant it’ll be just yet, but he’s the one I fear a little bit, could be down.”

Detroit is beat up on the defensive line, but they have bodies there who are making plays. It’s going to be harder to make up for the linebacker injuries, because many of the next players up (David Long, Ezekiel Turner) are linebackers who were added to the team in the past month.

Winner: Za’Darius Smith

Smith may have already lived up to the billing after Detroit’s midseason trade for the veteran pass rusher. While he didn’t always keep the necessary contain, he constantly got Caleb Williams off his spot and forced him to make plays on the run. On top of that, Smith picked up 1.5 sacks and three quarterback hits.

His final sack of the game—showing his great get-off speed—essentially single-handedly gave Detroit the win, immediately leading to the Bears’ implosion.

Winner: Lions running game

Though they got away from it in the second half and failed to pick up a key third-and-1 late in the game, the Lions running game was a big reason they were able to jump out to a big lead. In the first half alone, the Lions had 21 rushes for 144 yards (6.9 YPC). Even after getting slowed down a bit in the final two quarters, Detroit posted a total of 194 rushing yards at 5.9 yards per carry. That’s their second-highest rushing total this season.

Loser: Mistakes from Gibbs, Jameson Williams

It seems wrong to call Jahmyr Gibbs a loser in this game considering he produced so many explosive plays. However, his fumble at the end of the first half was devastating—costing the Lions at least three points, but more likely seven. Fumbles happen, so no need to kill the guy, but that was a hit Gibbs could see coming and he should’ve protected the ball better.

As for Jameson Williams, his mistake was just as costly and even less excusable. You can’t lose your temper like that and cost the team 15 valuable yards. Throwing the ball at an opponent is an easy call for the ref.

At a critical moment in the game (up 10 with 10 minutes left and the ball in Bears territory), Williams’ mistake turned this situation:

Second-and-7 at the Bears’ 29-yard line

into

Second-and-22 at the Bears’ 44-yard line

The setback would kill Detroit’s drive, and Jake Bates’ subsequent 45-yard field goal was missed, giving the Bears serious life.

It’s nice that Williams took the initiative to apologize to the team in the locker room, but that shouldn’t have happened in the first place.

Winner: Dan Skipper

There was a lot of concern that with Taylor Decker’s injury that Detroit’s offense may go through issues much like they did when Decker was out against the Houston Texans. But upon live viewing, Skipper was completely fine as the Lions’ left tackle. Pass protection wasn’t perfect on the day, but there was a lot more good than bad. Jared Goff was sacked just a single time and the Bears managed just three quarterback hits.

Winner: Penei Sewell’s eye discipline

We were all robbed of an opportunity to see Penei Sewell throw the ball in a real football game, because the Bears defense perfectly defended Detroit’s attempt at a trick play. But kudos to Sewell for resisting the temptation on his one opportunity to throw the ball into tight coverage. Instead, Sewell tucked it and did this to a guy:

I asked Goff about Sewell’s discipline there, but it wasn’t quite up to the quarterback’s standards.

“You’d kind of like him to throw it away,” Goff said. “That’s what we were joking with him about, but he was like, ‘No, I’m only going to get this chance once, I’m going to break some tackles.’ So be it, I think he got back to the line of scrimmage – no harm, no foul.”