Bear Necessities: How Can the Bears Get Into the Winning Column Against Detroit?
The season opener didn’t exactly go to plan. Well, it did until it didn’t. The Bears were up 17-6 at the start of the fourth quarter and were attempting a field goal that would’ve made it a two-touchdown game.
Wide right. Vikings ball. The rest is history (that is far too fresh to rehash).
On a more personal level, I, too, am 0-1. I expected the Bears to come away with a hard-fought win against a raw QB making his first career start on Sunday. They fell short, and the pressure heats up as they travel to Detroit to take on Ben Johnson’s old squad this week.
Starting 0-2 in the most competitive division in the NFL might not be the kiss of death, but it’s close. Unfortunately, the Lions are staring down the same barrel. They will be hungry to get a win after a flat-out embarrassing 27-13 loss to the Packers on Sunday.
Ford Field is a difficult place to play. Their fans will be especially rambunctious with their old friend and newfound enemy, Ben Johnson, coming to town. The familiarity seemingly plays in his favor (at least when it comes to weaknesses on Detroit’s offense), but it will be a difficult environment for a coach looking for his first road win. Don’t be fooled by the Lions’ flat Week One performance. The Bears are going to have to play a near-perfect game to come out with a win.
What can they do to give them their best chances?
Eliminate the Penalties
The Bears are not Super Bowl contenders right now. Is it possible for them to get there? If the offense finds its footing and the defense plays like they did in the first three quarters against Minnesota, sure. Still, the fact of the matter is, they don’t have a wide margin for error. They need to get the penalties under control. They cannot afford to have 12 penalties for 127 yards once again if they want to win on the road against a talented team.
I want to say that Monday’s game featured some of the worst officiating I’ve seen since the Steelers game in the 2021 season (my apologies if mentioning that game cuts a healed wound). I rarely pull the “these refs suck!” card, but the crew was pitiful. The ghost holding a call on Darnell Wright. A terrible pass interference on Tyrique Stevenson. The questionable roughing and hands-to-the-face calls on Dayo Odeyingbo. Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad. Do you know what else is bad, though? The fact that the eight other penalties were relatively unquestionable.
They need to get the hard count figured out and eliminate the pre-snap issues.
Stay Committed to the Running Game
It’s hard to blame Ben Johnson for abandoning the run against the Vikings. It just wasn’t working, and the Bears were consistently stuck in 2nd-and-long as a result. That’s never an ideal place to be in, and that’s especially the case against an attacking defense like Minnesota’s.
D’Andre Swift can be dynamic in space, but he relies on clear running lanes to be effective. The rebuilt offensive line didn’t really do him any favors there (although that’s not a huge surprise against the Vikings’ revamped d-line). The Lions have a stout defensive line in their own right, and Green Bay averaged just over three yards per carry on the ground. Still, they must get the running game going if they want to catch the defense off guard on play-action.
Ben Johnson emphasized the importance of staying committed to the ground game yesterday, and I expect him to hold true on that promise on Sunday.
Control the Line of Scrimmage on the Defensive Side of the Ball
The Lions looked a lot like, well, the pre-Ben Johnson Detroit Lions on Sunday. They couldn’t find any offensive rhythm and got dominated by the Packers from the first snap. Still, it would be naive to expect a repeat performance, especially on their home turf. They’re simply too talented, even if the creativity of their play-calling and talent along the interior of their o-line took a massive hit this offseason.
The Packers completely stifled their ground attack (they averaged only two yards per carry) and sacked Jared Goff four times. They completely controlled the line of scrimmage both with and without Micah Parsons, who played roughly half the snaps for Green Bay, on the field. The Bears had similar success (besides when Jordan Mason was on the field) over the first three quarters against the Vikings. If they can repeat that performance throughout the entire game against Detroit, that will go a long way in their hopes of coming away with a win on the road.
I think this will ultimately be a game where we will feel good about where we’re headed. The penalties are going to get cleaned up, and our running game will be more effective. However, I think the Lions offense will also be more settled (and motivated), and I’m expecting that to be the difference maker in this one.
Hard-fought game, but I’m not ready to predict them to come out with a win in Motown.
Lions win 26-24.
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