Bears Pull Off Great Escape with 27-23 Comeback win
For almost three quarters in Sunday's season opener the only thing the Bears seemed to accomplish was to start a quarterback controversy.
Then it all changed. They were playing, after all, the Detroit Lions.
Mitchell Trubisky caught fire and threw three fourth-quarter touchdown passes and the Bears had a key interception off a deflection by Kyle Fuller to defeat the Lions 27-23, ending a six-game losing streak on opening days.
"The first half didn't go how I wanted, how our offense wanted," Trubisky said. "We knew we've got to be better on third down, especially in the red zone."
They struggled until Trubisky found tight end Jimmy Graham on a 2-yard touchdown pass, then a 1-yarder to Javon Wims and, after Fuller's interception at the Lions 42, a perfect 27-yarder down the right sideline to Anthony Miller at the goal line for the winning points just inside the two-minute warning.
"I mean, we knew we could do that," Miller said.
It might have been nice if they let everyone else know.
Trubisky finished 20 of 36 for 242 yards and his three TD passes marked the fourth straight time he had three against the Lions.
"I thought he did a really good job in the pocket in the first two quarters into the third," coach Matt Nagy said. "What we were struggling with was the third downs."
They finished 2-for-11 on third downs and had the same problems in the first half in the red zone that they'd experienced all last season despite three new tight ends and a new offensive line.
Eventually they turned it around, though, with those two short TD passes.
"What helped me is when you get into a rhythm you start to not think," Trubisky said. "I think when you get into rhythm and you start to not think and play fast."
Trubisky hit 13 of 19 for 125 yards in the second half as the offense ignited. The last TD was almost a replica of the long pass to Miller against Detroit last Thanksgiving that made a comeback win possible.
"It was actually the same exact route, we just dressed it up a little differently with formation and all that," Trubisky said. "It was the exact same end zone and side of the field. It was kind of weird that happened."
Weird described the whole day, with no fans due to COVID-19 and a quiet arena except for canned noise. Nagy thought this hurt the Bears' energy even if they were on the road.
"What we started noticing was the only way the energy was going to jump up was if we started our own," Nagy said.
So they simply got excited and hollering more along the sidelines, and later they were able to holler in the locker room with a "Club Dub" celebration.
They almost didn't have one because after the TD pass to Miller, the Lions drove back to the 11 and two plays before the end of the game rookie back D'Andre Swift dropped the winning TD pass. Rookie Jaylon Johnson knocked away an end zone pass on the final play.
"We just feel very lucky and fortunate there to be able to get out of this with a win," Nagy said.
It helped, too, that they found ways to run the ball. Even as aged Adrian Peterson gashed their defense for 93 yards on 14 carries, the Bears still managed to outrush the Lions 149 yards to 138.
"I thought they did a really good job establishing the run early on," Nagy said. "We stayed patient with that."
Stafford managed to burn the Bears for 297 yards passing on 24 of 42 as the Lions built a 23-6 lead.
"Situationally there at the end I thought the three phases together, really worked hand in hand coming down to that last and final play to be able to protect the goal line, protect the slideline and eventually come out with a win," Nagy said.
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven.com
