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GAMEDAY Open Thread/Live Blog: Bears vs. Lions | Week 13
Join us as we live-blog and discuss Bears vs. Lions here in our weekly GAMEDAY Open Thread. Dive into the conversation—it's easy—by simply going to the top of the site and in the bottom right-hand corner of the Bearmaven logo, click the follow button.
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Inactives
Bears
TE Ben Braunecker
WR Taylor Gabriel
RT Bobby Massie
DB Sherrick McManis
TE Adam Shaheen
LB Danny Trevathan
DE Abdullah Anderson
Lions
CB Rashaan Melvin
CB Jamal Agnew
QB Matthew Stafford
DT Snacks Harrison
CB Michael Jackson
G Beau Benzschawel
G Oday Aboushi
*The Lions have placed former Bears wide receiver Marvin Hall on IR.
The loss of Harrison wasn't necessarily anticipated. He had missed some practice time but it's a devastating loss to their defense, which was having trouble stopping the run anyway. The Lions seem to be collecting injured cornerbacks.
Coin Flip: Bears receiving.
First Quarter
The obligatory holding penalty on the Bears on the return and the officials do call the other penalty for a cheap hit on Cordarrelle Patterson when OB. The offsetting penalties mean rekick. Hopefully they'll just kick it out of the end zone and spare everyone watching officials scratch their heads.
So Patterson makes a big return from 8 yards deep in the end zone of 57 yards. But officials looked like they missed two holds.
Bears start at the 50 and two completions put them at the Lions 38 Today is a start for Cornelius Lucas at right tackle against his old team due to Bobby Massie's injury. Bears run from the I behind Lucas and Montgomery gets a 4-yard gain to the Lions 25 after three straight completions. Matt Nagy didn't come here to coach the I. ... Montgomery runs behind a great block from Lucas and gets 14 yards but was one downfield block from taking it to the house. First down at the 10.
Fifth TD catch for Allen Robinson, wide open from 10 yards on the slant and he beat Darius Slay. Bears 7, Lions 0 on 50-yard scoring drive. The fifth TD is one more than Robinson had in his first Bears season. Second time this year the Bears went all the way for a TD on their first drive.
11:37: Bears handle Bo Scarbrough on first run for no gain and blitz the middle to force an incompletion. Second pass by David Blough for a TD to Kenny Golladay beating Prince Amukamara. 7-7.
Bears could have gotten away to a huge lead early, now they are going to have a fight because the Lions have confidence. Longest TD pass of the year for Detroit. On third and 10. That looked like the coverage the Bears blew against the Rams on a similar long play. Except Amukamara was the only defender around. No safeties anywhere.
11:01: Trubisky misses open Allen Robinson on first play and Montgomery's 2-yard gain leave them at third-and-8 and Tarik Cohen looped too much on his short route so he had no chance to take it for a first down. He should have flattened that off.
Deon Bush replacing injured Sherrick McManis at one gunner spot, had to put up with a tough double-team on the punt. Lions ball.
9:30: At Lions 22, Scarbrough mashes Bears for 7. They can't let him get running. Then gets 2. Third-and-1. Officials give Lions a generous mark. First down. Pass rush not getting anywhere near Blough and he throws for 19 yards to Marvin Jones. A 1-yard run an incompletion leave the Lions facing third-and-9, tough down and distance but their 75-yard TD was on third-and-10. No pass rush again and 29 yard completion to Golladay. Secondary of the Bears is sleeping. Allows Marvin Jones wide open on second-and-goal from the 8 for a TD. 14-7 Lions
Bears turning Blough into the new Clint Longley.
So much for the defense still playing hard despite being on the verge of elimination.
Lions get the ball back on the kickoff after it caromes off Deon Bush.
4:06: Lions at own 47 after false start and no gain by Scarbrough.
Bears stop a third-and-10 for the first time a third-and-long stop. Prince Amukamara breaks up pass to Marvin Jones. Lions will punt.
Cohen takes a big risk to catch punt at his own 17 without a fair catch and is punished for it.
Anthony Miller makes a couple tough yards from the 15 to the 17 on a pass at the line. Second-and-8. Bears facing third-and-8 after incompletion from their own 17. Lions in man to man and Miller has ball go off his hands. They'll punt.
1:39: Lions at their own 45. Scarbrough gets 6 hammering at Bears defense. Khalil Mack off the field on this series. Roy Robertson-Harris gets back and knocks away a pass at midfield that might have gone for a first down or an interception after being tipped.
Bears at their own 9 after punt.
:49: Montgomery straight ahead for 6 as quarter ends. Lions 14, Bears 7
Second Quarter
15:00: Bears at own 15 second-and-4 and Montgomery goes 5 up the middle for the first down. Then back to the dumbest play in sports, Tarik Cohen up the middle for 5 yards.
Miller lost the ball on a completion at the Bears 34 Lions have the ball. Slay recovers it. Mitchell Trubisky just took a shoulder pad to the chin, a dirty and disgusting hit. No call made. Just a terrible no call and the official was looking right at the play. I've seen Leonard Floyd called for roughing the passer when he brushed a facemask running by with almost no contact at tall, and they let that happen. Wow. If Trubisky doesn't have a concussion, it's a miracle. Matt Nagy letting the officials have it over the missed call during a timeout for a challenge on the fumble. Officials overturn the fumble and call it an incompletion. He obviously lost the ball quickly before they hit him. But Trubisky somehow is playing.
Lions get an illegal contact penalty on a completion for the first down to Robinson which looks a lot like a makeup call for their miss on the roughing penalty.
Trubisky doesn't appear affected and throws for a 7-yarder to Javon Wims. They're moving the ball around in the passing game nicely, inside and out, and Tarik Cohen catches one for a first down to the Lions 48. Montgomery's ability to break tackles makes a slow-developing pass in the flat work for 9. Javon Wims holding penalty wipes out nice gain behind a good block behind Bradley Sowell. Bears facing first-and-17 at Lions 43. A personal foul for grabbing the facemask on Rashaad Coward. Coward actually grabbed the shoulder pad for holding but they didn't call it. Bears face first-and-32 after a 15-yard penalty.
Third and 17 for the Bears after a Tarik Cohen catch and they might be in two-down territory. Javon Wims catches it and inexplicably runs backwards when he was in field goal range.
Instead of a 50-yard field goal they might want to just go for it on fourth-and-6 now at the 32. Incomplete on fourth down and Lions get the ball. Again Matt Nagy not showing any confidence in his kicker. A 50-yarder indoors? Come on. If a guy can't make that he shouldn't be in the NFL. End of story.
8:09: Lions dump it out nicely to Ty Johnson for a first down on third down. Detroit starting to wear down the defense but they'll get no sympathy today. This deficit is entirely of the defense's making. Blough to Golladay beats Kyle Fuller and Ha Ha Clinton-Dix for a completion to Bears 14. Lions holding penalty backs them up to 24. Third-and-15 at the Bears 19 and Buster Skrine knocks down a pass but there is OPI and DPI on the play so replay it. It was a good call by officials. Each player was interfering with the other. Leonard Floyd bails Lions out by roughing Blough on an obvious incompletion. It was a penalty. But they didn't call the one right in the open when they hit Trubisky in the chin. First down at the 9 and Johnson picks up 2. Lions forced to kick a 25-yard Matt Prater field goal. Lions 17, Bears 7.
3:03: Another good Patterson return to the 36. As the game has gone on, Trubisky has become more reluctant to look downfield. Another short incompletion. A 4-yard Cohen run leaves Bears at third-and-6. Anthony Miller beats one-on-one coverage and gets a first down on a high pass from Trubisky at two-minute warning at Lions 48. That field goal Nagy wouldn't try resulted in a possible six-point swing. Chalk that one up to him.
A 19-yard completion to Javon Wims puts Bears in good position but they face third-and-four now at the Lions 14 with 38 ticks remaining and Trubisky has chance for a first down scramble but doesn't go for it and runs out of bounds. Bears have to kick the field goal now. Dumb decision on the run by Trubisky, who held the ball too long anyway. 30-yard Eddy Pineiro field goal makes it 17-10 Lions.
Chase Daniels showing Trubisky a shot of a play on the sideline. He should be showing him how he failed to run for the first down when he easily would have made it.
:22: Lions run it and don't appear ready to run out the clock. They're only about 15 yards from Matt Prater's field goal range now. Roquan ends all that with a sack as half ends.
Lions 17, Bears 10
Which is the dumbest of dumb decisions in the first half:
A) Matt Nagy decided against a 50-yard field goal try.
B) Javon Wims runs backwards to set up a 50-yarder instead of a 47-yarder.
C) Mitchell Trubisky doesn't go for a first down on a scramble at the Lions 15 and instead runs out of bounds when he was about 2 yards away and could have had it, forcing the Bears to kick a field goal.
D) You are watching this game instead of being around your whole family.
E) All of the Above.
Still trying to figure out if Prince Amukamara had a body double or replicant of some kind playing in his place at the beginning with all the silly mistakes he was making. Seemed to get it together by the second quarter though.
Mitchell Trubisky has no touch at all. The man-to-man they are playing will free up players on wheel routes or in the seam and requires only a touch pass, a ball dropping down from the heavens into the open receiver's hands. Trubisky can't throw that pass. Chase Daniel can.
Leonard Floyd's only real contribution today has been a stupid 15-yard penalty that gave the Lions a chip shot field goal instead of forcing them to make one from a 40-45 yard range
Khalil Mack is getting doubled and tripled again. Only saw two or three pass rushes where they tried handling him with one guy and one of those he got caught up in the inside garbage because he took his rush inside. On the other two he appeared to be held with no call made, actually strangled, and on the other he tried going outside and arrived back too late for a sack.
The defense can't complain they're wearing down. They have a 3-minute possession time edge.
Third Quarter
15:00: A 5-yard loss on first down run and the Bears then give back a bunch of it on second down. Lions facing third-and-6, no huddle and Bears get the incompletion for a punt. Three-man rush and the Lions got away with holding Khalil Mack on the play. ... Tarik Cohen runs backwards on the punt return and loses 4 on it. But Bears benefit from unsportsmanlike call on Lions and have it at their own 44. That only makes the decision by Cohen to run backwards even worse. They could have been starting up near midfield. Bears at own 37.
13:46: Robinson wide open for 15 and if Trubisky would have led him instead of underthrowing it would have been 25. Another Bears holding penalty on Charles Leno Jr., wipes out big gain by David Montgomery.
Javon Wims gets back some of it with a catch at Lions 46. Montgomery then breaks tackles and gains first down at Lions 38-yardline.
Montgomery picks up 5 on first down and Bears at 37 of Detroit. And Darius Slay picks off Trubisky with a poor decision by Trubisky. He had the receiver open, Allen Robinson, But again Trubisky threw behind the receiver.
Lions have it at their own 40. But a 2-yard loss on a reception on first down. Second-and-12 and Blough throws it away. The Bears were disguising coverage on that. Played combination coverage.
Third-and-12 and Lions get a yard on a screen. They punt.
Mitchell Trubisky better leave the sloppy footwork, underthrows and half-baked quarterback play on the sideline. He seems not to want to commit to anything and is afraid to play. He needs to be decisive with his actions and performance.
9:18: Bears at 20. Montgomery gets just 2 on first down. Can't blame Bears for trying after it worked well the last drive. Trubisky with a nice pass to Allen Robinson for 15. Trubisky stands tall and drills one over the middle to Anthony Miller for 20. Looked like a quarterback on that one.
Bears at Lions 42. Trubisky waits too long with the ball on a boot pass again as he usually does on that play. Finally is left dumping it to Wims for 6. Montgomery comes up an inch short on second down but Wims is called for a second illegal block on a running play.
Second-and-12 at Lions 44 and Trubisky takes forever with the ball and scrambles out of bounds for 2. Third-and-10. Allen Robinson beats the zone and Trubisky throws a bit high but hard enough for him to make a leaping catch. for the first down at 29.
Nice option route and Anthony Miller comes out of a short pass for 12 to the 18. Jesper Horsted a juggling TD catch and they'll look at it on replay. Bobbled it, caught it with one hand in tight coverage and doesn't appear replay can overturn it. Bears 17, Lions 17.
The Princeton wide receiver who has put on a lot of weight made that catch to tie it all up. Defense has to continue playing the way it has in the second half rather than blowing coverage assignments in the back end.
4:44: Lions at 25 and Blough throws to Danny Amendola for 12. Lions went play-action. Now back to the run and Scarbrough barrels for 5. The early Lions success came from keeping the Bears off balance like this. But Nick Williams takes down Scarbrough for a yard and its third-and-4. Good touch by Blough and nice one-handed grab by J.P. McKissic with Roquan Smith on him for the first down at the Lions 48. Mack almost gets the sack from behind and Blough steps up for a yard. Lions offensive line caves in the Bears front for 8 yards on Scarbrough run. Lions get the first down on a nice tackle by Leonard Floyd in the open field on Hockenson but what a generous spot. Looked a good foot to a foot and a half short of the first down. Quarter ends. 17-17
Bears defense has had a habit of letting down after the offense comes up with big scores late in games. They need to make a stand.
Fourth Quarter
15:00: Lions at the 39 of Chicago.
Lions get a rollout completion and run up before the replay could negate the catch, then Lions run down inside the red zone. Second and 1 and Scarbrough picks up the first down at the 14.
Illegal block by Hockenson pushes Lions back to the 24. Amendola beats Buster Skrine outside from the slot and gets the ball to the 10.
Leonard Floyd with an excellent open-field tackle on a pass in the flat. But now it's third-and-5 at the Bears 9. Offsides on Bears gives Lions third-and-1. Ha Ha Clinton Dix, a safety, lines up offsides.
Kyle Fuller saves a touchdown with an open-field ankle tackle of McKissic and they have to accept a field goal of 24 yards. Lions 20, Bears 17.
10:47: Lions stub another kick to the end zone. It looked like they tried bouncing it off one of the Bears up-backs again on the kick but missed it.
Bears at 25. Just a 1-yard run by Montgomery on what looked like RPO and there were 8 defenders in the box. Why not get out of that play? Alex Bars in at left tackle for Charles Leno. ....? Now Leno back. Third-and-7. Trubisky stands there holding the ball forever again and Trey Flowers gets a sack after he was on injury list all week. Flowers beat Leno. They should have left Bars out there. ... Three-and-out for offense just when that's the last thing they need.
Trubisky just has this mentality all year of staying in the pocket all day long and finding a receiver instead of scrambling when the chance is there. It's killing the Bears offense, first because he doesn't throw it when the receiver is breaking open, and then because he is gawking for another receiver. Trubisky in the injury tent.
8:37: Lions in control here with ball at own 36.
Scarbrough breaks a run but a penalty flag brings it back due to an illegal block by Golladay. That's 21 yards wiped out. Third-and-14 and Bears make it scary but McKissic's screen comes up 5 yards short. Lions punt with 7:00 left.
Tarik Cohen doesn't use his head. Calls fair catch at his own 8. On artificial turf, that ball is going into the end zone. Bears at their own 8.
6:45: Cody Whitehair was 5 yards downfield and Bears get penalized back to the 4. The center gets 5 yards downfield. Only the Bears this year get these kind of penalties. Miller across the formation again for 10 and they get back some of the yardage.Allen Robinson drops a pass. He's one of the few receivers who hasn't been doing it. Third-and-5 for Bears at 16. Trubisky finally foats in a go route to Miller perfectly. And Miller nearly dropped it.
Allen Robinson drops a pass. He's one of the few receivers who hasn't been doing it. Third-and-5 for Bears at 16. Trubisky finally foats in a go route to Miller perfectly. And Miller nearly dropped
it. They get 35 and then 10 on a run by Montgomery and they're at the Lions 39. Montgomery gains 5 on first down to the Lions 34 Run blitz by Walker and they lose a foot. Third-and-5 and they're going to need another first down. Miller beats coverage deep for 32 yards to the 3. Beat one on one and Miller may have dropped it. Then Bears get a delay of game penalty when they should have been rushing to get the play off. Bears at 7. Toss left and Montgomery gets to the 3. Second-and-goal. Lions take a timeout. Lions didn't challenge the long pass to Miller, and it's questionable whether he actually had possession by the time his back and shoulder hit the sideline. Too late now. But that's one they better ask Matt Patricia about later. With 2 1/2 minutes left and the game on the line, you better waste the timeout there. You still have 2 others and the 2-minute warning.
Second-and-goal at the 3. 2:22 left and Bears score on a 3-yard pass to Montgomery. Lions blew the coverage on Montgomery and he was wide open coming across from the slot. Bears 24, Lions 20.
Lions jumped offsides on the extra point kick which they might not realize but it does make a big difference for Pineiro, who struggles. Lions then get roughing the kicker and Bears kick off from midfield.
2:17: Bears stop the return at the 17, which is because of the penalty. Lions must go 83 yards in 2:12. Trubisky over 300 yards for the first time this year. Incomplete to Amendola broken up by Fuller.
Gain of 6 to Amendola against Skrine. Third-and-4 with 2:02 remaining.
Skrine fails to wrap up Hockenson and he gets 4 yards. Two minute warning at the Lions 27
2:00: Hockenson for 9. Mack almost has a sack but the Lions get called for holding as Floyd tried to come around after Mack
missed. At Lions 26, 1:42, Incomplete downfield to Jones. 1:33 left.
Third-and-11. Completion of 20 to Golladay against soft zone to Lions 46. Nick Pick. Nick Kwiatkoski picks off Blough on pas to Hockenson. They rule incomplete now. Second-and-10, 1:01 remaining. Offsides Aaron Lynch Bears :58 left. Amukamara was injured trying to break up the pass. Looked like he took a shot in the groin. Roquan Smith commits a dumb penalty throwing down Johnson out of bounds and Lions have it at the Bears 28 with :51 left. Hockenson hurt out of bounds after a 2-yard completion.
Incomplete to Amendola. Lions third-and-8 at the 26. Smith makes up for dumb penalty with a sack with :36 left for loss of 12. It's fourth-and-22. Bears had Giants in a similar situation in Chicago and they completed it for a touchdown.
Bears take a timeout. Ball at the 36 of Chicago. First interception of the year by Eddie Jackson. It's over.
Bears are .500.
Bears 24, Lions 20
