Bears Face Difficult Matchups Against Lions

The Detroit Lions' 2-6 record speaks to their inconsistency on both sides of the football, but particularly defense.

They can't complain about their offensive line and their defense struggles, but when they had possibly their best defensive game in three seasons under Dan Campbell they manage to score only 15 points in order to scratch out a win over the collapsing Green Bay Packers.

"Yeah the O-line has done a good job," coach Matt Eberflus said. "It's the strength of their team. They have a couple of good strengths there but one of them is the offensive line and the experience they have there.

"I think Jared (Goff) does a good job of getting rid of it. Sometimes the quarterback does a nice job. He's got a lot of experience, he knows when things break down to get rid of it and not take the sack. I think he’s done a good job with that. It’s a combination of a good offensive line and experience with the quarterback."

Some of the real mismatches favoring Detroit in Sunday's noon game involve their offensive line and their offense, in general.

Here are the matchups where the Lions have a big edge over the Bears.

Bears DT Armon Watts vs. Lions C Frank Ragnow

With 23 tackles, but only one tackle for loss, Watts hasn't had a big impact up front but probably has a bit steadier than other Bears interior defensive linemen during six straight starts. As a former Viking, he's familiar with Ragnow, a Pro Bowl center in 2020 who is 6-foot-5, 311 pounds, has one penalty and one sack allowed this season. Pro Football Focus grades Ragnow as the fifth-best center in the league this year and fourth-best run blocker. He can be particularly disruptive to the Bears' one-gap defensive front if allowed to execute the double team on three-technique defensive tackle Justin Jones, so it's up to Watts to keep Ragnow from getting off the ball quickly.

Bears DE Dominique Robinson vs. Lions LT Taylor Decker

Robinson, the fifth-round Bears rookie, has been issued a bit of a challenge by Eberflus to make some plays.

"He's really practiced well," Eberflus said. "He's expected to make more splash plays, more plays that are meaningful, impactful plays. More tackles, more QB pressures, and we expect that out of him going forward."

Doing it against Decker won't be easy. The seventh-year tackle is 6-7, 318 with a long reach and will have blocking methods Robinson likely hasn't faced. Decker isn't having one of his best seasons. PFF grades him 49th of 78 tackles and he has the worst PFF grade of his career (64.1). Still, Robinson is a raw player, struggling and likely to start with Al-Quadin Muhammad doubtful to play with a knee injury.

Bears DE Trevis Gipson vs. Lions RT Penei Sewell

Sewell, the seventh pick of the 2021 draft, is playing more in his second year like he did at Oregon. The 6-5, 335-pounder is graded as the ninth best tackle overall and fifth-best run blocker. The Bears' run defense has struggled through much of the season's first half anyway, and it will be even tougher trying to be stout against a pair of tackles like the Bears will face on Sunday, along with the running of D'Andre Swift and Jamaal Williams.

Bears CB Kyler Gordon vs. Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown

St. Brown is not catching as many passes this season and his average is similar to last year at 10.2 yards per reception, slightly better than 10.1 yards a catch last year. The Lions receiver corps is a bit depleted after D.J. Chark's injury, so there's more pressure on the second-year brother of Bears receiver Equanimeous St. Brown. St. Brown will play all over the formation but is particularly effective finding open spots over the middle against zones. Gordon's play has been better than early in this, his rookie year. His passer rating against is 100 and he has allowed one TD according to Sportradar. He's given up 43 catches in 57 targets (75.4%).

Bears RT Riley Reiff vs. Lions DE Aidan Hutchinson

A first-round Lions draft pick, Reiff is the likely starter against his old team after playing for injured Larry Borom last week. Borom actually was healthy but had just come off a concussion. Eberflus hedged when asked if Borom would return immediately to his starting spot. Reiff has played 155 downs this season without allowing a sack, two pressures and has one penalty. He has very strong pass blocking grade from PFF of 72.8. Borom had allowed 10 pressures and three sacks in his 417 offensive plays. Hutchinson was the second pick of this year's draft and has been getting good pressure on passers but had had sacks in only two games. He had three sacks against Washington in Week 2 and 1 1/2 against Dallas three games ago. He does have 14 pressures and three tackles for loss.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven

Add us as a preferred source on Google