The Detroit Lions had to rebound from their second loss of the season. Losing to the highlighted the current state of the Lions: an elite offense and injuries aplenty.With a crucial stretch of games to close out the season, winning on the road against the was a necessity, but not a guarantee.
The Bears were an inexplicable coaching decision away from upsetting the Lions a few weeks ago, and while heads have rolled since, divisional tilts are typically hard-fought.
The Lions largely coasted in this victory, racing out to an early lead and never coming close to relinquishing it. Coupled with the the Lions have the NFC title in their sights.
They have games against the now-eliminated to come. Can Detroit close out the season with a win streak?
Before we look too far ahead, let us look back at a win over the Bears.
No (in-game) injuries!
It is a Christmas miracle: the Lions walked away from a game without losing players to injury.
After being devastated in nearly every game this season, the Lions finally had a healthy game against the Bears.
No broken legs or torn ACLs, no broken jaws or fingers, no visits to the medical tent, no cart-assisted trips to the locker room.
There is always a chance that someone was playing through a new injury that will pop up in the coming days, but as of now, the Lions were finally returning more players than they were losing.
Gibbs dominates the backfield
With David Montgomery inactive, it was clearly Jahmyr Gibbs’s backfield to lead. However, I did not expect the sheer snap count domination for Gibbs.
Gibbs was on the field for nearly every important snap, turning in a stat sheet of 23 carries for 109 yards, one touchdown, and four catches for 45 yards.
The next-closest running back in terms of touches was Craig Reynolds, who had just four carries for 18 yards. Gibbs’ 23 carries is not a career high, but the one-sided split is unusual for him.
While he had 26 against the last season, that game also featured Reynolds carrying the ball 14 times. Gibbs was by far the bell cow of the backfield today.
I still have some concerns about the short yardage game going forward (Gibbs was stopped twice at the goal line before barely punching it in on his third try), but it seems clear that the coaching staff trusts Gibbs to play a majority of snaps.
Mahogany shows some polish
Do the Lions have themselves their guard of the future?
The start to Christian Mahogany’s NFL career has been far from normal. Selected at the tail end of the sixth round, Mahogany was no lock to even make the roster.
Kayode Awosika and Colby Sorsdal seems firmly ahead of him on the depth chart behind starters Graham Glasgow and Kevin Zeitler.
To make matters worse for the rookie, Mahogany was diagnosed with mononucleosis (mono) early in training camp.
This illness kept him out for the first half of the season, and with Michael Niese making the 53-man roster, Mahogany’s path to the roster got even harder.
Even upon making his return from the Non-Football Illness list, he might have been OG5 on the depth chart.
Mahogany did not ride the pine for long, however. In recent weeks, it has been Mahogany getting the game day nod over Awosika and Sorsdal.
In Week 14 when Kevin Zeitler briefly left with injury, it was Mahogany stepping in for the veteran. With Glasgow out with injury this week, it was Mahogany getting his first career start and he impressed.
Mahogany was solid in both pass protection and run blocking, as were most of the offensive linemen—Goff was sacked just once (due to coverage) and Gibbs went over 100 yards rushing.
What stood out to me was his movement on pull plays and screens.
The Lions love to get their linemen in motion, but that can be a difficult task for many rookies. Mahogany passed with flying colors.
Given the age of Zeitler and his one-year contract, there could be an opening for a starting guard spot in the future—potentially two if you factor in Glasgow taking a step back this season.
I will not proclaim Mahogany the heir apparent after one game, but it was a promising start for a player that has fought hard to even get this opportunity.
A play call like no other
Offensive coordinator Ben Johnson has pulled out some wild plays over the years. He has thrown to offensive linemen for touchdowns. He has pulled out countless reverses and fake passes.
Football has a long and storied history, but I would be stunned if a play like this has ever been called outside of high school.
Jared Goff and Jahmyr Gibbs intentionally stumbled after the snap, catching most of the Bears defenders flat-footed and giving Sam LaPorta a wide open end zone.
To add to the deception, someone yelled out “Ball! Ball! Ball!” as if to indicate the fumble—it isn’t clear from the audio if this was intentional from the Lions or a Bears player biting on the fake.
The gall to not only fake a stumble like that, but also tell your running back to intentionally fall to the ground is, frankly, ridiculous. nd thanks to some good protection up front, Goff had a clear pocket to deliver the easy touchdown.
It feels like Johnson is dialing up never-before-seen plays nearly every week. This level of creativity is hard to comprehend.
Goff is no fair weather quarterback
Can we quiet the talk about Jared Goff not being able to play outdoors?
In the chilliest conditions of the year, Goff was cool and collected.
He had a methodical passing outing, tallying 336 yards, three touchdowns, and a near-perfect passer rating of 137.0 to boot.
The biggest play of the game, and one of the best throws of Goff’s career, was a bomb to Jameson Williams for 82 yards. Goff hit Williams 50 yards downfield with perfect placement to hit the speedster in stride.
The Lions are currently undefeated on the road this season, and Goff’s ability to play in the weather conditions is a key factor why.
Come rain or shine, snow or wind, we should feel confident that Goff will play at the top of his game.
Keenan Allen, Lion killer
There is something about facing the Lions that turns Keenan Allen into an unstoppable force.
Throughout his long tenure with the San Diego-turned Allen thrashed the Lions secondary for a combined 34 catches, 439 yards, and two touchdowns across three games played.
He has continued that trend with the Chicago Bears, and the Lions should be grateful that the rest of that team is in disarray.
Allen had five catches for 73 yards and two touchdowns against the Lions in Week 13, and he followed it up with another outstanding performance.
He was one of the few functional parts of the Bears offense, turning nine catches into 140 yards and a touchdown.
He does not have the athleticism of his earlier years, but he remains an elite route runner capable of getting open against even the best defensive backs.
It remains unclear whether he will be in Chicago in 2025 (he has an expiring contract), but I would lean towards Chicago opting for the youth route. The Lions better hope he is not on their schedule next season.
Still concerned about the defense
Allowing just 17 points is a much-needed turnaround for the Lions defense after getting walloped by the Buffalo Bills to the tune of 48 points.
That being said, I did not walk away from this victory over the Bears overwhelming confidence that the problems have been fixed.
The run defense was much improved, limiting D’Andre Swift to just 20 yards on nine carries, but the passing defense was still getting into trouble.
Caleb Williams tallied over 300 passing yards and a pair of touchdowns, his prime target being the aforementioned Keenan Allen.
If it weren’t for a pair of Rome Odunze fumbles, we might have seen a closer first half.
The defense tightened up in the second half, allowing just a field goal, but once the score hit 34-14 in Detroit’s favor, the Bears appeared deflated—only Williams looked motivated on the Bears offense.
The Lions shifted away from run defense due to the score, and that one-sided playbook clearly helped alleviate some coverage issues.
The Bears already had a subpar offensive line entering the game, and they lost starting tackle Braxton Jones to an injury.
Despite this depleted Bears front, the Lions defense only recorded two sacks, both of which came late in the game and one of which was from a blitzing Ifeatu Melifonwu (welcome back).
The lack of consistent pass rush still concerns me going forward, especially against more experienced passers and more competent offenses.