Chicago’s hottest club — or maybe it was oh-so-2018 — opened Sunday after being closed for 42 days.
Bass thumped through the the ground-floor concrete at Soldier Field. Eddie Jackson and running back Tarik Cohen performed their own dance-off in the middle of the locker room. Bears coach Matt Nagy sat back and watched the scene at “Club Dub” after a 20-13 victory against the Lions ended their losing skid.
“You almost forget sometimes,” Nagy said. “Four games is a long time.”
Sunday’s win came with asterisks: Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford, an MVP candidate, was ruled out Sunday morning because of reported broken bones in his back. The Lions’ starting rushing back left with a concussion in the first half. Their defense is second-worst in the league.
Such circumstances hadn’t sparked the Bears before, however. They’re 4-4 in games in which they’d been favored, losing a backup quarterback and running back [the Saints] and another defense ranked No. 31 at the time [the Chargers].
The result would have different had Stafford played, perhaps. But the Bears won’t apologize for their first win since Week 4.
Some on social media had clamored for the Bears to close the club altogether as a nod to their skid — and the fact this season lacked the joy of last year.
“I think that’s hilarious,” cornerback Prince Amukamara said. “I think it’s kinda ignorant … The reason why we do it is because we know how hard it is to win in this league. …
“The fact that we did it rejuvenated us.”
Asked why he kept the club open, Nagy said, simply: “That’s who we are.”
The Bears have talked for a month about how a win could be the pressure-release valve they needed. Now that it’s here, they’ll need to be much better to have a chance against the Rams in prime time next week.
“They’re like, ‘Bring it on,’” Nagy said. “They like it, and it’s a part of who we are.”
What it means long-term, though, is far less clear. The playoffs still appear a pipe dream for a team that climbed out of last place in the NFC North on Sunday.
“We’ve been trying to turn it around,” receiver Allen Robinson said. “Of course we can build off this win, but we can’t sit back and do too much with it. We have a game in a week.”
Most of the first half, the Bears looked like the same team that tripped all over itself in the first 30 minutes against the Eagles. They went three-and-out on three of their first four series, drawing boos from a crowd seemingly used to such ineptitude this season.
The defense allowed 72 yards on backup quarterback Jeff Driskel’s first drive but forced the Lions to settle for a 22-yard Matt Prater field goal. He added a 54-yarder with 4:40 to play in the second quarter — after which the Bears offense woke up.
A drive that featured Nagy going for it on fourth-and-1 at their own 29-yard line — “We needed a spark,” he said — ended in Ben Braunecker catching an 18-yard touchdown pass, the first of his career, with 25 seconds left in the half.
To star the third quarter, Trubisky put together maybe the Bears’ best drive of the year — a five-play, 76-yarder capped by Cohen catching a swing pass left and running untouched for a nine-yard score.
Kwiatkoski’s interception on the next drive set up Taylor Gabriel’s 24-yard touchdown catch on third down.
Over the three-straight touchdown drives, Trubisky went 10-for-12 for 132 yards and eight rushing yards. He was pedestrian the rest of the game, going 6-for-11 for 40 yards and five sacks.
The Lions made the game close in the final six minutes. Driskel — who went 27-for-46 for 269 yards — launched a 47-yard pass into the end zone that Kenny Golladay caught only after cornerback Kyle Fuller slipped as the ball fell to the earth.
“Am I saying his name right? Drexel? Driskel,” Amukamara said. ‘Yeah. Jeff, right? He’s a baller.”
The Bears immediately went three-and-out to give the Lions the ball back, down 20-13, with 3:31 to play. Golladay — a St. Rita and NIU alum — was flagged for offensive pass interference on a converted fourth-and-1 to push the Lions back to the 2:18 to play. Driskel threw incomplete to him on the next play.
The Bears went three-and-out again, though, giving the Lions the ball at their own 10 with 1:41 left. They drove 62 yards in the next 1:15, setting up first down at the Bears’ 28. An incomplete pass, three-yard completion and spike later, Driskel threw incomplete into the end zone as time expired.
The Bears were off to celebrate.
“There’s still a lot of things that we need to get better at — we understand that,” Nagy said. “But you step back in those moments and you say, ‘This is why we do what we do.’”
