The film review of the 2019 Detroit Lions season continues into unchartered territory in Week 10. This is the first week where another QB other than Matthew Stafford started for the team in almost 10 years.
Jeff Driskel got the nod in Chicago against the NFC North rival Bears. Stafford was shut down due to a back injury suffered sometime in the heartbreaking Week 9 loss in Oakland. The Lions enter the game at 3-4-1 after their impressive 2-0-1 start. Chicago has lost four games in a row after starting the season 3-1 and ranks 28th in scoring offense entering the game.
Pregame notes
Stafford is the most notable Lions out and not on I.R. Safety Tracy Walker and DEs Da’Shawn Hand and Romeo Okwara are also out with injuries. Sam Martin is still punting but has ceded the kickoff duties to kicker Matt Prater due to a minor injury.
Carl Cheffers and his crew are the officials. Game time temp at Soldier Field in Chicago was 40 degrees with a fairly steady 10-15 MPH wind blowing left to right across the field.
First quarter
The Lions come out playing up-tempo and aggressive on offense, playing to Driskel’s strengths. Ty Johnson gashes the Bears for 10 well-blocked yards on the first play, and then quick passes move the ball nicely.
Chicago quickly ascertains that when FB Nick Bawden is in the game and offset, it’s going to be a run. Bawden and T.J. Hockenson both land nice blocks but the formational giveaway still results in a pretty easy stop for Chicago’s impressive LBs, two plays in a row.
Driskel catches Chicago’s defense in a pre-snap state of confusion and quickly strikes, hitting an uncovered Marvin Jones to get into the red zone. That’s the kind of quick snap we don’t see enough of with Stafford under center. Matt Prater nails the FG when the drive sputters inside the Chicago 10 and it’s 3-0 Lions on the road.
Lions defense comes out in a straight 4-3 scheme that morphs with Christian Jones playing EDGE on 3rd down. As the FOX broadcast crew notes, they are focused on making Mitchell Trubisky beat them with his arm and decision-making. He can’t on the first drive, missing an easy 3rd down throw high that gives Mike Ford enough time to recover and make a stop short of the conversion.
The Lions finally run play action with Bawden offset and it works. Would have worked even better if Bawden didn’t get caught inside too far before releasing as a safety valve, but it’s still nice to see self-awareness from the Lions. They haven’t done this in several weeks.
The second Detroit drive ends with a gimmick that I wish the Lions would have actually followed through. Lined up to punt on 4th-and-7 at the Chicago 40, TE Logan Thomas slides up under center. He was a QB at Virginia Tech and played some for the Cardinals before switching to TE. The Bears don’t bite on the potential trick play, and looking at who the Lions have on the field it’s easy to see why; the wideouts are backup safety Cory Moore and reserve CB Dee Virgin. Rookie safety Will Harris is the motion/slot receiver. It’s an obvious attempt to simply draw the Bears offside to get some extra yards into field goal position. Sam Martin ultimately punts and the Lions net just 30 yards on the exchange against an offense that is struggling badly. Should have followed through on the fake/play…
After some nice run defense by the interior DL (notably A’Shawn Robinson and Trey Flowers) the Lions defense sacks Trubisky on the final play of the quarter on what can best be described as a coverage sack. It’s aided by a truly awful schematic design by the Bears; there are no receivers shallower than 30 yards down the field and none anywhere near between the hashes when Devon Kennard smashes Trubisky into the ground from behind.
Second quarter
Driskel’s limitations as a passer are on display. He doesn’t have the pinpoint accuracy Stafford does on the shorter throws and it forces a stalled drive. Worth noting the line is doing a very good job at nullifying Khalil Mack to this point. He’s lining up on both sides and both Detroit tackles are handling business.
The Soldier Field crowd goes crazy when Trubusky completes a designed rollout pass to his left to Allen Robinson. His inability to go to his left is legendary enough that the home fans mock Trubisky for it.
The defensive front is showing some creativity. A third down throw (dropped by Taylor Gabriel) sees Jahlani Tavai twisting behind Kevin Strong on a 2-man line. The Bears OL screws up the transition and Strong nearly gets a sack out of it. Christian Jones attacking RT Bobby Massie’s inside shoulder is consistently successful. Jones playing the JACK more against his old team than he has all year.
The teams trade punts twice (with excellent coverage by Dee Virgin on both for Detroit) on uneventful drives. It’s more bad offense than good defense, particularly when the Bears have the ball. Dating back to their Week 9 loss to the Eagles, Chicago has managed just 11 first downs in 15 offensive possessions, one in their first four today. Trey Flowers, Mike Daniels in limited reps and Christian Jones are all dominating up front and Trubisky is quite clearly not as good as Driskel at playing QB. That is not meant as an endorsement of Driskel either…
Note: Tyrell Crosby has taken over for Rick Wagner at RT. Wagner appeared to get injured on the final play of the first punt drive.
Detroit manages a long Prater field goal after an uneven drive that began at midfield. A Golladay drop (difficult high catch but he got both hands on it) and an utter lack of vision from RB Paul Perkins on runs stymie a couple of nice throws by Driskel. Crosby lines up too far off the line of scrimmage on 3rd down for a penalty as well. It’s 6-0 Lions with just over four minutes in the half.
A crushing kick coverage tackle by Jalen Reeves-Maybin gets the Lions defense fired up. Trubisky tries to kill WR Anthony Miller with a hospital ball. Yet the Bears still gamble and go for it on 4th-and-1 from their own 30. And they (barely) make it; Damon Harrison makes a nice play but the help from Robinson and Jarrad Davis didn’t quite make it on time.
The successful conversion seems to wake up Trubisky and the Bears offense. Detroit’s defense goes primarily zone behind a 4-man rush and Trubisky is finding holes and making quality throws. He’s aided by an iffy defensive holding call on Tavon Wilson that negated an offensive hold where Flowers absolutely annihilated James Daniels.
Chicago hits paydirt on the next play when Will Harris gets beaten in coverage by reserve TE Ben Braunecker. It’s not a good route but it might be Trubisky’s best throw to beat Harris over the top with the plodding 3rd-string TE. Eddy Piniero makes the extra point and it’s 7-6 Bears going into the half.
Third quarter
Chicago gets the ball first and comes out with the curious strategy of attacking Darius Slay. It works, amazingly enough. On the second play, Trubisky offers up a back-foot prayer as he’s about to get rammed by Flowers. Allen Robinson leaps up and catches the ball over an unaware Slay, who was in decent coverage position but didn’t recognize ball fast enough. Great catch. The gain of 33 moves the ball into DET territory.
Three plays later, on 3rd-and-1, Slay gets (rightly) called for pass interference inside the 10. Robinson is probably guilty of OPI as well, but the throw is smartly out in front and Slay is holding from behind with his inside trail technique.
One play later a simple swing pass to Tarik Cohen gets horribly botched by the Lions defense. Rashaan Melvin goes under the screen instead of following Cohen outside. Christian Jones is late to flow out. Slay and Will Harris never move in reaction. At least Pineiro misses the extra point wide right and it’s 13-6 Chicago.
Yet another kick return where Jamal Agnew goes down with the first available tackler. It was an otherwise well-blocked return set-up too.
Driskel on the bootleg option is fun. It’s a very different dynamic than Stafford because of Driskel’s ability to tuck and really run. The commentary noting the similarity between the Lions and Bears Qbs in this game is spot-on. And as I make that note, Driskel throws a dreadful, Trubisky-esque INT to LB Nick Kwiatkowski. Staring down Golladay on a short slant, Driskel might as well have just walked out and handed the ball to Kwiatkowksi.
Trey Flowers fires up the defense with an exceptional play. The Bears try an end-around but Flowers is not fooled. He quickly dispatches the block and hammers Gabriel behind the line for a loss. Picture-perfect backside containment. Alas, Gabriel gets his revenge two plays later on a deep crosser. Gabriel runs away from Ford in coverage. Harris is the deep safety help but he literally does not move a muscle until after the ball is thrown. It’s a good throw by Trubisky but also inept coverage from the Lions DBs. Pineiro bangs home the conversion and it’s 20-6 Bears just like that.
Driskel’s first pass almost makes it 26-6. He stares down Hockenson on a quick out and Kendall Fuller just misses the walk-it-in pick-6. Perkins follows that up by jump-cutting out of a nice hole and into two Bears. If he sticks with the blocking it’s a nice gain but instead it’s a TFL.
Randomly exceptional pass protection rep from Golladay on a well-designed backside screen to J.D. McKissic. Good blocks by Jesse James and Taylor Decker out front too. Another great downfield block from Graham Glasgow on a subsequent screen and the Lions are moving.
A fantastic sidestep move by DT Nick Williams (now a Lion) beats Dahl in an embarrassingly easy fashion and Driskel gets sacked. Decker is guilty of a hold on the next play, wiping out a nice completion to Amendola, and the drive stalls. Lions punt from the Chicago 42 and the Bears take over at their own 12.
Really nice work by Slay, Coleman and Melvin in sorting out coverage against a bunch trips formation on 3rd down. A good pass rush impacts Trubisky and Tavon Wilson makes a fantastic open-field stop to force a punt. Agnew again goes down when the first Bear in the area breathes in his general direction. To be fair to No. 39 the blocking was not good here.
The quarter ends, fittingly, on an underwhelming Sam Martin punt. Still 20-6 Bears.
Fourth quarter
Corey Moore replaces Harris as the high safety and the impact is easy to see in coverage right away. He’s far more reactive and better at anticipation. It helps create a coverage sack by Flowers on a well-designed 4-man rush with a great feign by Jarrad Davis. Impressive defensive series from the Lions.
Mack figures out the Driskel bootleg action and it’s a problem. A panicked Driskel misses an open James as an outlet. On the next rep Driskel wants Golladay but he’s bracketed and Kwiatkowski nicely wraps him up on an improv scramble. It’s a very nice defensive series by the Bears, too much for a backup QB.
Another missed opportunity: both Harrison and A’Shawn Robinson get two hands on Montgomery behind the line but he escapes and gets positive yardage. Two plays later Kennard blows a sack as Trubisky spins away. The Lions still get the 3-and-out.
Hockenson gets the Lions rolling with a couple of very impressive catch-and-runs. He breaks four total tackles in two plays, both first down conversions. Driskel then completes a pass to himself to set up the play of the game for Detroit.
Driskel on the scramble to Golladay in 1-on-1 coverage against Fuller. Golladay wins the mismatch on a dime from Driskel:
Prater clears the net on the extra point while trying to apparently launch the ball into Lake Michigan and it’s 20-13.
The Lions defensive front strings together several nice plays once again. Flowers is simply destroying the blocking. Tavai wraps up Trubisky for a sack on 3rd down on a 6-man rush that thoroughly flummoxed the Bears offense. Detroit is back in business.
Because no Lions game can be played without at least one officiating controversy…
4th-and-1 from the Bears 36. Lions line up in tight bunch formation. Golladay releases out and does indeed initiate contact with Fuller on a designed quick out to McKissic. Driskel had to hold the ball because of the coverage, however. By that point Golladay has taken his route across the middle. McKissic makes the catch but the late flag for OPI on Golladay negates it.
Was it letter-of-the-law interference on Golladay? Yes, yes it was. Do the Packers get away with this exact sort of play five-plus times per game? Yes, yes they do.
Driskel can’t connect with a well-covered Golladay on 4th-and-11 and the Bears take over with just over two minutes to play. He had Amendola wide open on the slot but never looked off Golladay. Pass protection continues to be very solid but it didn’t help here.
Harris makes a great stop to clean up a missed tackle by Tavai (who was being held) to force the Bears to punt. Coleman once again thrived in run support on this 3-and-out series. Detroit gets the ball back at its own 10 with 1:41 to go and one timeout.
The Lions set up in shotgun with an empty backfield, a signal for the Bears pass rush to tee off. Driskel in under duress on every play and it’s different Lions linemen getting beaten by the rush (Glasgow, Dahl, Crosby at RT) on various plays. A clutch 3rd-and-long dart to Jones keeps hope alive. Hockenson narrowly misses a diving catch deep down the middle and the Bears dodge a bullet when there is no flag for contact to Hockenson’s helmet as he lands. Hockenson promptly toasts Roquan Smith in coverage on the next play to set up the Lions near midfield.
Jones catches two more passes, the second of which is challenged by the Bears but upheld via replay. Fantastic pass protection pickup by McKissic to stone the rush and give Driskel time to make that throw, too.
Driskel once again errs by locking in on a receiver. He hits Golladay on a shallow cross but he missed seeing Hockenson breaking free on a corner route over the top that could have been six points. Failing to take the shot costs the Lions. After spiking to stop the clock, Driskel runs across the line of scrimmage and then throws a duck into a cluster of players in the end zone. The penalty ends the game. Bears win 20-13.
Good games: Trey Flowers, T.J. Hockenson, Justin Coleman, Jahlani Tavai vs. the run, Jarrad Davis in the box, Taylor Decker (vs. Khalil Mack), J.D. McKissic, Kenny Wiggins in pass protection, Dee Virgin on special teams
Bad games: Paul Perkins, Kenny Golladay except for the TD catch (2 bad drops), Joe Dahl, Jamal Agnew, Sam Martin, Will Harris, Jesse James, Christian Jones
The Lions had opportunities but missed them. Punting three times while in Chicago territory, two of them in very realistic FG range for Matt Prater, was a major factor in the loss. The final play could have been a potential game-winning FG attempt by Prater had the Lions tried some earlier. Driskel was not to Stafford’s level but was also not the primary problem.
