The Bears and quarterback Mitch Trubisky saved the sanity of Chicago on Sunday at Soldier Field.
After the offense got off to another slow start against the Lions, Trubisky led three straight touchdown drives at the end of the second quarter and beginning of the third on the way to a 20-13 victory.
He finished with 173 passing yards, three touchdowns and no turnovers as the Bears broke a four-game losing streak and climbed out of the NFC North cellar. Trubisky hit Ben Braunecker, Tarik Cohen and Taylor Gabriel with touchdown passes.
The short-handed Lions couldn’t keep up while playing without quarterback Matthew Stafford, who was out with back and hip injuries. They already were without running back Kerryon Johnson, who went on injured reserve last month. Running back Ty Johnson went down with a concussion in the first half.
With inside linebacker Danny Trevathan out with a gruesome left elbow injury, Nick Kwiatkoski became the first Bears player other than Kyle Fuller and Ha Ha Clinton-Dix to grab an interception this season. He picked off quarterback Jeff Driskel, and Trubisky turned that into the third touchdown drive.
Driskel led a fourth-quarter touchdown drive but failed to complete a tying drive with two more chances. He got the Lions to the Bears 28-yard line in the final minute but threw a 3-yard pass and two incomplete passes to end the game.
From the locker room
“When you go through a stretch like we did, it’s tough. Days like today, you appreciate it a little bit more, just getting back to that good feeling of winning. We’ve just got to build off that and definitely not take it for granted. … I’m proud the guys. We’ve been practicing our tails off, working really hard, sticking together, and I think if you keep doing that then we’ll get the results we want.” ? Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky on breaking a four-game losing streak.
“It was definitely a sigh of relief. When what we do in practice day in and day out happens on the field, it isn’t just us talking about it anymore — it happened. And then it spreads. So then you have other players who step up and also make plays.” — Bears running back Tarik Cohen on the touchdown at the end of the second quarter.
Key storylines
Column: The Bears pull out a much-needed win. But their issues on offense are far from solved, writes Brad Biggs
Column: Mitch Trubisky and the Bears will have to prove the 3-TD surge in their win over the Lions actually means something, writes Rich Campbell
Column: It’s more relief than joy as the Bears do just enough to squeeze past the struggling Lions, writes Dan Wiederer
Nick Kwiatkoski, the Bears’ ‘little hidden gem’ steps up big after Danny Trevathan goes down with a gruesome arm injury, writes Colleen Kane
3 keys revisited after the Bears’ 20-13 win over the Lions, writes Dan Wiederer
Here’s how the game unfolded.
Pregame
On the Bears quarterback front, Mitch Trubisky will try to find a spark against a Lions defense that ranks among the worst in the NFL.
The Lions have allowed 424.1 yards and 27.1 points per game. That’s good news for a Bears group that has struggled mightily during a four-game losing streak, including totaling just 9 yards in the first half of last week’s loss to the Eagles.
Bears coach Matt Nagy had his players watch film of last year’s 34-22 win over the Lions at Soldier Field to serve as a reminder for what the offense can look like when it’s functioning.
“There were some nice chunk plays in there,” Nagy said. “We felt like the guys were really executing well and schematically we felt well. … You go back and you watch that game on tape and you see we did a lot of good things in both of those games.”
Inactives are in
Tight end Adam Shaheen is inactive for the Bears on Sunday against the Lions at Soldier Field.
Shaheen was not on the injury report all week, and the Bears PR didn’t immediately share whether he was a healthy scratch.
Shaheen has nine catches for 74 yards this season. Late in the fourth quarter last week against the Eagles as the Bears were hoping to start a tying drive, he muffed the kickoff and the Eagles recovered it.
Bears nose tackle Eddie Goldman will play after he was limited in a pair of practices during the week with a thigh injury.
Outside linebacker Isaiah Irving was declared out with a quad injury Friday after he failed to practice all week.
Cornerback Duke Shelley, inside linebacker Josh Woods, offensive lineman Alex Bars, defensive lineman Abdullah Anderson and wide receiver Riley Ridley also are inactive for the Bears.
Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford is out after he battled hip and back injuries all week.
The Lions will start backup Jeff Driskel instead. Driskel, 26, started the only five games of his career for the Bengals in 2018, completing 59.7 percent of his passes for 1,003 yards, six touchdowns, two interceptions and four fumbles.
Stafford was limited in practice all week but told reporters he would be fine. He is having one of the best seasons of his 11-year career, with 2,499 passing yards, 19 touchdowns and five interceptions.
Along with Stafford, Lions defensive back Tracy Walker, cornerback Michael Jackson, safety Miles Killebrew, guard Beau Benzschawel and defensive linemen Da’Shawn Hand and Romeo Okwara are inactive.
A switch on the offensive line?
In pregame warmups, Cody Whitehair worked at center, while James Daniels was at left guard, seemingly confirming a position switch for the duo.
Whitehair and Daniels played those positions last season, but Daniels, in his second season, moved this year to center, which he played at Iowa.
Bears coach Matt Nagy wouldn’t confirm the switch during the week, but he said the Bears were looking for several solutions to help boost their struggling offense.
Lions take 3-0 lead
Matt Prater made a 22-yard field goal on the Lions’ first drive for a 3-0 lead against the Bears on Sunday at Soldier Field.
Lions quarterback Jeff Driskel completed five passes on the 72-yard drive, including a 22-yarder to Marvin Jones to get the Lions to the 20-yard line. The Lions opened with two straight first-down plays.
Driskel’s only incompletion was in the end zone on third-and-goal from the 4.
Danny Trevathan injured
Bears inside linebacker Danny Trevathan left the game late in the first quarter with a gruesome left arm injury.
Trevathan suffered the injury when he was tackling Lions quarterback Jeff Driskel on the Lions’ failed second drive of the game. As he went down, his left arm bent the wrong way near the elbow as he fell into the ground.
Trevathan, one of the leaders of the Bears’ defense, walked to the medical tent and shortly thereafter headed to the locker room.
The Bears later announced Trevathan was questionable to return with an elbow injury.
Meanwhile, the Lions announced running back Ty Johnson was being evaluated for a concussion after he left the game in the first half.
The Lions already were down one running back after Kerryon Johnson went on injured reserve with a knee injury late last month.
Lions take 6-0 lead
Matt Prater made a 54-yard field goal to push the Lions’ lead to 6-0 against the Bears with 4:40 remaining in first half.
The scoring drive started in Bears territory after the Bears’ previous drive stalled at the 8-yard line and Pat O’Donnell’s punt went for 41 yards.
The field goal stopped a string of punts on seven straight possessions between the two teams.
Mitch Trubisky tosses TD for 7-6 lead
Mitch Trubisky hit Ben Braunecker for an 18-yard touchdown pass with 25 seconds to play in the second quarter to give the Bears a 7-6 halftime lead against the Lions.
The Bears didn’t cross their own 30-yard line until their final drive of the first half, with just fewer than three minutes to play before halftime. Their first four drives ended at the 30-, 22-, 8- and 8-yard lines.
But the Bears finally got rolling behind Trubisky, who completed 6 of 7 passes on the drive. That included passes of 14 and 11 yards to Allen Robinson as the Bears got deeper into Lions territory.
The 80-yard touchdown drive brought the Bears’ total to 101 yards in the first half. The Lions, who started the game without quarterback Matthew Stafford and running back Kerryon Johnson and also lost running back Ty Johnson to concussion protocol, totaled 150 yards.
Cohen makes it 13-6 on a swing pass
The Bears marched 76 yards in 2:35 on their opening drive of the second half to take a 13-6 lead against the Lions.
Tarik Cohen scored after catching a pass from Mitch Trubisky and running it in 9 yards. Eddy Pineiro missed the extra point wide right.
Bears wide receiver Allen Robinson got the drive going when he gained a couple of steps on Lions cornerback Darius Slay, and Trubisky found him for a 33-yard pass to the Lions’ 40. Robinson also drew a 22-yard pass interference penalty on Slay.
The Bears scored on the next play.
Mitch Trubisky throws another TD for 20-6 lead
The Bears turned an interception from inside linebacker Nick Kwiatkoski into their second touchdown of the third quarter for a 20-6 lead against the Lions.
Kwiatkoski, filling in for the injured Danny Trevathan, intercepted Lions quarterback Jeff Driskel and returned it 4 yards to the Lions’ 25.
Three plays later, Mitch Trubisky threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Taylor Gabriel.
Lions pull one back to make it 20-13
The Lions made it a one-touchdown game on a four-play, 81-yard drive midway through the fourth quarter.
Lions wide receiver Kenny Golladay caught a 47-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jeff Driskel as Bears cornerback Kyle Fuller fell in front of him. That cut the Bears’ lead to 20-13.
Driskel hit tight end T.J. Hockenson for passes of 17 and 11 yards and caught his own tipped pass for a gain of 5 yards before the touchdown.
