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.
