That was tough.
The Chicago Bears went into Ford Field and got waxed. The Lions wasted little time getting on the scoreboard early and often.
Here are our takeaways from the Bears’ dismal, 51-21 blow out loss to the Detroit Lions in Week 2.
The Bears’ offensive line has work to do
Much was made of the Bears’ efforts to remake their offensive line. Getting Joe Thuney, Drew Dalman and Jonah Jackson was a good start.
They have much more work to do before they’re considered much improved from last year.
The 2024 offensive line was brutal. This unit will certainly be better. However, that’s all they are so far: better.
The line was hit with five penalties on Sunday. The line also struggled to protect Caleb Williams consistently against the Lions’ front and get a push in the run game.
The most egregious was the facemask penalty Braxton Jones committed that set the Bears back to second and 32. Williams was intercepted on the next play while he was running for his life.
In the third quarter, when the game was out of hand, Darnell Wright was called for a chop block and Braxton Jones got walked into the backfield by Lions’ defensive end and ex-Bear Al-Quadin Muhammad. That drive ended up as fourth and 24.
There was a two-play span where the Bears had third and one and fourth and one. They opted for two quarterback sneaks, which didn’t work. That’s because the interior of the line got no push whatsoever.
This week, D’Andre Swift told FOX 32 the run game, and the offense in general, needed to benefit from cleaner play.
“It is tough to knd of get everything going when you have a penalty here, false start there, negative plays,” Swift said. “It just kind of throws the whole rhythm of the game plan off. So if we play cleaner ball, we should get better looks and sustain better drives.”
The Bears didn’t get that on Sunday and paid for it.
It might be time to have a tough conversation about the Bears’ DBs
The Bears’ defense allowed over 450 yards of offense to Detroit. That was through three quarters.
Of those 456 yards, through just three quarters, the Bears allowed 314 passing yards. The pass defense is a combination of both the Bears’ pass rush and the Bears’ secondary. Neither were truly effective on Sunday.
But the Bears’ secondary was struggling all day. Tyrique Stevenson was getting taken advantage of in coverage. The pass rush needs to be better, undoubtedly.
But, the pass rush never got a chance to get to Jared Goff. The secondary struggled to cover receivers long enough for that to matter.
The Lions went at Stevenson with six seconds left in the half. Goff targeted Stevenson with a quick out-route and St. Brown scored. That made it 28-14, which felt like game over with 30 minutes left in the game.
This was all true before with Jaylon Johnson on the field, but he left in the first quarter and he went down for the game.
Nahshon Wright couldn’t keep up with Jameson Williams, and there was no safety help over the top.
That’s become a problem for the Bears in two games to open the season.
Bears’ defense looks to be shorthanded still
It was a boon to see Jaylon Johnson and TJ Edwards back on the field for the Bears. It was very short lived.
Johnson left in the first quarter with a groin injury. Edwards left in the second half with a hamstring injury.
Both those injuries were why the two players missed Week 1 vs. Minnesota. It would be a massive blow to the defense if the Bears were to be without both for extended periods of time.
