The Detroit Lions secured a nail-biting victory over the Chicago Bears that snapped their eight-year Thanksgiving drought while also extending their winning streak to ten games.

However, this game will be remembered for disastrous clock management that cost the Bears a chance at a famous win and changed their head coach’s job status.

After a brutal first half that saw Chicago get completely outclassed, the Bears somehow found themselves in a position to win the game. After a clutch punt from Jack Fox, the Bears had the ball at the one-yard line with three and a half minutes left in the game.

Time Management Disaster

This was Caleb Williams’ chance to announce himself to the world. A thanksgiving game against an elite opponent that struggled to stop him in the second half. After only 34 passing yards in the first half, Caleb was able to take advantage of a hampered Lions defence and lead three touchdown drives. A 16-point deficit at halftime was cut to only three.

What followed was a disjointed but effective drive. While the Lions’ defensive line was dropping like flies, Chicago was also struggling with the health of their offensive line, so the pressure on Caleb was rife.

Overtime, at the very least, seemed inevitable, following a controversial pass interference call on the much-maligned Kindle Vildor that put the Bears well in field goal range. On a fourth and fourteenth toss up he was adjudged to have impeded DJ Moore, even though the pass appeared to be uncatchable. 

After a quick congregation from the referees, they decided not to let the call stand. If Bears fans knew what was coming next, they would’ve wished the refs picked up the flag.

The Bears were at the Lions’ 25-yard line with 46 seconds left and two timeouts in their pocket. Their first play was an inaccurate pass to DJ Moore who would’ve had a walk-in touchdown had Caleb connected. They then burned the first of their two timeouts to avoid a delay of game.

Not great, but they’re still in the same position aside from being a timeout down and three seconds burned from the clock.

On second and ten they looked to have gotten a first down, but a hands to the face penalty wiped out a big game. They were now pushed back to the Lions 35-yard line with only 36 seconds left. Again, not great, but maybe they’ll have to settle for overtime instead of going for the win.

On their second attempt at the down, the Lions got home with their pressure, sacking Caleb and putting the Bears at third and twenty-six. Now the Bears needed to burn their final timeout and reevaluate the situation with 30 seconds left. Except they never took that time out.

What followed was a mix of coaching ineptitude and rookie inexperience. The Bears’ offence allowed the clock to run down as they attempted to get correctly aligned. As the clock ticked down the CBS crew appeared to have a better grasp of the situation than the Bears did, with Jim Nantz loudly proclaiming, “You better hurry”.

The Bears finally snapped the ball with six seconds to go, and despite taking all that time to get ready, they still looked unprepared. Caleb threw an inaccurate deep shot and the clock expired before the ball hit the ground. 

Victory for the Detroit Lions while the Chicago Bears get to decide what they want to do with the timeout that they’re taking home.

This is the third week in a row that the Bears have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in an inner divisional game. The block field goal against Green Bay, the overtime loss to Minnesota, and now whatever this was against Detroit.

Comments from the Bears players after the game didn’t do much to hide who the locker room blamed for the result. DJ Moore pondered why they didn’t call a timeout while Keenan Allen put it bluntly; “I feel like we did enough as players to win the game”.

This disaster in game management has led to NFL history, because the Bears, for the first time in the 105 years that they’ve existed, have sacked a head coach midseason. Despite the writing being on the wall yesterday, the Bears still waited for Matt Eberfluss to meet with the press on Friday before informing him that he had been sacked.

This is now the third consecutive first-round Bears quarterback that has had their head coach sacked during their rookie contract.

Phyrric Victory?

In complete contrast to the Bears, the Lions are thriving. Dan Campbell likes to say that it’s not easy to win in this league, but every week they find a way. This win bering their tenth in a row.

This wasn’t Detroit’s finest win, but that comes with the standards that they themselves have set. At the end of the day, this game counts just the same as the blowout against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

The Lions first drive seemed to set the tone for the first half in regards to them sputtering in the red zone. It looked promising following multiple third down conversions aswell as a jet sweep to Penei Sewell which became the most cheered for two yard loss in living memory. But despite the trickery, they had to settle for a field goal.

This was the result for two of the next three offensive drives for the Lions, as they only reached the end zone on one of those occasions. A three yard touchdown pass to Sam LaPorta – his first of two endzone catches.

After yet another Chicago drive went nowhere, the Lions had a chance to score again before halftime. But on what seemed to be an explosive screen pass, Jamhyr Gibbs got blown up by safety Jonathan Owens, forcing a fumble.

The Lions went into halftime with a scoreline that flattered the Bears, because it should have been much worse such was the domination from the home team. But in the NFL, you’re often left to rue missed opportunities, and the second half proved that.

Aaron Glenn has been performing miracles as of late with the Lions’ defence. In the two games leading up to thanksgiving they didn’t give up a touchdown, and in the past three games they’ve not given a point up after halftime. This was despite members of his defence going down every week.

In the second half of the Bears game it felt like the dam broke. An already decimated defensive line saw injuries to Josh Paschal and Levi Onwuzurike before halftime, and in the second half it showed. A lack of pressure allowed Caleb Williams the space to run the offence and take advantage of the mismatch the Bears wide receivers had on the Lions’ secondary.

By the end of the game, Caleb had three passing touchdowns, two more than any other quarterback has scored against this Lions defence so far this season. The question going forward will be, is this just an aberration, or is it the new normal?

Going into this game, they already had a heavy injury report, and afterwards they’re about to add half a dozen more. For a lot of them, they are predicted to be healthy by the time the playoffs come around, so the Lions will be grateful that their record is what it is. 

However, there’s a good chance that it may cost them their chance at the number one seed and the bye that comes with it.

A player they know they’ll be without going forward is Malcolm Rodriguez. The linebacker went down in the second half with what we now know to be an ACL tear, confining him to the sidelines from here on out. 

What’s alarming for Detroit is that Rodgriuez was simply a depth piece going into the season, but injuries have caused him to be vaulted into an essential role. To end their season their linebacker room will appear to be Jack Campbell and whoever they can piece together from practice squads around the league.

Conclusion

It’s easy to be negative after such a narrow win. Even after the final play of the game many of the Detroit players didn’t appear to be so jovial, though in their defence, that may have been their bemusement. A potential blowout and four-quarter party turned into a battle of attrition that they were fortunate to win.

But they won. They’re 11-1 and the best Lions team Detroit has ever had in the Superbowl era. The Green Bay Packers will be an interesting test next week but with some luck the Lions will be a lot healthier than they were this week.

The Lions have already shown that they can handle the Packers, soundly beating them at Lambeau Field a few weeks prior. Now they welcome them to Ford Field where they’ll seek revenge for the Thanksgiving defeat they inflicted upon the Lions the year prior.