Week 10: Detroit Lions

Heading into the game against the Detroit Lions, there was a lot on the line for the Bears. If they were to beat the Lions, would they not only extend their winning streak to four games, but they would also be tied with the Lions for second place in the division. The Bears come out and made a stance early against the Lions on defense and it set the tone for the rest of the game. On the the sixth play of the game, the Lions threw a little bubble screen to Calvin Johnson and as he cut back to the middle of the field he was met by Julius Peppers head on. Pepper proceeded to strip the ball and that turned into a touchdown run for Matt Forte. On the next Lions offensive drive, Tim Jennings was beat my Nate Burleson but made a nice play to recover and ended up stripping Burleson of the ball. After those two drives, it seemed as if the Lions offense was never in rhythm. Matt Stafford had arguably one of his worst games of the season as he threw four interceptions and never seemed to be in any rhythm with the offense. This was a very telling game for the Bears because they were able to avenge the early lose to the Lions. It also showed how multidimensional the Bears are as a team. The offense never really seemed to get on track because the Lions were able to shut the Bears running game down and constantly had pressure on Jay Cutler. However the other two phases of the Bears came up huge. Devin Hester once again showed why he is the single most electrifying man in the NFL when he took his ninth punt return for a touchdown in the second quarter. Earlier in the quarter, he nearly had another punt return for a touchdown but was unable to get passed the Lions punter. It still baffles me why any team in this league punts to the man. He has shown year in and year out that no one besides himself can stop him and it seems like he constantly finds new ways to bring it to the house. Another encouraging thing that came out of this game was the play of the Bears defense. As I said before, they come out from the first play and established they were going to dictate how the game was going to be played. They scored two defensive touchdowns with two separate pick sixes by Charles Tillman and Major Wright. The Bears defense has seemingly reverted back to the dominate one the NFL has known for the last decade and if they Bears are to make a deep playoff run, the defense is going to need to continue playing at a high level. There was however a series of incidents that occurred in the fourth quarter that got out of hand. As the Bears were backed up in the own end of the field, Jay Cutler dropped back and was driven into the ground by Lions defensive tackle Nick Farley. It was fairly obvious that Farley drove his helmet into Cutlers with the intent of injuring him. On the Bears next defensive series, Lance Briggs level Calvin Johnson as he went over the middle for a catch and was called for unnecessary roughness. I though this play was a lot cleaner than that of Farley because Lance Briggs was simply reminding Calvin Johnson that receiver get punished for going over the middle on the Chicago Bears. He did not lead the tackle with his helmet and it seemed to be a clean play in my eyes. Things really reached a boiling point after Matt Stafford threw his third interception of the game as he was picked off by Tim Jennings. As Jennings was running the interception back, Stafford seemed to get locked up with Corner DJ Moore and seemingly through Moore to the ground by his head. Moore took exception to this and went right back after Stafford and tempers were flaring. I am not at all justifying DJ Moore's retaliation but the league should fine Stafford heavily for his role in the altercation. I understand that he was having a rough game but his actions were outside the lines and he should be fined heavily. However, the game in its self was a great one for the Bears. I believe they established themselves as a real contender in the NFC and will be a tough challenge for teams that play them from here on out. The Bears are coming into and easier part of their schedule and should really look to capitalize on it. So until next time, Bear Down Chicago.