BEARS’ BACKUP QB DELIVERS
Stafford picked off twice in Lions loss
The No. 1 pick overall in the 2009 NFL Draft got outdueled on Thursday by a player who was passed over by all 32 teams in that same draft. Chicago Bears quarterback Chase Daniel, who did not hear his name called among the 256 players drafted in 2009, did what Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford, the former first-overall pick, could not on Thursday.
Daniel, making his first start since 2014, did not turn over the ball while two fourthquarter interceptions by Stafford enabled the Bears to grab a 23-16 win over the Lions before a crowd of 65,684 at Ford Field in the annual U.S. Thanksgiving Day game.
“I don’t make those poor plays, we’re right where we want to be,” Stafford said.
Filling in for starter Mitchell Trubisky, who was out with a shoulder injury, Daniel did the opposite of Stafford.
He threw a pair of touchdowns without a pick while Stafford had the two interceptions and failed to throw a touchdown pass. “Tough, yeah,” Stafford said of the picks. “Obviously, can’t have them.”
After a Detroit drive stalled at the Chicago two-yard line when Stafford could not connect with tight end Michael Roberts, the Lions settled for a 20-yard field goal to tie the game 16-16. Detroit’s defence forced a three-and-out from the Bears and Stafford and the Lions got the ball at their own 41-yard line with six minutes to play.
But on the first play of the series, Stafford was slow in his delivery to Roberts on an out pattern and Eddie Jackson jumped the route and returned it 41 yards for the go-ahead score. “I saw him coming out of centre field, just thought we’d outflank him,” Stafford said of Jackson.
“Thought Mike (Roberts) was out wider than he was, which was the truth, just didn’t get it to him quick enough.
“He did a good job undercutting it and made a great play.” Roberts, who is listed as the third-string tight end, was Stafford’s go-to guy far too often in Thursday’s game even with running back Kerryon Johnson and receiver Marvin Jones Jr. out of the game. It again proved costly to the Lions with a chance to tie the game and less than two minutes to play. Stafford went to the end zone looking for Roberts only to have Bears cornerback Kyle Fuller step up to stop Roberts in his tracks and then backpedal to pick off the pass. “I was thinking Mike (Roberts) was going to be in a different spot, but you know, that’s cutting the ball loose and hoping sometimes that you’re on the same page and obviously it didn’t work out in our favour,” Stafford said. For Stafford, who is playing on a five-year deal for US $135million deal, it simply wasn’t good enough for a Detroit team that was in a must-win situation to stay in the NFC North Division race. “Obviously, not where we want to be record-wise,” said Stafford, who was 28-for-38 for 236 yards. “That’s really all that matters.” At 4-7, the Lions are now guaranteed to finish with as many losses as the past two seasons under Jim Caldwell, who lost his job last season after a secondstraight 9-7 season. “We’re not winning (and) it sucks,” said Lions running back LeGarrette Blount, who won the Super Bowl with Philadelphia last season and had a pair of four-yard touchdowns runs on Thursday.
“We’re not playing good football. We’re not playing complementary (football). Things aren’t going our way, so you have to take luck out of the game, and take over the game yourself, and put yourself in the best position to win the game and we didn’t do that.”
Meanwhile, Daniel, who has NFL stops with Washington, New Orleans, Kansas City, Philadelphia and a second stop in New Orleans, seems to be just what the Bears, who sit atop the NFC North Division with an 8-3 record, needed after signing a two-year deal for $10 million in March. “It doesn’t matter if you’re a backup quarterback in this league,” Lions defensive tackle Ricky Jean Francois said. “Every quarterback in this league can step up and do a job. Each team picks a certain guy that backs up and does the job great. “Chase Daniel is that guy, who did a great job for the Chicago Bears, so I take my hat off.”