Lions find new ways of self-destructing in loss to Bears
DETROIT (AP) — When the Detroit Lions punted with 8:30
left against the Chicago Bears, quarterback Jared Goff was already planning what his offense would have to do next.
It ended up as a waste of time.
Trailing 14-13, the Bears put together an 18-play, 69-yard drive before ending the game with a 28-yard field goal as time expired in Detroit’s 16-14 loss on Thursday.
As Goff watched in disbelief, his team fell to 0-10-1.
“When we came off the field with all that time left, it never crossed my mind that we’d never get back out there,” he said. “I figured, at worse, we would be looking at a four-minute drive to win the game. Our defense had been fantastic all day.”
That defense, which has held three straight opponents to 16 or fewer points, couldn’t get one more stop.
Chicago picked up five first downs and only had to convert twice on third downs. On third-and-5 from their 37, Andy Dalton hit Damiere Byrd for 13 yards, although a Lions holding penalty would have given Chicago a first down either way.
With Dalton taking as much time as possible, the Bears were facing second-and-10 from the Detroit 17 coming out of the two-minute warning. Julian Okwara stopped David Montgomery for a yard and the Lions called their first timeout.
Then they called their second one. That’s not allowed.
With 1:54 to play and Chicago lined up for the crucial third-and-9, Lions coach Dan Campbell realized there was a problem.
“Half of our defense had one play call and half had another,” he said. “If I didn’t do anything, they were going to score an easy touchdown.”
The Lions were called for defensive delay of game and lost the timeout. The Bears easily converted the thirdand-4 against Detroit’s soft coverage.
It was the third time the Lions had lost on a walk-off field goal.