■ Observations from the Bears win in Detroit.
Timing, decision-making, accuracy punctuate QB’s best game of the season
The Bears’ 24-20 win over the Lions on Thursday evened their record at 6-6, sending them into a daunting December schedule feeling good about how their offense and defense came together, albeit against a last-place team.
Here are three observations from rewatching the Fox telecast and the coaches’ film via the NFL Game Pass subscription service.
1. Mitch Trubisky’s best performance of the season centered on his timing, decision-making and accuracy on first down.
Trubisky completed 17 of 19 first-down throws for 177 yards and two touchdowns — good for a 140.6 passer rating. That equates to an 89.5% completion rate and 9.3 yards per attempt.
By comparison, his first-down stat line entering the game, per Pro Football Reference: 66.7% completions, 6.0 yards per attempt, 93.9 rating, four touchdowns, no interceptions.
Trubisky did what a good quarterback should do against the 30th-ranked pass defense. The Lions mixed man-to-man and zone coverages on first down, and it didn’t really matter. Trubisky consistently threw accurately and in rhythm to receivers who did their part getting open.
At times, Trubisky simply took what the defense gave him with easy, obvious throws against off coverage. Other times, he made well-timed, accurate passes to receivers who separated from man coverage with precise routes, namely Allen Robinson and Anthony Miller.
“This offense is built on timing,” coach Matt Nagy said Friday about Trubisky’s decision-making throughout the game, not just on first down. “When you make the right decision on time, usually good things happen. I think you felt that.”
Trubisky occasionally moved around to extend the play or improve his passing angle. Mostly, he hit the top of his drop and the ball came out fluidly. He also chewed up first-down completions and yards on three horizontal throws on run-pass options.
Several first-down throws stood out. The 18-yard touchdown to rookie tight end Jesper Horsted in the third quarter was the most important. It was particularly impressive how quickly Trubisky identified Horsted, the second read in the progression, as his best option.
The play-action toss to the right manipulated the defense, and Horsted got inside the safety (going away from the run action) on his slant route. Remember, the Bears didn’t hold a full-speed practice before the game because of the short week, so Trubisky’s vision on Horsted and timing of the throw was due partly to his instincts. The lobbed pass was perfectly placed.
Earlier on that drive, Trubisky found Miller for 20 yards over the middle in a window of the Lions’ zone coverage. The Bears ran a play-action, seven-step drop from under center. The offensive line — which protected Trubisky wonderfully for most of the game — gave Miller time to cut in behind dropping linebacker Jahlani Tavai. Trubisky did well to anticipate
Miller’s break behind the linebacker and deliver an accurate throw to Miller in stride.
In two other instances, including once on the game-winning drive, Trubisky positioned Miller to run after the catch on pivot routes against man coverage. Miller gained 10 yards after the catch on the first one.
On the second, he gained 8 after the catch to turn first-and-15 from the Bears 5-yard line into second-and-4. Trubisky slid to his right to improve his angle and give Miller time to run away from the cornerback. It jump-started a 90-yard touchdown drive that began behind the sticks and could’ve easily stalled out.
Earlier in the game, Trubisky found Miller and Javon Wims on broken plays on first down — Miller at the left sideline for 10 yards after the 2-minute warning in the first half; Wims at the right sideline for 13 yards in the third quarter.
In both instances, Trubisky escaped the pocket and kept his eyes up to keep the play alive and create a gain when he didn’t like what he initially saw. That’s partly a reflection of a Lions defense that is broken when it comes to the marriage between pass rush and coverage, but credit Trubisky and his receivers for executing in the scramble drill, an area that has been inconsistent.
Overall, Trubisky’s first-down efficiency helped create momentum for Nagy as a play caller and kept the Lions defense on its heels. Repeating that sharpness of timing and decision-making would go a long way toward leaving a strong lasting impression this season.
2. The Bears balanced their offense by taking advantage of light run fronts and with David Montgomery’s hard running.
Montgomery’s average of 4.7 yards per carry was his third-best mark this season. It was only the third game in which he averaged more than 3.5.
Against the Lions on Nov. 10, Montgomery had 17 carries for only 60 yards (3.5 ypc). The big difference that day was the presence of menacing defensive tackle Damon “Snacks” Harrison. Harrison was inactive Thursday because of a knee injury, and it showed in how the Bears offensive line re-established the line of scrimmage and won blocks on the interior, which generally has been a major struggle.
“You could just feel our offensive linemen getting to the second level with their blocks,” Matt Nagy said. “David was running hard. He was breaking tackles. You felt that — I felt it as a play caller. You felt like you were getting to second-and-5, secondand-4 more than second-and-9 and secondand-8, and that’s a credit to our offensive line.”
Nagy was right. Out of Montgomery’s nine first-down carries, six gained at least 4 yards. Tarik Cohen added a 5-yard run on first down. Getting into second-and-medium has been a brutal struggle for the Bears, and the benefits of doing so were obvious in their season-high yardage total (419).
Montgomery’s two longest carries appeared to result from RPOs. Mitch Trubisky gave it to him against a six-man box for 14 yards on the opening drive. Center Cody Whitehair climbed to inside linebacker Christian “Cheese” Jones, the former Bear. And when the safety came down to fill a gap, Montgomery’s vision prompted him to cut to his right, away from the safety, behind Whitehair.
His 10-yard carry on the game-winning touchdown drive appeared to be another RPO, with six Bears blockers matched up against six Lions defenders in the box. The Lions were in a big nickel package with three linemen, two edge linebackers and one inside linebacker, but the Bears had a hat on a hat, so to speak, with five linemen and tight end J.P. Holtz. The Bears blocked straight ahead, allowing Montgomery to use his vision and lateral agility to determine his track.
“We always talk about: It’s not speed to the hole but speed through the hole,” Nagy said. “So there’s patience getting there, and then once you get there, now you’ve got to feel, OK, where’s the defense going? And you react off of that.
“David has really, really good vision. He has great feel for where defenders are going to be, and then when they get there, he does a great job of breaking tackles, has good contact balance.”
If you’ve watched Bears games all season, you know Montgomery runs hard and requires multiple tacklers to bring him down.
On a 5-yard run in the third quarter, the Bears had two tight ends (Holtz lined up at fullback) against the Lions’ seven-man front. The Lions only occasionally positioned a safety near the line of scrimmage, but on this play, Tavon Wilson was down. The Bears got a great push up front, and although right guard Rashaad Coward missed his attempt to block linebacker Jahlani Tavai on the second level, Montgomery stopped only when six — yes, six — defenders stood him up and the whistle blew. He never went to the ground.
“How many guys are on him?!?” Fox play-by-play announcer Joe Buck marveled.
Thursday’s victory is one of the best examples this season of what good line play would do for the entire offense. The Bears haven’t had it nearly enough. But the line took advantage of the Lions’ short-handed defensive line, and what do you know? A season high in total yards, Trubisky’s best game and a balanced attack.
3. The Bears scored on their opening possession.
I had to rewatch the game to make sure it happened. There it was: six plays; 50 yards; 3 minutes, 23 seconds; capped by a 10-yard touchdown pass from Mitch Trubisky to Allen Robinson.
It was only the second time this season the Bears scored on their opening drive. In six of their first 11 games, they didn’t even get a first down on their first series.
Their only previous scoring drive to start a game was a 75-yard touchdown march against the Vikings in Week 4, and even that was bittersweet: Trubisky dislocated his left shoulder on the drive, left the game and missed the next one.
So how did the Bears get to the end zone on their first possession against the Lions? By moving up the starting line.
Cordarrelle Patterson’s 57-yard kickoff return to midfield reduced the degree of difficulty. Patterson took the ball out of the end zone from 7 yards deep on a re-kick that resulted from offsetting penalties. As Matt Nagy noted, it was a smart move by Patterson to bring the ball out because the Lions coverage team had just sprinted down the field on the erased play.
“It’s hard to cover a kickoff twice,” Nagy said. “The last couple of games we have been behind the sticks on offense with field position. To start right there (at midfield), you don’t need as many first downs, and you’re already in good field position. That part helped out.”
Trubisky’s first-down sharpness and David Montgomery’s running applied. Also of note, the Bears ran two RPOs: one pass to Robinson for 9 yards on which Anthony Miller blocked well, and one Montgomery run for 14 (described above).
On the touchdown, Robinson was singled up with cornerback Darius Slay on the right side of the formation. He separated with a nifty stutter and right-footed jab step (he’s so good at it), and Trubisky delivered the throw accurately and on time.
7-0, Bears. Remarkable.