As the thrill started to construct on the Chicago Bears sideline after they went up by two scores at Soldier Field, the gamers had the last word reminder to remain targeted lurking behind their minds.
That 12-point lead the Bears took over the Detroit Lions in the beginning of the fourth quarter Sunday? The Lions simply overcame the identical deficit in simply 4 minutes within the groups’ final assembly on Nov. 19 at Ford Field.
“You definitely get that feeling where you’re up two scores, you’re kind of getting a little happy,” Bears defensive finish Montez Sweat stated. “We’re like, ‘Hold on, back up, because we just got humbled two, three weeks ago.’ So we wanted to finish on a good note this time.”
This time, the Bears’ defensive second-half efficiency in a 28-13 win certified as ending on a great notice.
After falling behind 13-10 at halftime, the Bears didn’t enable the Lions a second-half level.
In seven second-half drives, the Lions and quarterback Jared Goff went three-and-out on three of them. Two led to Bears takeaways. And the opposite two had been turnovers on downs. That included when Sweat and Gervon Dexter shared a sack for a lack of 7 yards on third down after which Goff threw incomplete to Amon-Ra St. Brown on fourth-and-17 on the Lions’ second-to-last drive.
“The way we lost that last game in Detroit, that kind of left a bad taste in our mouths,” defensive lineman Justin Jones stated. “So we came out here and knew we had to pay attention to details and make sure that we homed in on what exactly we had to do this game. We just came out with energy and played all four quarters, played 60 minutes.”
Bears coach Matt Eberflus, who is probably going teaching for his job over this remaining stretch of the season, known as the complete-game efficiency “proof” for gamers, coaches — and even followers, he stated — that the staff is making progress.
The defensive turnaround below Eberflus because the coordinator — with a more healthy group and with Sweat speeding opposing passers — has proven up within the stats. Sunday was the second straight recreation and the third time in 4 video games the Bears have held an opponent to fewer than 14 factors. With three takeaways Sunday, the Bears additionally upped their whole to 11 in three video games.
And on this one, the contributions got here from all around the Bears protection.
- There was cornerback Jaylon Johnson’s fourth interception of the season, on a move meant for Sam LaPorta within the second quarter.
“We saw them come back with that same route concept, where they run a three-level out route,” Johnson stated. “You’ve got a short route, one in the middle and then you had a deep one. Considering the pressure, I sunk on the ball, thought I might have seen him looking toward the second one, so I just came off and I made a play.”
The Bears held LaPorta and St. Brown — the Lions’ high two targets this season — in examine. LaPorta had two catches on six targets for 23 yards and St. Brown had three catches on 9 targets for 21 yards. Goff threw for simply 161 yards, and the Lions netted 267.
- There had been a handful of massive performs by Bears linebackers, together with Tremaine Edmunds’ interception of Goff to seal the sport with 2 minutes, 39 seconds to play within the fourth quarter. It was the Bears’ ninth interception within the final three video games — and fifth in opposition to Goff this season.
T.J. Edwards obtained in on the Bears’ takeaway social gathering together with his third in three video games. He recovered a fumbled snap between heart Graham Glasgow and Goff late within the third quarter, and the Bears went up by 12 factors 5 performs in a while Justin Fields’ 11-yard landing run.
Jack Sanborn had one other drive-ending play within the second half when he and Tyrique Stevenson stopped Jahmyr Gibbs for a lack of 4 yards on fourth-and-1 within the fourth quarter.
“That was a call we really liked in that situation,” Eberflus stated. “It’s kind of a slanting line. We actually end up slanting right into it.”
- There had been security Jaquan Brisker’s 17 tackles, of which Eberflus stated, “Isn’t that crazy? Sounds like my college stats for crying out loud.”
Brisker, who additionally had two passes defended and a pressured fumble, stated “it felt like five or six for real.”
“I was just trying to stay focused every single play, just trying to focus on one single play at a time,” he added.
- And there have been the Bears’ 4 sacks of Goff, together with three in a span of six performs throughout two fourth-quarter drives, beginning with the Sweat and Dexter sack. Then on the Lions’ final drive, Sweat and Jones mixed for a sack for a lack of 10 yards and Jones had one other two performs later for a lack of 9 yards.
That pushed the Lions into the fourth-and-long scenario that resulted in Edmunds’ interception.
“I would just say we found our swagger,” Jones stated. “They came out with looks that were different from what we practiced all week. So we had to come out in halftime and adjust to it. … We adjusted to it pretty good.”
Eberflus additionally complimented the Bears’ halftime routine to make changes after they allowed the Lions to attain two second-quarter touchdowns for the halftime lead.
“Our coaches do an unbelievable job getting the pictures right. They’re all drawn up. It’s like looking at a playbook,” Eberflus stated. “They do a great job making the adjustments, and we all gather together. Everybody is sitting in there, we talk about what happened, where were the breakdowns, and then what are we going to do going forward, and what’s going to be the calls, and I tell them how we’re going to adjust, what we’re going to do differently on third down in situations.”
Eberflus known as the Bears’ efficiency and two-game successful streak in opposition to two NFC North groups “a big deal,” particularly as a result of his staff received the turnover margin and completed within the fourth quarter.
But Bears gamers additionally appeared to be grounded in not getting too excessive over back-to-back wins.
“It’s a great divisional win, but we didn’t do nothing yet,” Brisker stated. “The defense has to get better. We’re 5-8 right now. We have to find a way to keep stacking them one game at a time, one day at a time.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com