What we learned from the Chicago Bears loss to the Lions

The defense had another sub-par performance

The defense wasn’t awful today. Maybe I just have high expectations for them. Stafford completed 21 of 31 passes for 299 yards and two touchdowns against them. On the first touchdown, Chicago Bears’ cornerback Marcus Cooper bit on the double move by Jones, which resulted in a touchdown. On the second one, it appeared that linebacker Christian Jones never picked up Abdullah out of the backfield.

I also thought there was far too much zone coverage. Against the Panthers, the defense struggled with zone coverage, but started to shut down the Panthers when they went to man coverage. I kept looking for a similar switch.

The loss of Leonard Floyd to a potentially serious knee injury is not good, obviously. The defense has already been struggling to get pressure with four guys, so now they are going to have to blitz a lot more. Get healthy, and see you in 2018, Floyd.

It wasn’t all doom and gloom. I did think the defense stepped up and held the Lions to two field goals in the second half. They could have easily crumbled, but they held their own and forced third down stops when they had to, as the Lions were 3-10 on third downs.

This defense is at their best when they are creating turnovers. They had a nice one, when linebacker Nick Kwiatkoski strip-sacked Stafford, but Kyle Fuller dropped two interceptions and Cre’Von LeBlanc dropped one.

We should rest easy, guys. There are young playmakers on both sides of the ball. We are a good draft, free-agency class and coaching staff away from being a playoff team. I think David Kaplan says it best.

Next week, the Chicago Bears take on the red-hot Philadelphia Eagles in Philly. Unfortunately I think we know how that game is going to go.

Next: Barth’s Big Blunder sums up Bears’ heartbreaking loss

Don’t forget though, wins at this point do not matter. It’s all about watching the growth of our young quarterback.