Detroit Lions report card, grades: Defense shows signs of life vs. Bears

The Detroit Lions offense was dominant. The defense showed improvement. Let’s hand out grades for Lions vs. Bears.

The Detroit Lions found their groove back with a fairly comfortable 34-17 victory over the Chicago Bears . Let’s dive a little deeper into the game and performances with our Week 16 report card.

Quarterback: A

Jared Goff just casually put up a fantastic game. Nothing looked particularly hard for Goff, but that’s because he’s always so calm and collected in the backfield. I can only think of one or two misthrows. For the majority of the game, he was highly productive and read the field well. That’s reflected in his final statline: 23-of-32, 336 yards, 3 TDs, 137.0 passer rating. Plus, that deep ball in the cold was an absolute dime.

Running backs: A

Jahmyr Gibbs did his best to make you forget about the David Montgomery injury. Whether he was running outside, between the tackles, or catching the ball out of the backfield, Gibbs was the centerpiece of Detroit’s offense, and he thrived in that role. He finished the day with 27 touches, 154 yards, and a touchdown.

In some short-yardage situations, it was clear the Lions would’ve preferred Montgomery in the game, but Gibbs is not afraid to initiate contact or run between the tackles and that was clear on Sunday.

Also, Goff and Gibbs get a half-grade bump for their acting skills.

Tight ends: B

LaPorta had a relatively quiet day, turning seven targets into four catches for 43 yards and the “stumblerooski” touchdown. He looked strong in run blocking from the live viewing, but I always reserve the right to change that opinion on the replay.

Wide receivers: A-

Jameson Williams made up for his second Tyrique Stevenson-related unsportsmanlike penalty with a huge 82-yard touchdown grab. In fact, he was explosive all day. Maybe his best play was a routine dump-off that he turned into a 25-yard gain with his speed to the edge.

Elsewhere, Amon-Ra St. Brown made a couple nice grabs but did have a “drop” on a fourth down that ended what would have been a scoring drive. He finished with six catches on eight targets for 70 yards—including a touchdown he had no business scoring on, and a big third-and-17 conversion.

Offensive line: A

That’s exactly the kind of bounceback game the Lions offensive line needed. Jared Goff was only sacked once (a coverage sack) and took just three quarterback hits all game. Meanwhile, there were a ton of rushing lanes for Gibbs, as the Lions finished with 146 rushing yards on 4.6 yards per carry.

Even better, the only penalty on this entire group was a false start by rookie Christian Mahogany—on a play that likely would’ve been a delay of game anyway. Speaking of Mahogany, it was a strong first career start for the sixth-round pick.

Defensive line: C

I thought the interior of the defensive line had a very strong game. There were no rushing lanes up the middle for the entire game, as D’Andre Swift was held to just 20 rushing yards on nine carries. Additionally, I thought the interior push was somewhat effective, forcing Bears quarterback Caleb Williams to move from his mark.

But I did not think the edge defenders played particularly well again. There was almost no pass rush from the edges, which allowed Williams to extend plays and find passing lanes. Even when the Bears were in obvious passing downs for the entire second half, Detroit couldn’t generate any consistent pressure without sending extra defenders—and that was after the Bears lost their starting left tackle and left guard.

Detroit logged five quarterback hits in the game. Only three were by defensive linemen, and only two by their edge defenders (one from Al-Quadin Muhammad and one from Josh Paschal).

Sole shoutout to Mitchell Agude, whose crazy hustle led to Rome Odunze’s second fumble (originally credited to Amik Robertson).

Linebackers: C-

When the Bears ran misdirection or targeted running backs or tight ends in the passing game, it was the linebackers getting exploited once again. Cole Kmet had one of the Bears’ touchdowns after Ezekiel Turner lost him, and Swift had three catches for 33 yards.

It was still a step in the right direction, but… hurry back, Alex Anzalone.

Secondary: C+

There was a lot of good and a lot of bad from this unit. On one hand, Ifeatu Melifonwu certainly brought a little juice to Detroit’s pass rush—although he overran Williams a couple of times. Additionally, I thought this was one of Terrion Arnold’s best games, despite biting on the double move at the end of the half (which was also on Melifonwu). He had a couple of textbook coverage reps. His red-zone third-down pass breakup on a pass intended for D.J. Moore was brilliant, and he had blanket coverage on another deep shot.

Brian Branch had an up-and-down game, but it was far more good than bad. He finished with a tackle for loss, a quarterback hit, a pass defended, and a team-leading 12 tackles.

Overall, this unit needs to be better. Williams finished with 334 yards, 2 TDs, and a 107.7 passer rating. That’s not good enough against a bad offense. But they did come up with big plays in big moments.

Special teams: C

I didn’t expect Jake Bates to make a 65-yard field goal in the cold, but Hogan Hatten’s false start penalty that made that 5-yards longer definitely knocks this unit’s grade down a peg.

Nothing else too notable from this unit. Sione Vaki did have one strong return (36 yards), and Bates made his three other field goals.

Coaching: A-

In terms of in-game decisions, I don’t think I had much of any problems. I know some were annoyed the Lions passed up a short field goal to potentially go up 20 early in the fourth quarter, but not me. Detroit’s offense was rolling at the time, and a 17 vs. 20-point lead doesn’t feel all that different to me. Don’t love the back-to-back passes on third and fourth-and-3 there, but that’s nitpicky.

I do like that Detroit’s offense never really took the foot off the gas. Despite leading by multiple scores for most of the game, Goff still threw the ball 32 times. And while they only scored seven second-half points, Detroit didn’t really get conservative until the game was in hand.

I was a little uninspired by the defense, and I’m not sure how I feel about how Detroit responded to the Carlton Davis injury—moving Amik Robertson to the outside and dropping Brian Branch into the nickel, when needed. I understand getting Melifonwu on the field—and he made an impact near the line of scrimmage—but the end-of-half touchdown was a reminder that Branch also helps quite a bit in deep coverage. That said, let’s let the secondary build some chemistry with this new strategy and see what happens.