Lions Game Ball, Unsung Hero of Week 16: The sky isn’t falling after all

Handing out the game ball and unsung hero from the Lions’ road win against the Bears

That was one heck of a bounce back for the road-warrior Detroit Lions , as they took down the Chicago Bears 34-17 in Week 16. The win was the team’s 13th of the season which is a new franchise record. Along the way, the Lions also broke franchise records for points scored (495) and touchdowns scored (60) in a season as they remain undefeated in the NFC North and on the road in 2024.

The Lions 17-point margin of victory was their largest at Soldier Field under this regime, required efforts on both sides of the ball, and produced a gaggle of worthy candidates for my game ball and unsung hero.

Game Balls: Jared Goff, Jahmyr Gibbs, and Jameson Williams

The Lions returned to form, after only their second loss of the season, to move to 5-0 in the division and 7-0 on the road and thus are deserving of three game balls for some of their star players’ performances.

A week after receiving my game ball in the loss to the Bills , Goff helped to further vanquish the narrative surrounding his abilities to perform outdoors and in the cold.

Goff was 23/32 passing (71.8%) for 336 passing yards, three passing touchdowns, and a 137.0 passer rating. His 33 passing touchdowns this season are a career-high and are now the second-most in franchise history (Matthew Stafford 2011 – 41). It was Goff’s fifth-highest passer rating in a game this season, his eleventh over 100.0, and his sixth road game with a completion percentage over 70%.

Goff had passing touchdowns to each of his premiere receiving options in Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams, and Sam LaPorta. His touchdown to Williams was perfectly thrown in stride on a deep skinny post, well over 50 air yards, and his touchdown to LaPorta came on one of Ben Johnson’s niftiest designed trick plays (his third trick play passing touchdown of the season).

Goff dominated in Week 16 thanks in large part to the play action passing game. Per Next Gen Stats, Goff completed 14/16 passes for 243 passing yards and two passing touchdowns (+20.2% completion percentage over expectation). Goff is now responsible for three of the four most passing yards in a game on play action since 2023.

Goff helped the offense convert seven of 12 third downs and passed for 15 first downs (tied for fifth highest this season). Goff was kept clean in the pocket a majority of the day and was sacked only once. One of his biggest third-down conversions was after being flushed to his left and making an off-schedule throw to Amon-Ra St. Brown for the improbable 3rd & 17 catch and run conversion. Goff’s now thrown for 20.3 first downs/game in the last three weeks and is hitting another gear at the ideal time.

Gibbs looked very impressive in his first game as the workhorse running back following David Montgomery’s MCL injury . Similar to Week 8 in 2023 on “Monday Night Football”— when Montgomery was out with a rib injury and Gibbs had a career-high 31 touches—Gibbs shouldered the load in this one.

Gibbs had 27 touches (second-most of his career) for 154 total yards (third-most of his career) and was a factor early and often in setting the tone, eating clock, and moving the chains. Gibbs didn’t have any explosive back-breaking runs, his longest was for 12 yards, but he consistently was generating runs of 5-12 yards (twelve such runs) and was a spark in the passing game.

One of Gibbs most impressive plays wasn’t even when he had the ball in his hands, it was when he threw two separate blocks, on the previously mentioned 3rd & 17 catch and run conversion from St. Brown. The blocking took a high-level of awareness, hustle, and selflessness from Gibbs and was the perfect embodiment of his talented day being the team’s engine.

Williams was right behind Gibbs in being the Lions’ second-highest yardage leader. He totaled six touches for 150 total yards. Williams set a career-high in total yards in a game, (150), receiving yards in a game (143), longest career catch (82 yards), receiving yards over expected (+75), and his 67 yards after the catch were the second most of his career. Williams has now averaged 8.9 yards after the catch per reception this year, the most among wide receivers with at least 40 targets.

Williams was also on the receiving end of a highly questionable taunting penalty after converting the Lions’ initial first down of the season. Dan Campbell gave him a stern talking-to on the sidelines and Williams would bounce back from the penalty with a vengeance to put it in the rear-view mirror (much like he does with defenders).

Williams most impactful and impressive play was his 82-yard bullet train touchdown to further break open the game in the second quarter, however, he made a number of other huge plays for the team against the Bears. Williams had four other receptions, including a few dandy drag routes that he was able to turn up field on and one tough curl route, that each lead first downs on four separate scoring drives.

The full package was on display on Sunday for Williams as he has two games remaining to record 110 receiving yards to deservedly reach 1,000 receiving yards on the season.

Unsung Heroes: Christian Mahogany and Amik Robertson

There were a number of unspoken things that spoke volumes about Christian Mahogany’s first start. The fact that the coaching staff trusted Mahogany to not only start but play the entire game, without any rotation from veteran Kayode Awosika was promising. Additionally, it appeared Ben Johnson was able to run the full gamut of play calls and didn’t have to trim back to tailor to Mahogany. Finally, when a rookie sixth-rounder makes their first career start it’s a very easy opportunity for the broadcast crew to be overly aware of any mistakes and there was a single one that was called out.

On the field, Mahogany was as good as advertised, his nasty dirtbag self . Mahogany was able to generate a strong surge numerous times while also getting to second level blocks in the run game, looked clean and aware in pass protection, and had a few monster blocks in the screen game.

On Gibbs’ longest play of the game, a 25-yard screen pass, Mahogany, along with Frank Ragnow and Kevin Zeitler, were essential in being Gibbs’ caravan, taking out a handful of defenders escorting him down the field. Then, on St. Brown’s improbable tunnel screen pass touchdown, Mahogany was the lead offensive lineman out in front that took out Kevin Byard as St. Brown squirted through into the endzone.

The Bears match-up was ideal for Mahogany in his first start as they were without a few interior defensive linemen and their linebackers often times don’t blitz but he looked mighty comfortable in between Taylor Decker and Ragnow.

The way the defensive coaches deployed their defensive backs on Sunday, in the wake of the Carlton Davis injury, also spoke volumes about their belief in Amik Robertson. Roberson had played as the nickel cornerback for the majority of the season, but against the Bears, the Lions had Robertson play primarily as the starting outside cornerback opposite Terrion Arnold. Robertson stepped up and played a season-high 63 snaps.

Robertson had numerous big-time tackles in the run game and the short passing shutting down the ball carrier in his tracks. Robertson also made two pass deflections and looked like he belonged with the additional playing time.

It signified a lot that both Emmanuel Moseley and Kindle Vildor, fellow cornerbacks, were active but didn’t play any defensive snaps and shows that Robertson should be a key cog for the Lions championship run.