Week 2 Deep Dive: Lions Roar Past Beaten Bears

By Peter Mann

Dan Campbell’s Detroit Lions got their season up-and-running on Sunday night with an emphatic, 52-21 home win against the Chicago Bears.

It would be a contest that would see quarterback Jared Goff post a joint-career best, five touchdowns, and wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown register his career best three receiving scores, as the Lions Leap was in full effect.

Campbell’s Lions have roared pretty effectively in recent seasons and, after an opening day loss at Green Bay, this home opener showed that they’ve still got some bite, some power, strength, and the wherewithal to do the job at hand.

In fact, this victory was the fourth successive season in which the Lions have begun with a 1-1 record,  losing to Philadelphia Eagles (35-38) and beating Washington Commanders (36–27) in 2022, beating Kansas City Chiefs (21-20) and losing to Seattle Seahawks (31-37 OT) in 2023, and beating Los Angeles Rams (26-20 OT) and losing to Tampa Bay Buccaneers (16-20) in 2024, it’s all fun-and-games in Campbell’s House.

Just ask third round draft pick, Isaac TeSlaa, the former Arkansas Razorbacks wide receiver already being labelled a ‘one-handed catch machine’ after his superhuman, 29yd catch from Goff at the end of the first half against the Bears.

The previous week, in the loss at Green Bay, the rookie caught a 13yd pass from Goff late in the fourth, of a similar nature, this one for a TD – is it too early for a Rookie of the Year nomination for, if TeSlaa keeps playing, and catching, in this manner, he’ll be thereabouts…

He may not have been in the end zone against the Bears, but that mattered not, his quarterback, and a fellow wide receiver in St. Brown, along with another in Jameson Williams, were; they were joined at the Lions Dance by running backs Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery, and tight end Brock Wright, in the end zone.

It was just one of those games for the hosts who put up fourteen points in three of the four quarters, and posted their first, 50+ score of the season – last season they done that twice, winning 52-14 in week eight against Tennessee Titans, and 52-6 in week eleven against Jacksonville Jaguars.

At one stage in the contest the Lions threatened to run away with it, finding themselves 30+ points clear at the start of the fourth quarter, Goff running riot throughout, and hitting pretty much anything that moved.

Once the Lions had the lead, which they did early on, they never looked back, keeping the shell-shocked Bears at arms-length, their first score coming on a 2nd-and-5 as Gibbs rushed in a 6yd , opening TD whilst four minutes later the Bears tied at sevens when their quarterback, Caleb Williams, connected with Rome Odunze for a 28yd score, but the Lions closed out the first with their second score of the game, Montgomery bulldozing through on a 1st-and-6 to see the Lions score on their first two drives.

That lead was further increased late in the second when a quick toss from Goff connected with Wright from 8yds to open the first wide margin of the evening, at 14pts.

Williams and Odunze pulled the Lions leash again with less than two minutes of the first half remaining following a fake pass and the Bears’ wide receiver again made it a one-score game, but from then on it was pretty much one-way traffic, much to the delight of the baying, Ford Field faithful.

St. Brown collected another Goff pass from close range at the end of the half to double their advantage again, the Lions certainly smelling Bears blood going into half-time.

Early in the third quarter and Lions kicker, Jake Bates, 1/2 FG, 34Lng, 7/7 PATs, 10pts, kicked home three with a 34yd FG attempt which was quickly followed up by a Willaims TD score, and the Bears were beaten.

On and 3rd-and-8 fans were treated to a vintage Lions play as Goff threw for 44yds to connect with Williams with 6:22 remaining, Ben Johnson’s Bears with nowhere to hide as the hosts’ advantage stretched to twenty-four points, and with a quarter still to play.

And still the Lions weren’t done, making the most of having fifteen still to play, Goff et al continued to push for more, they’d perhaps be a little upset with letting the Bears snatch catch a consolation score, but the damage was well-and-truly done.

Amon-Ra St. Brown, a fourth-round draft pick from the USC Trojans back in 2021 and 3x Pro Bowler (2022-2024), completed a first career treble in that fourth quarter, first from 8yds, then 4yds, as the Lions Leap was in full effect, D’Andre Swift with that fourth quarter consolation, with under twelve remaining, for the well-and-truly dismantled Bears.

 As for Swift, that was a score that didn’t go down all too well with the majority of those in attendance at Ford Field, the Bears running back after all began his NFL career in Detroit, spending his first three seasons there between 2020 and 2023, before moving to Philly, then Chicago.

It mattered not though, Goff and St. Brown themselves had done the damage and finished the contest with stats of (Goff) 23/28, 334yds, 5TDs (rec), and (St. Brown) 115yds, 3TDs (rec), in addition to Gibbs’ 12 carries, 94yds, 1TD (rush), Montgomery’s 11 carries, 57yds, 1TD (rush), Williams’ 108yds, 1TD (rec), and Wright’s 28yds, 1TD (rec).

Replying, Bears’ quarterback, Williams posted 19/30, 207yds, 2TDs (pass), Odunze 128yds, 2TDs (rec), and Swift 12 carries, 63yds, 1TD (rush), with the Bears slipping to 0-2 following the loss, and the winning Lions 1-1.

With the 2-0 Packers leading the way in the NFC North, and the Minnesota Vikings tied at 1-1 with the Lions, and the Bears pulling up the rear, upcoming contests will be watched intently, as the Lions travel to Baltimore, and the Bears host Dallas.

PETER MANN

NFL ANALYST

PETER IS A LIFELONG SPORTS FAN, JOURNALIST AND AUTHOR BASED IN COUNTY DURHAM. HE HAS FOLLOWED THE NFL AND THE RAIDERS SINCE THE 1980s, AND LOVES BOTH SPORTS AND FAMILY HISTORY. PETER HAS A DEGREE IN SPORT & EXERCISE PSYCHOLOGY, AND CAN BE FOUND ON TWITTER @petermannwriter

 
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