Lions Lose to Bears 37-13

On many pass attempts, Matthew Stafford looked like he had less accuracy than Mariah Carey throwing out the first pitch. Calvin Johnson might have been auditioning for the Butterfinger commercial. To make it simple, the play on the field was ugly as the Detroit Lions had their carcasses handed to them by the Chicago Bears in an embarrassing way.

As bad as the players were, the coaches were worse!

It was not until late in the third quarter before Stafford tried to go down field to Megatron. With Stafford's arm and Calvin Johnson's size, speed, jumping ability and hands, how do you wait until the game is out of hand before using that combination down field? In fact, the offensive plays called for so many short passes and screens, Chicago soon caught onto the play calling and started jumping the plays which resulted in a total of four Stafford interceptions.

I have written about it before. The Lions scheme, playing out of the shotgun so much is hurting them. I have told people that if they use the shotgun for more than 70% of the plays, they would likely lose. Today, they used it far more than the 70% of the play calls. The Lions literally lived (or shall I say DIED) out of the Shotgun today.

You can blame the players if you want. But how many times are we going to watch an offense with this much talent look so bad before we stop making excuses for the coaches and scheme?

For the first time in the 2011 season, Matthew Stafford wore gloves. Throughout the game he showed he was not comfortable with them as he continued to flex his hands, and adjust the gloves. Often looking down at them. Yet he continued to wear them. It was clear he could not feel the ball the way he wanted to and that lack of feeling was causing some bad accuracy problems. His passes were often well over players heads or behind them. Yet he continued to wear them. The truth is, it really doesn't matter why he was wearing the gloves. Whether it was his choice because of comfort, or to help him as he may have had an injury problem. it doesn't matter. The fact is, he could not throw with them on. So Schwartz should have laid down the law. Go without the gloves or sit the bench. If Stafford could not throw without them either, then he shouldn't be throwing, because he definitely could not throw with them on!

Gunther Cunningham was the only coach who showed he knows what he is doing. Once again the defense did a great job. The Bears had 14 points from pick sixes and another touchdown on a punt return. That is 21 points. That means they allowed a total of 16 points the entire game and 10 of that came from the Bears having extremely short field after two Lions fumbles.

Yet even Gunther was not flawless. When the Lions needed the ball back fast to get back in the game, they had the Bears at a 3rd and 15. It was time to rush Cutler's throw and cover tight. They allowed 17 yards and a first down because they chose that time to play a zone defense where the WR could simply run between the coverage zones and get the pass. Then the Lions did the same thing again a couple plays later and let Chicago get in field goal range. Gunther has been a good defensive coach, but if he has any flaw, it is the simple fact that he becomes passive when he needs to be aggressive!

The Detroit Lions had two long weeks to plan and get ready for the Bears. Mean while the Bears had a shortened week to prepare for the Lions. Yet it was the Bears who looked like they came into the game prepared and the Lions came in looking like they never even looked at game film. That is simply inexcusable! Yes the players were bad. Almost as if they were not ready to play. The coaches were even worse!