Detroit Lions edge out Chicago Bears, 31-26, despite 'not great football all around'

Not long after David Montgomery scored a 1-yard touchdown to complete a dramatic comeback against his old team, Dan Campbell gathered his defense on the sideline and told them in his own colorful way, “You got to love this (expletive).”

“I actually went down there and I said 'It just doesn’t get any better than this,'” Campbell said. “Like this is the moment, this is what you want to be in right now. Game on the line, you’ve got a chance to make the big stop, man, to win this game.”

A week after they served as Justin Herbert’s personal punching bag in a shootout victory over the Los Angeles Chargers, the Detroit Lions' defense made a trio of huge stops as the Lions overcame four turnovers and rallied from 12 points down in the fourth quarter to beat the Chicago Bears, 31-26.

Montgomery scored the game-winning touchdown with 29 seconds to play, one series after the Lions forced their first three-and-out of the game, and Aidan Hutchinson forced a fumble with a sack on Justin Fields on the Bears’ next play from scrimmage that offensive tackle Darnell Wright kicked out of the back of the end zone for a safety.

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The Lions improved to 8-2 with the win, the first time they’ve reached that mark since 1962 and the fifth time in franchise history. They lead the NFC North by 2½ games over the Minnesota Vikings, who played the Denver Broncos on Sunday night.

“It’s a hell of a job by the guys hanging in there,” Campbell said. “Nobody got frazzled. We knew if we could just get the ball back in our court, stop, score, we could get some momentum back. But man, that’s what I was proud of, pressure went up, our heart rate leveled out like we talk about.”

The Lions stayed even-keeled Sunday despite a gaggle of mistakes that might have doomed them against a better opponent.

Jared Goff threw three interceptions for the first time since a Sept. 29, 2019, game when he was with the Los Angeles Rams. Craig Reynolds lost a fumble on a kickoff that led to a Bears field goal. And Brian Branch was called for two possession-extending third-down penalties on Chicago scoring drives.

But trailing 20-14 early in the fourth quarter, the Lions came up with a big defensive stop to jumpstart their comeback when they stuffed Fields for no gain on a third-and-inches quarterback sneak.

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The Bears, looking to extend their lead to two possessions, sent their field goal unit out rather than try and convert on fourth-and-short from the Lions’ 23-yard line, in stark contrast to the approach Campbell took late in the Lions’ win over the Chargers last week. The Lions converted a late fourth-and-2 and kicked the game-winning field goal with no time on the clock in that game, rather than settle for a makeable kick that would have given the ball back to the Chargers.

“Go up nine, that’s a full two scores,” Bears coach Matt Eberflus explained. “That’s exactly what we wanted to do.”

Cairo Santos made a 40-yard field goal with 14:12 to play and a 39-yarder after the Bears decided against going for a fourth-and-5 with just over 4 minutes left, then Goff got hot in the Lions’ two-minute offense.

He led a six-play, 75-yard drive, capped with a 32-yard touchdown pass to Jameson Williams, to cut the Lions’ deficit to 26-21, then after Chicago’s three-and-out, marched the Lions downfield on an 11-play, 73-yard touchdown drive.

Montgomery, who spent the 2019-22 seasons with the Bears, had five touches for 45 yards on the drive, including a 13-yard catch on the possession’s first play.

Goff was 5 of 7 passing for 44 yards on the drive and 17 of 21 for 188 yards on three two-minute drives Sunday that ended in touchdowns (including one at the end of the first half). He completed 6 of 14 passes for 48 yards the rest of the game.

“I had a pretty good feeling that if we got into a two-minute drill we would be able to move the ball like we did in the first half, but you never know,” Goff said. “But yeah, I had a good feeling that once we got into our two-minute, no-huddle offense that we could get them on their heels a bit and score pretty quickly.”

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Goff finished 23 of 35 passing for 236 yards. He threw interceptions on the Lions’ first two offensive possessions and hard a third one a tipped pass early in the fourth quarter. The Bears also dropped two interceptions, including a would-be pick-six.

St. Brown had eight catches for 77 yards and a touchdown, and Montgomery finished with 12 carries for 76 yards for the Lions.

Fields, in his return from a dislocated thumb, had 104 yards rushing on 18 carries and completed 16 of 23 passes for 169 yards. He’s topped 100 yards rushing in each of his last three games against the Lions. The Bears (3-8) had 183 yards rushing as a team.

“It was not great football all around,” Hutchinson said. “Offense, defense, we’re all not very happy. But we found a way to finish and we found ways to win games.”

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Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions beat Bears 31-26 despite 'not great football all around'