Game balls and goats: Aidan Hutchinson mistakes prove costly for Detroit Lions
Dave Birkett
Detroit Free Press
CHICAGO – Dave Birkett grades the Detroit Lions in their 28-13 loss the Chicago Bears on Sunday at Soldier Field.
Game balls
QB Justin Fields
Fields is in a tough spot playing out the string for a Bears team that likely will be looking to replace him with the No. 1 pick in next year’s draft, but he came up big Sunday.
In his third game back from a thumb injury, Fields completed 19 of 33 passes for 223 yards, threw the go-ahead 38-yard touchdown to DJ Moore late in the third quarter, and added 58 yards rushing on 12 carries and an 11-yard touchdown run. Fields failed to top 100 yards on the ground against the Lions for the first time since 2021, but he set up another Bears touchdown as a decoy on a direct snap to D.J. Moore.
Fields is far from perfect, but if the Bears don’t want him in 2024, he’s done enough to earn a starting job somewhere else in the league.
S Jaquan Brisker
Brisker was all over the field Sunday.
He made a game-high 17 tackles, broke up two passes, and forced one fumble for a Bears defense that held the Lions to their second-lowest point total of the season and a measly 61 yards of offense in the second half. About the only thing Brisker did wrong Sunday was drop an interception he had a chance to return for a touchdown.
“It's unbelievable to get 17 tackles,” Bears coach Matt Eberflus said. “That's unheard of. I don't think that's ever happened in my career to have a guy have that many tackles. I honestly can't remember. I'll have to go look it up. That's amazing. What Brisker brings is the reason we drafted him.”
Goats
DE Aidan Hutchinson
Hutchinson has been one of the Lions’ best defensive players all season, but he was the culprit on two second-half plays that led to 12 Bears points.
Hutchinson jumped offside on a fourth-and-13 play from the Lions’ 38-yard line late in the third quarter, giving Fields a free play and a shot downfield that he connected to Moore for a touchdown. After a Lions fumble on the next series, Hutchinson left the right end uncovered when he called a stunt with defensive tackle Levi Onwuzurike on third-and-goal from the 11. Fields ran around the edge for an easy touchdown, ending any hopes of a Lions comeback.
The No. 2 pick in last season’s draft, Hutchinson has been the Lions’ most effective pass rusher for two years running, but he gambled trying to make two plays Sunday and it cost his team.
WR Amon-Ra St. Brown
The Lions’ No. 1 receiver didn’t look like himself Sunday.
St. Brown caught just three of nine targets for 21 yards – his second straight game with three or fewer catches and his lowest yardage total since Week 6 of last year – and he didn’t catch any of the three passes thrown his way on an 11-play fourth-quarter drive with the Lions playing desperate catch-up ball.
St. Brown had one drop on that drive, and couldn’t hold onto two other passes that bounced off his body (he lost one when a Bears defender hit him from behind, and another on a low throw on fourth-and-17 that he couldn’t handle after going to the ground to try and make the catch). It’s unfair to expect heroics from St. Brown every week, but the Lions needed more out of him Sunday and he didn’t deliver.
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.
Dave Birkett
Detroit Free Press
CHICAGO – Dave Birkett grades the Detroit Lions in their 28-13 loss the Chicago Bears on Sunday at Soldier Field.
Game balls
QB Justin Fields
Fields is in a tough spot playing out the string for a Bears team that likely will be looking to replace him with the No. 1 pick in next year’s draft, but he came up big Sunday.
In his third game back from a thumb injury, Fields completed 19 of 33 passes for 223 yards, threw the go-ahead 38-yard touchdown to DJ Moore late in the third quarter, and added 58 yards rushing on 12 carries and an 11-yard touchdown run. Fields failed to top 100 yards on the ground against the Lions for the first time since 2021, but he set up another Bears touchdown as a decoy on a direct snap to D.J. Moore.
Fields is far from perfect, but if the Bears don’t want him in 2024, he’s done enough to earn a starting job somewhere else in the league.
S Jaquan Brisker
Brisker was all over the field Sunday.
He made a game-high 17 tackles, broke up two passes, and forced one fumble for a Bears defense that held the Lions to their second-lowest point total of the season and a measly 61 yards of offense in the second half. About the only thing Brisker did wrong Sunday was drop an interception he had a chance to return for a touchdown.
“It's unbelievable to get 17 tackles,” Bears coach Matt Eberflus said. “That's unheard of. I don't think that's ever happened in my career to have a guy have that many tackles. I honestly can't remember. I'll have to go look it up. That's amazing. What Brisker brings is the reason we drafted him.”
Goats
DE Aidan Hutchinson
Hutchinson has been one of the Lions’ best defensive players all season, but he was the culprit on two second-half plays that led to 12 Bears points.
Hutchinson jumped offside on a fourth-and-13 play from the Lions’ 38-yard line late in the third quarter, giving Fields a free play and a shot downfield that he connected to Moore for a touchdown. After a Lions fumble on the next series, Hutchinson left the right end uncovered when he called a stunt with defensive tackle Levi Onwuzurike on third-and-goal from the 11. Fields ran around the edge for an easy touchdown, ending any hopes of a Lions comeback.
The No. 2 pick in last season’s draft, Hutchinson has been the Lions’ most effective pass rusher for two years running, but he gambled trying to make two plays Sunday and it cost his team.
WR Amon-Ra St. Brown
The Lions’ No. 1 receiver didn’t look like himself Sunday.
St. Brown caught just three of nine targets for 21 yards – his second straight game with three or fewer catches and his lowest yardage total since Week 6 of last year – and he didn’t catch any of the three passes thrown his way on an 11-play fourth-quarter drive with the Lions playing desperate catch-up ball.
St. Brown had one drop on that drive, and couldn’t hold onto two other passes that bounced off his body (he lost one when a Bears defender hit him from behind, and another on a low throw on fourth-and-17 that he couldn’t handle after going to the ground to try and make the catch). It’s unfair to expect heroics from St. Brown every week, but the Lions needed more out of him Sunday and he didn’t deliver.
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.
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