Lions Front Seven, Calvin Johnson Key Big Win Over Bears

The Detroit Lions came out on Thanksgiving with a mission to crush the Chicago Bears, and that’s exactly what they did. The Bears started off looking great, scoring on their first possession of the game and making things look easy, but after they got their first two touchdowns, things really started to go downhill for Jay Cutler and the boys.

Detroit’s front seven was just too much for Cutler to handle over the course of the game. Their depth and versatility is really going to be tough for teams to handle as the season progresses, and the Bears’ offensive line certainly didn’t do anything to make adjustments throughout the game to help things.

From Ndamukong Suh all the way down the line, this Lions defensive front is going to be key for them in a playoff run, especially in the tough NFC. Getting after the quarterback is always crucial, but the Lions absolutely took the Bears to school in the running game as well today.

They looked so explosive up the middle of the field, too fast around the edge, and all-around just too strong for the Bears and that’s the way they are going to have to win games down the stretch.

Winning plenty of close games this season, it’s clear that the Lions are relying on their toughness on the defensive side of the ball to win football games, but today they got a huge boost from Calvin Johnson, who hasn’t been quite himself this whole year, battling injuries.

Megatron was an absolute stud on Thanksgiving, scoring a pair of touchdowns and looking like his old, dominant self. The Bears couldn’t contain him and especially working to the middle of the field, Johnson was stellar. His size and speed were and always have been too much to handle, and if he’s getting healthy down the stretch, he and Golden Tate are going to be a pair of receivers that make life really difficult for teams to defend.

If the Lions can get more production out of rookie tight end Eric Ebron, their skill position players are dangerous across the board, along with getting a healthy Reggie Bush for the playoffs as well.  The scary thing about the Lions is they now have a running game to go along with a tough defense, so Matt Stafford doesn’t have to do as much.

This was as complete a performance as I have seen out of them, and even though the Bears’ defense has been porous, the Lions were extremely impressive.