Lions Recap from Week 5: All Hail Megatron

Lions Analysis: Lions 24 (5-0) Bears 13 (2-3)

What Happened:

The start of the game was ugly on both sides. The Bears were over matched and it showed and the Lions were over-amped. However, in the second half the Lions offense settled down and its defense smothered the Bears. This game was one of the best games I have seen from the Lions offensive line who only allowed one sack, and opened some holes in the run game. Once again, Calvin Johnson looked amazing and the Defensive Line did whatever they wanted. Cutler should be commended for the job he did. I think the Chicago fans owe him some apologies about questioning his toughness because he is a gutsy performer.

Matchup outcomes:

1. Jeff Backus vs. Julius Peppers: Advantage Backus…wow. Peppers had three tackles, one for a loss, and one quarterback hit. You could not ask for more than that. Backus played sound all game long and had tons of help from TE’s and the run game.
2. Matt Forte vs. Lions back seven: Advantage: Lions back seven. I told you Forte was going to get his. He ran for over 100 yards rushing, but he was a non-factor in the passing game, did not get into the end zone, and did not take over the game. Lions slowed him down enough.
3. Calvin Johnson vs. Charles Tillman: Advantage: Calvin Johnson. Last season he was held in check by Tillman but it just goes to show you how much better of a player Calvin Johnson is and how much better Stafford is than Shaun Hill. Calvin had 5 receptions, 130 yards, and 1 TD. His long touchdown in the first half was instrumental since our offense could not sustain drives at that time.

4. Jahvid Best vs. Bryan Urlacher: Advantage: Jahvid Best. Wow, who would have imagined that Best would go off for over 150 yards rushing? Urlacher was blitzing when Best ran for an 82 yard touchdown run. On other plays Best simply looked too fast for Urlacher…I am not going to say Best consistently ran well, but he is a big time playmaker who hits homeruns…not singles. He managed a couple of homeruns in this game.
5. Lions DL vs. Bears OL: Advantage Lions DL. Anyone who watched this would know this was the major difference in the game. The Lions only got 3 sacks but had 2-3 removed because of penalties and hit Cutler 19 times in the game. Cutler was amazing. Cutler avoided a ton of sacks but just could not keep drives going with the OL being a sieve. They were penalized 9 times.

Questions That Need Answers

1. Now that Nick Fairley is back from injury how good can this defense be? Fairley looked okay for his first game back, but it is apparent he has a disrupting skill set. He had a tackle and almost had a few sacks.
2. If Jahvid Best can keep the big plays coming can anyone stop this offense? The Lions’ OL is good enough for him to be around 70-80 yards every week but their will be a few more games this season he goes off for long touchdown runs. You have to give him that opportunity without overusing him. Is their any reason not to give him 15-18 carries and 4-6 receptions a game?
3. The Lions Secondary was exposed. I would think for all the pressure the DL is generating the secondary could have a strong season, but it is apparent when the rush does not get there multiple receivers will be open. Cutler exposed John Wendling who started because of injuries to both Amari Spievy and Erik Coleman. In this day and age is it possible to have a dominate secondary?

What’s Next?

Hosting the 49ers on a short week is a challenge. 49ers are riding high off a beat down of the Buccaneers. However, the 49ers offense can be stopped and if the Lions can score around 24 points I think they can move to 6-0. This will be a hard challenge for the coaches after Monday Night’s big win. The Lions haven’t had to deal with prepping a short week that went from Monday to Sunday because they haven’t played on Monday night in quite some time (though they have done it from Sunday to Thursday every year for Thanksgiving).

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