Total yards for the game; Detroit 393 Chicago 216. Total first downs; Detroit 22 Chicago 12. Total offensive plays Detroit 84 Chicago 57. If this was a battle comparing offensive production then the Lions would have won, but it wasn’t. The Bears deflated the puffy chested Lions 37-13 and it wasn’t even that close. How can a team be so dominant, yet still have people griping about an aspect of the game? As the game was winding down the complaints started to creep through the Twitterverse. Some were upset that the Bears offense, in particular the play calling of Mike Martz, wasn’t more effective. To those people I say, get a clue.
Many times the flow of a game will dictate how a play caller calls a game. The Bears jumped out to a 20 point lead before the 2nd quarter was even a minute old. The Bears defense was playing aggressively and dominantly. Chicago led 20-6 after the 1st half, then added 17 unanswered 3rd quarter points. Some of the game plan and specific plays that were implemented specifically for the Lions were no longer needed. For example, lets say on tape the Bears picked up a weakness that they could exploit running misdirection to the left. With a big lead there’s no point to show your hand, because you never know if you may see the Lions in the playoffs. Martz simply went conservative, and played to the game.
The Bears offense had four scoring drives, and the usually reliable Robbie Gould just missed making it five. The time of possession was just about even, so anyone complaining about the O is just looking for a reason to nitpick.
I would have loved to see Martz attack down field with some play action passes, but running it up isn’t Lovie Smith’s style. The game was in hand, and the offense was going to coast to victory. I’m OK with that.
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