… What did we just watch? There were times during the Bears’ 24-20 win over Detroit that they played as sluggish as they have at any point this season, and yet they head back to Chicago at 6-6 and still In The Hunt. Here’s where the arrows are pointing after the Bears’ holiday win:
ARROW UP – Roquan Smith
Smith’s been playing really well lately, and that trend continued in Detroit on Thursday afternoon. He had *nine* tackles in the first half. He finished the game as the Bears’ leader in that category (15) and his sack at the very end of the first half kept the Lions from considering trying to push the ball down field for one last attempt at points. The Bears’ defense looked uncharacteristically bad for much of the game, but Smith was flying around. The sluggish play from the start of the year is long behind him.
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ARROW DOWN – The Secondary
How David Blough throws a 75-yard touchdown on his second pass of the game – and the first completion of his career – is beyond me. Blough finished 22-38 with 280 yards and two touchdowns, which is just WILD considering how good the Bears’ defense is. Prince Amukamara got burned by Kenny Golladay on that play, and then again a few other times throughout the first half. Same for Kyle Fuller (maybe Kenny Golladay is good). Not to be outdone, Buster Skrine’s pass breakup in the end zone was flagged for pass interference and Deon Bush had a squib kick bounce off his back. They played better as the game went on (Fuller’s open field, red zone tackle in the 4th quarter was tremendous), but it was still a pretty discouraging performance overall.
ARROW UP – Anthony Miller
So much for all the stories about how Miller’s discipline issues are behind him. The second-year wide receiver got bailed out when his fumble in the first half was overturned, which is probably the happiest the Bears will ever be watching Miller drop the ball. The more egregious error came on the Bears’ 4th-and-6 attempt later in the half when – coming out of a timeout, no less – Miller was flagged for lining up illegally.
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BUT: It was a story of two halves for Miller, who was maybe the best player on offense in the last two quarters. He ended the game with nine catches, a new career high, for 140 yards and made some HUGE catches down the stretch. His deep sideline catch in the fourth was a thing of beauty. The consistency issues will continue to drive the Bears nuts, but until about six minutes left in the fourth quarter, Miller’s arrow was pointing down – so the Bears will take what they can get.
ARROW UP – David Montgomery
I guess? It’s hard to tell what direction his arrow is pointing while Matt Nagy uses him so sporadically, but Montgomery was impressive when he got his touches on Thursday. He ran for 75 yards against a Lions’ defense that was missing one of their best run-stoppers, defensive tackle Damon Harrison. Going into the fourth quarter, he had 11 rushes while averaging five yards per carry. He finished with 16 carries, which is a big ol’ ARROW DOWN for Matt Nagy. Scoring the go-ahead touchdown never hurts either.
BONUS THANKSGIVING ARROW UP – Jesper Horsted
What a way to score the first touchdown of your career. Horsted probably earned himself a few more snaps with that catch. Jesper!
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