The Detroit Lions had to recover from their second loss of the season. The loss to the Buffalo Bills highlighted the Lions’ current state: an elite offense and injuries galore. Given the crucial game at the end of the season, an away win against the Chicago Bears was a necessity, but not a guarantee. The Bears were just an inexplicable coaching decision away from upsetting the Lions a few weeks ago, and while heads have rolled since then, divisional alignment is typically fiercely competitive.

Not this one.

The Lions were largely unable to pass up this win, taking the lead early and never coming close to letting it go. Combined with the Philadelphia Eagles’ loss to the Washington Commanders, the Lions have their sights set on the NFC title. They still have games left against the now-eliminated San Francisco 49ers and division rival Minnesota Vikings. Can Detroit finish the season with a winning streak?

Before we look too far ahead, let’s look back at a win over the Bears.

No (playing) injuries!

It’s a Christmas miracle: The Lions survived a game without losing any players due to injury.

After suffering a loss in almost every game this season, the Lions finally showed some healthy play against the Bears. No broken legs or torn cruciate ligaments, no broken jaws or fingers, no visits to the medical tent, no car rides to the locker room. There’s always the possibility that someone has picked up a new injury that will crop up in the next few days, but now the Lions have finally brought back more players than they lost.

Gibbs dominates the backfield

With David Montgomery inactive, the lead was clearly in Jahmyr Gibbs’ backfield. However, I didn’t expect Gibbs to dominate the snap counts.

Gibbs was on the field for almost every important snap and posted statistics of 23 carries for 109 yards, one touchdown and four catches for 45 yards. The next best running back in terms of touches was Craig Reynolds, who only had four carries for 18 yards. Gibbs’ 23 runs aren’t a career high, but the lopsided split is unusual for him. While he was on the field 26 times against the Las Vegas Raiders last season, Reynolds also carried the ball 14 times in this game. Gibbs was by far the star cow in the backfield today.

I still have some concerns about the short-yardage game going forward (Gibbs was stopped at the goal line twice before barely getting the ball in on his third attempt), but it seems clear that the coaching staff has faith in it , that Gibbs plays most of the snaps.

Mahogany shows some shine

Do the Lions themselves have their own guard for the future?

The start to Christian Mahogany’s NFL career was anything but normal. Mahogany was selected at the end of the sixth round and couldn’t even make the roster. Kayode Awosika and Colby Sorsdal appear to be well ahead of him on the depth chart behind starters Graham Glasgow and Kevin Zeitler. To make matters worse for the rookie, Mahogany was diagnosed with mononucleosis (Mono) early in training camp. That illness kept him out for the first half of the season, and with Michael Niese being added to the 53-man roster, Mahogany’s path to the roster became even more difficult. Even after returning from the non-football illness list, he might have ended up at OG5 on the depth chart.

However, mahogany could not stand out from the pine for long. In recent weeks it has been Mahogany who have prevailed on matchday against Awosika and Sorsdal. When Kevin Zeitler was briefly sidelined with an injury in Week 14, Mahogany filled in for the veteran. With Glasgow sidelined through injury this week, Mahogany made his first career start and impressed.

Mahogany was solid in both pass defense and run blocking, as were most of the offensive linemen – Goff was sacked only once (due to coverage) and Gibbs ran for over 100 yards. What stood out to me was his movement on pull plays and screens. The Lions love to get their linemen moving, but that can be a difficult task for many rookies. Mahogany passed the test with flying colors.

Given Zeitler’s age and his one-year contract, there could be a place for a starter spot in the future – possibly two, considering Glasgow are taking a step back this season. I won’t declare Mahogany the heir apparent after one game, but it was a promising start for a player who fought hard to even get this chance.

A play call like no other

Offensive coordinator Ben Johnson has made some wild plays over the years. He has thrown to offensive linemen for touchdowns. He made countless reverses and false passes. But few plays have amazed me as much as this touchdown play:

Football has a long and storied history, but I would be amazed if a play like this was ever performed outside of high school. Jared Goff and Jahmyr Gibbs intentionally stumbled after the snap, wrong-footing most Bears defenders and giving Sam LaPorta a wide-open end zone. To add to the deception, someone shouted “Ball! Ball! Ball!” as if to indicate the fumble – it’s not clear from the audio whether this was the Lions’ intention or whether a Bears player bit on the fake.

The audacity of not only faking such a stumble, but also telling your running back to intentionally fall to the ground is frankly ridiculous. Gibbs sold the play incredibly well, and thanks to good defense upfront, Goff had free reign to score the easy touchdown.

It feels like Johnson lists never-before-seen plays almost every week. This level of creativity is difficult to understand.

Goff is not a fair-weather quarterback

Can we silence the talk about Jared Goff not being able to play outside?

In the coldest conditions of the year, Goff remained cool and collected. He had a methodical passing game with 336 yards, three touchdowns and a near-perfect passer rating of 137.0. The biggest play of the game and one of the best throws of Goff’s career was a bomb to Jameson Williams for 82 yards. Goff hit Williams 50 yards down with perfect placement to hit the speedster with ease.

The Lions are currently undefeated on the road this season and Goff’s ability to play in the weather conditions is a key factor in that. Rain or shine, snow or wind, we should be confident that Goff will do his best.

Keenan Allen, lion killer

There’s something about facing the Lions that makes Keenan Allen an unstoppable force.

During his long tenure with the San Diego-turned-Los Angeles Chargers, Allen pounded the Lions’ secondary, totaling 34 catches, 439 yards and two touchdowns in three games played. He’s continued that trend with the Chicago Bears, and the Lions should be thankful that the rest of this team is in disarray. Allen had five catches for 73 yards and two touchdowns against the Lions in Week 13 and had another outstanding performance afterward. He was one of the few functioning parts of the Bears’ offense, converting nine catches into 140 yards and a touchdown.

He doesn’t have the athleticism of his earlier years, but remains an elite route runner who can hold up offensively against even the best defensive backs. It remains unclear whether he will be in Chicago in 2025 (his contract is expiring), but I would lean towards Chicago and go the youth route. The Lions better hope he isn’t on their schedule next season.

Still worried about defense

Allowing just 17 points is a much-needed turnaround for the Lions’ defense after being overwhelmed by 48 points by the Buffalo Bills. Still, I didn’t walk away from that win over the Bears with overwhelming confidence that the problems had been fixed.

The run defense was much improved, limiting D’Andre Swift to just 20 yards on nine carries, but the pass defense still struggled. Caleb Williams managed over 300 passing yards and two touchdowns, his main target being the aforementioned Keenan Allen. Without two mistakes from Rome Odunze we might have seen a closer first half. The defense stepped up in the second half, allowing just one field goal, but with the score 34-14 in Detroit’s favor, the Bears appeared discouraged – only Williams seemed motivated in the Bears’ offense. The Lions turned away from run defense because of the score, and this one-sided playbook clearly helped alleviate some coverage issues.

The Bears already had a subpar offensive line entering the game and lost starting tackle Braxton Jones to an injury. Despite this weakened Bears front, the Lions defense only recorded two sacks, both of which came late in the game, one of which came from a lightning-quick Ifeatu Melifonwu (Welcome Back). The lack of a consistent pass rush still concerns me, especially against more experienced passers and more competent offenses.