We’ll take a deeper look into what happened on Sunday and what it means for Matt Patricia. Detroit went into the game as 3 point favorites, and were looking well clear of that heading into the fourth-quarter up by 17. Here is what stood out on Sunday.
Field Position
Of their 5 scoring drives (3 TD and 2 FG), Chicago only averaged 48.67 yards on their final 3 scoring drives. After scoring a field-goal which made it 23-6 Detroit, Cordarrelle Patterson returned the kick-off 45 yards to the Chicago 41 yard-line. Which setup Chicago to drive 59 yards to start their fourth-quarter comeback. Detroit then missed a 55 yard field goal, which led to the Bears driving down 55 yards and scoring again. This was followed by Matthew Stafford throwing a costly interception, which left the Bears with only 32 yards to score. Poor Special Teams execution and a costly offensive mistake gave Matt Nagy and the Bears favorable field position.
No Pressure, No Coverage Schemes
After going down 23-6, Mitchell Trubisky completed 12 of 16 pass attempts, with 3 Touchdowns. Of the 16 dropbacks, the Detroit Lions were only able to create pressure 3 times and sent the blitz once! It was a clean pocket for a quarterback who had been struggling up to that point, and it’s something we’ve seen Detroit do against Chicago last season. In their meeting last November, Detroit held Chicago to 7 first-half points, on Sunday they held the Bears to only 6.
With the Lions Defense sticking to single high safety coverage, and little to no pass rush at all. Trubisky was able to lead Chicago down the field for 3 straight Touchdowns in November of 2019. Fast-forward to Sunday, Trubisky was a hot mess up until Detroit began making costly mistakes. Trubisky gained confidence and the offense began torching Detroit, the game was soon 27-23 in favor fo the Bears and the rest is history.
Matt Patricia isn’t fit to be a Head Coach
I really wasn’t expecting to come to this conclusion in Week 1 of the NFL season, but during his Post-Game Press Conference. Matt Patricia told me everything I needed to hear. When asked if there was something with the coaching that was leading to these fourth-quarter collapses, here is what he said. “I don’t think so, Mike. I think I’ve got one of the biggest plays in the fourth quarter in the history of the NFL where I think I did a pretty good job.”
Lions head coach Matt Patricia was asked if there’s something in his coaching “that isn’t happening enough in the fourth quarter.”
— Brad Galli (@BradGalli) September 13, 2020
“Yeah, I don’t think so,” Patricia said. “I think I got probably one of the biggest plays in the fourth quarter in the history of the NFL.” pic.twitter.com/chcqBLXF6U
Seriously? What the actual fuck. You’re bringing up your past “accomplishments” as a Defensive Coordinator? No wonder you can’t lead a locker-room. He’s boasting an impressive 9-23-1 record with Detroit, and is starting to come off as an arrogant prick. Please cut the shit, you’ve consistently found ways to lose football games. How about you learn to react or adjust when it’s happening instead of playing soft Cover-1 and only rushing 3 to 4 guys. Matt, take responsibility for your football team. Leave the ego at home.
