DETROIT – Caleb Williams and Rome Odunze connected for two touchdown passes, but the Lions scored 24 unanswered points in a 52-21 win over the Bears Sunday at Ford Field.
Detroit never trailed and scored on six straight possessions bridging the second and fourth quarters via five TDs and one field goal. Jared Goff completed 23 of 28 passes for 338 yards with five touchdowns and a 156.0 passer rating in the game.
"Any time you lose a game like that, man, it's a kick in the teeth," said coach Ben Johnson. "Nothing about that feels good. Unfortunately, I've been through a number of these over the course of my career.
"These guys, they're hurt. It stinks. They fought the entire game. When you play a good team on the road and you have turnovers and you don't convert on fourth down and you give up explosive plays on defense, it can go sideways in a hurry and that was really the story of the game."
For the Bears, Williams connected on 19 of 30 passes for 207 yards and a 91.9 passer rating. Odunze had seven receptions for a career-high 128 yards.
"That's just us being together for a year and a half now," Williams said. "So being able to keep that rhythm with him, being able to get in rhythm with the other wide receivers … it's important to have everybody going and everybody understand their role in this offense and that everybody is important.
"When you have a guy come out and he's making great catches for you and getting off-man coverage and press, you want to keep feeding him the ball, and that's just what happened today."
The Lions took a 7-0 lead on the game's opening drive, going 60 yards on five plays capped by Jahmyr Gibbs's 6-yard touchdown run on a pitch to the left. The score came after Goff completed a 34-yard pass to receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown on the first play from scrimmage.
The Bears answered, tying the score 7-7 on Williams' 28-yard TD pass to Odunze, beating a blitz. Odunze caught the ball across the middle at the 24 before turning up the left sideline and eluding a defender near the goal line.
Williams completed 5 of 6 passes for 54 yards to four different receivers and D'Andre Swift had a 20-yard run on the 8-play, 74-yard drive.
The Lions took a 14-7 lead on David Montgomery's 1-yard TD run late in the first quarter. St. Brown again set up the score with a 32-yard reception to the 1.
Detroit had a chance to extend its lead after forcing and recovering a Swift fumble at the Lions' 32 and stopping Williams for no gain on a fourth-and-1 sneak at the Bears' 37. But both times the Chicago defense rose to the occasion, not allowing a first down. After the turnover on downs, Jake Bates missed a 55-yard field goal attempt wide left.
After Williams was intercepted by cornerback Kerby Joseph at the Detroit 33, the Lions drove 67 yards on eight plays capped by Goff's 8-yard TD pass to tight end Brock Wright, extending their lead to 21-7 with 4:48 left in the first half.
The Bears responded as Williams and Odunze connected for their second TD, this time a 6-yarder that cut the deficit to 21-14 with 1:55 remaining in the half. Odunze also had catches of 21 and 16 yards and Williams gained eight yards on a designed run on third-and-4 from the Detroit 14 to sustain the 7-play, 57-yard drive.
The Lions followed by widening the margin to 28-14 at the end of the first half. Receiver Isaac TeSlaa caught a 29-yard pass down the right sideline. He was ruled out of bounds with :16 left in the half. But a replay review showed that his knee had landed inbounds. The Bears started to head to their locker room thinking time had expired, but by rule, there was a :10 runoff down to :06.
On the next play, Goff rifled a 4-yard TD pass to St. Brown with :02 to remaining, sending the Lions into the locker room at halftime with a 14-point lead.
Detroit scored a field goal and three TDs on its first four possessions of the second half, widening the margin to 45-14.
Swift's 3-yard TD run made it 45-21 early in the fourth quarter.
Goff followed with his fifth TD pass of the game, a 4-yarder to St. Brown on fourth-and-goal midway through the final period, completing the scoring.
After Sunday's game, Johnson expressed confidence in his players.
"We have a lot of prideful guys," he said. "We're two games into the season, so I think they're just as disappointed as the coaching staff is. We're committed to getting this thing right. I have a lot of belief in them. We have leaders, we have captains.
"When you're around this league long enough, these games happen. It doesn't feel any better when it happens, but the good teams I've been on, they find a way to respond, and I know our guys will do that."
The Bears will welcome the Dallas Cowboys next Sunday at Soldier Field.
