Crino's Observations, Bright spots

It was a frustrating Sunday evening with the Bears reminding Detroit that they have a defense too.  A defense that is like Detroit, opportunistic.  Chicago's opportunities came early and often giving Detroit an uphill battle.  With help from the wind at Soldier Field, it was an incline the Lions couldn't overcome.

With that being said, I saw growth in a few categories.  Rather than complain about what went wrong I would like discuss a few of the bright spots.

The Detroit's running game took a step in the right direction.  Unfortunately it was too late for a non explosive running game to make a large impact on the game, but both running backs ran the ball decently.  Maurice Morris and Kevin Smith both had above 4.0 yards per rush in fact it was closer to 5.0 yards per rush.  

Chicago definitely game planned for Calvin Johnson as they should.  I thought Stafford still targeted Calvin way too much.  Even with that, Titus Young had seven catches for 74 yards and Burleson had eight catches for 83 yards.  I am starting to trust Titus, in fact I trust him more than Burleson at this point.  The kid is money catching the ball.  

Will Heller was in the game early instead of Tony Scheffler, I think that was an example of Scott Linehan having too much time to make a game-plan.  Personally,  I can't think of many situations I would have Heller in instead of Scheffler.  I am sure it had something to do with blocking but not a good move.  Scheffler frees up Pettigrew which frees up the receivers and keeps linebackers from blitzing.  I forgot, I was discussing bright spots.

Defense!  Chicago won because of miscues from our offense and special teams.  They took full advantage of the miscues, but our defense was strong all game long .  Matt Forte broke one play for forty yards and was caught from behind by Speivey.  That run was accounted for by the defense however Delmas missed the tackle in the hole that would have made it a minimal gain.  Take away that one slip up and Forte had 24 yards on 18 rushes. If you add his receiving yards, he had a total of 27 yards from scrimmage.  Even when you add in the 40 yarder his numbers are much lower than his average.  Detroit held Cutler to123 yards passing with completion percentage under 50%.  Granted, with the lead, throwing was not a priority.  But that's what makes the run defense's outing look so good.  I also like the fact that Fairely finally got some QB meat.  I know he was flagged for it,  but I am glad he was able to get a taste.

So other than getting our asses handed to us in a deep dish pizza, there were a few bright spots that we can be happy about.