Sunday open thread: How do you feel about the Lions after their 20-10 win over the Bears?

Well that was nice, wasn’t it? The Detroit Lions played one of their most complete games of the season on Saturday in front of a national audience. The offense scored early, the defense held strong for four quarters, and the Lions picked up some big plays on both sides of the ball.

While this is the sort of game that has you shaking your head wondering, “Where was this team all along?” It’s still better to see this kind of performance a couple times a year rather than never at all. Remember, last year the Lions only won one game by double digits. Saturday was the Lions’ fifth double-digit win this season.

So today’s Question of the Day is:

How do you feel after the Lions’ 20-10 victory over the Chicago Bears?

My answer: A little better. I’m tempted to go “a lot better” here, but it’s important to keep in mind strength of opponent. Sure the Bears have a very respectable run game, in which the Lions completely shut down all game, but the rest of this team is not very good.

And the Bears were also very clearly unmotivated to play in this game. I’m still shocked at how lackadaisical the Bears offense was, down three scores in the fourth quarter. Their only touchdown-scoring drive of the game burned nearly seven minutes off the clock, with the Bears huddling up for at least the first half of the drive.

But it’s still hard not to be very impressed by the Lions’ performance. Matthew Stafford continues to be on fire, Marvin Jones Jr. is a big play machine, and speaking of big plays, Darius Slay is continuing to have the best season of his career.

And to top it all off, the Lions even managed to have something resembling a running game. The Lions averaged 4.6 yards per carry on Saturday—their second highest game average all year.

So it all finally clicked on Saturday, but this isn’t exactly the first time the Lions performed this well. Back in Week 9 against the Packers, the Lions also had a comfortable win in which everything seemed to work perfectly. Immediately following that game, the Lions went on a streak of bad performances against the Bears, Browns and Vikings. If the Lions can string together performances like Saturday’s, I’ll feel a lot better.

Your turn.