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2021 NFL season, Week 12: What we learned from Thanksgiving tripleheader (Lions at Bears: 1. Happy Thanksgiving, Chicago: Bears snap five-game losing streak. Andy Dalton messed around and passed for 317 yards, a touchdown and an interception as the Bears milked the final 8:30 off the clock to kick a game-winning field goal. It wasn't pretty for Chicago, as the ground game was stymied most of the contest. Dalton, starting for an injured Justin Fields, went through ups and downs, missing badly at times, and could have thrown more than the one red zone pick. But a 52-yard bomb to Darnell Mooney (5/123) followed by a 17-yard TD strike to TE Jimmy Graham sparked life in a sagging Bears offense in the first half. Chicago's offense struggled in the second half, allowing the Lions to hang around and take a late lead. But needing a drive late in the game, the Bears drove 69 yards on 18 plays to set up the chip-shot field goal for a needed win. The turkey on Thanksgiving always tastes better after a win, even if it wasn't beautiful. 2. Lions
offense dinks and dunks its way into oblivion. Jared Goff played through an oblique injury that forced the starter to miss last week's loss. While he didn't appear to struggle due to the injury, the Lions' offense was an inconsistent mess, particularly after running back D'Andre Swift left with a shoulder sprain. Goff continually threw short of the sticks, and the Lions called repeated handoffs on second- and third-and-longs. Detroit ran just 45 total plays on the game for 239 yards and went three-and-out on four of nine drives. Goff completed 21-of-25 passing for 171 yards and two TDs. Sure, the completion percentage (84.0) might have been pretty, but frequent throws for negative or short gains did nothing to puncture a Bears defense missing several key starters. Of his 25 attempts, Goff threw eight behind the line of scrimmage, 12 between 0-9 yards, and five beyond 10 air yards (3/5 for 72 yards, 2 TDs). The lack of chance-taking by the winless Lions offense was maddening, particularly after Detroit's first drive of the game ended with a pretty 39-yard TD bomb to Josh Reynolds. Take a chance. Be somebody. 3. Matt Nagy clings to his job. With questions swirling about Nagy's job status, the Bears coach eked out a victory against a winless division rival. Not putting away Detroit early when it had the chance to go up multiple scores doesn't bode well for Nagy. But it should be noted that the Bears were playing without their dynamic rookie QB (Justin Fields), No. 1 receiver (Allen Robinson), star pass rusher (Khalil Mack), interior bully (Akiem Hicks), lost star linebacker Roquan Smith during the game, and had several other key contributors go down. In that context, any win is a positive for a struggling team. Thankfully for Chicago's D, Robert Quinn played like a Pro Bowler (sack, five tackles, TFL), helping stuff the Lions' offense. In the end, Nagy's team made fewer errors than its opponent and came away with a road win. It could have been worse. 4. Time running out on Lions. Dan Campbell's club is finding new ways to lose -- or at least not win. This week it was self-inflicted errors. Detroit was flagged 10 times for 67 yards. Twice on the day, the Lions were penalized on three straight plays to kill promising drives. It's rare to see a team with a third-and-32. Detroit was in that situation twice Thursday. Then, with the lead and the Bears facing a third-and-9 from the Detroit 16 with 1:54 left, the Lions called back-to-back timeouts, which is a penalty. Defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn -- whose unit kept Detroit in the game -- was seen jumping up and down on the sideline as his D was confused ahead of the snap. Campbell then called the illegal timeout. It was a brutal error by the Lions coaching staff in front of a national audience. The burned timeout and associated penalty allowed Chicago to convert an easy first down and drain the rest of the clock for the win. The talent on the Detroit roster isn't enough to overcome errors, whether on-field or from the sidelines.): https://www.nfl.com/news/2021-nfl-season-week-12-what-we-learned-from-thanksgiving-tripleheader
The NFL All-Underrated Team: Barnwell builds a 24-man roster of vets, rookies and draft steals (Edge: Charles Harris, Lions -
We need to get one Lions player on this list. Despite being drafted in the first round by Miami in 2017, Harris never got regular time for the Dolphins and was traded to the Falcons for a seventh-round pick last year. Finding his way to the Lions this season, Harris has been a much-improved player. The primary numbers don't blow you away, as he has only four sacks and seven knockdowns, but he ranks 11th in the league with 12 hurries and is 19th in pass rush win rate. There aren't many bright spots in Detroit right now, but the guys who have impressed are generally playing along the line of scrimmage. For a team that wants to build from the inside out, that's promising to see.): https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/32706824/nfl-all-underrated-team-2021-barnwell-24-player-roster-vets-rookies-draft-steals-free-agency-finds
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