Rozner: Chicago Bears show up but Lions just better

Whenever the Chicago Bears win a game, which has happened a grand total of 13 times in three years, GM Ryan Pace is labeled a genius and the Bears are Super Bowl bound.

And whenever the Bears lose a game, coach John Fox should be fired.

Never has a Bears narrative run so askew.

Fox is always wrong. Pace is always right. Might be something wrong with the math on this one as they are joined at the hip.

Fox is 13-33 in Chicago, but so is Pace, who owns the roster after three years of drafting and signing.

Now 4-10 in 2017 after a loss in Detroit Saturday, the Bears' problems today are nearly all the same problems they had when Pace got here.

Three years is an eternity in the NFL where rebuilds can be done quickly if you draft and sign impact players who can change a game instantly.

Who does that for the Bears consistently on either side of the ball?

The Lions (8-6) are an extremely mediocre football team, but they have some playmakers, which they displayed against the Bears Saturday in a 20-10 victory.

There was Matthew Stafford escaping traffic on a third-and-18 and throwing a 58-yard bomb on the run, with Marvin Jones leaping high to beat Eddie Jackson for a huge gain that led to a touchdown and a 13-0 lead.

There was Stafford again on third-and-goal from the 8-yard line when he hit tight end Eric Ebron over the middle with a sweet pass, Ebron making an equally nice catch and it was 20-3.

That pretty much ended the game early in the second half after a terrible Mitch Trubisky interception when he rolled to his left, missed his receiver badly and gave it right to the Lions.

Trubisky had another bad pick early in the fourth when he forced a throw into double coverage on third down in the end zone and it was easily collected by the Lions.

Trubisky, who is not Joe Montana quite yet, had 3 interceptions and it could have easily been 5, but he also had some nice throws as he continues to grow into the role as an NFL starting quarterback.

The Lions, the worst rushing team in the NFL, outgained the Bears 91-43 on the ground, which will be blamed on play calling but might have been more a function of a bad offensive line that suffered two more injuries.

The Bears' first 5 carries were good for 4 yards. They ran it nine times for 19 yards in the first half. And after Trubisky's interception early in the second half, the Bears had no choice but to throw the football, which is hardly a team strength.

Many will wonder why the Bears looked so good last week and so much more like the Bears this week.

Yes, the Bears played well in a victory last week at Cincinnati, but the Bengals had nothing to play for and never showed up for the game.

The Lions, however, are fighting for a playoff berth, and they had every reason to play the game Saturday.

The Bears at least play hard every week and that's something, especially after watching an embarrassing Bengals effort a week ago.

The problem is that while Detroit might be mediocre, that still makes them considerably better than the Bears.

And Saturday you saw the result.

If you're searching for the good news, there's only two games left in another interminable Bears season.

brozner@dailyherald.com

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