Following 'embarrassing' loss last week, Bears defense hits rock bottom against Detroit

CHICAGO – A week after what was described by coach Matt Nagy as an "embarrassing" loss to Green Bay, the Bears defense reached a new low in Sunday's 34-30 loss to Detroit.

The Bears were not the first team to suffer an “embarrassing” loss at the hands of Aaron Rodgers and the Packers. Rodgers tends to do that to opponents.

But the Detroit Lions? With an interim head coach, no less?

Make no mistake, Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford is a good quarterback. But he was playing without top receiver Kenny Golladay and without top running back D’Andre Swift. Still the Lions totaled 460 yards against a Bears defense that wants to be considered among the best in the league.

“After a loss like that, it’s hard to say anything,” Bears defensive tackle Bilal Nichols said. “We’ve just got to find a way. We’re going through a tough time right now, but it’s on us to find a way to dig ourselves out of it.”

Nichols made the biggest play of the game for the Bears defense, an interception early in the fourth quarter – Nichols' first career interception. The Bears had a 10-point lead at the time, and the interception had the potential to be a nail in the coffin.

Instead, the Bears offense went three-and-out. Later, Stafford took over with 4:33 remaining on the clock, still down by 10, and led the Lions 96 yards down field for a touchdown.

Stafford finished his day 27-for-42 passing for 402 yards and three touchdowns. The Bears allowed 400 passing yards for the first time since Sept. 21, 2008, against Tampa Bay and quarterback Brian Griese. That day, Griese needed overtime to reach 407 passing yards.

“Well, we're playing a good offense and a good quarterback,” Nagy said. “But I'll to go back and watch the tape and see exactly [what went wrong]."

The Lions were 6-for-11 on third down. They put together touchdown drives of 72 yards, 77 yards, 66 yards, 96 yards and then a short seven-yard scoring drive following a fourth-quarter Mitch Trubisky fumble. Defensively, pass rushing linebackers Khalil Mack and Robert Quinn did not show up in the stat book with a single tackle or QB hit.

“There’s some plays that we wish we would’ve got back,” Nichols said. “There’s a lot of plays where we want to get better at. That’s why it stings a little bit because we know we can be better. We hold ourselves to that standard.”