Mitch Trubisky came through with a big second half in the Bears’ win at Detroit. | Getty
Mitch Trubisky and the Bears salvaged an afternoon of mistakes with a late touchdown to reach 6-6.
DETROIT — From the people who brought you “Hashmark-gate” and “I’m Not an Idiot,” comes the slapstick comedy hit of the holiday season:
Bears 24, Lions 20.
On a day when the Bears could’ve done almost anything and still won, they tried as hard as possible to find the absolute limit of that notion. This was whatever you’d call the opposite of an instant classic.
The opening act featured all kinds of hilarious hijinks, including a squibbed kickoff that ricocheted off the back of Bears safety Deon Bush’s leg for a Lions recovery.
That came after two touchdown drives by anonymous Lions quarterback David Blough, one of which provided a cartoonish mix-up between Prince Amukamara and Eddie Jackson that allowed Kenny Golladay to run free for 75 yards.
The Bears began another absurd sequence by backtracking into a first-and-32 early in the second quarter, and you can guess how badly that went.
Actually, it was worse than what you’re imagining. After salvaging the situation to the point that they could try a 50-yard field goal to pull within 14-10, Matt Nagy bypassed that option in favor of his struggling offense going for it on fourth-and-6.
Not only did it fail, but the conversion was doomed before Mitch Trubisky even took the snap because the Bears were in an illegal formation — coming out of a timeout.
There hasn’t been a script this ridiculous since Dumb and Dumber.
Anthony Miller had a fumble deep in his own end reversed by replay, Leonard Floyd committed roughing the passer to erase a stop on third-and-15, Buster Skrine and Golladay collaborated on a rare two-way pass interference call and Trubisky shied away from a first down by running 20 yards laterally.
The laughs kept coming. There was even a malfunction three words into in the halftime musical performance.
This game was humorous, of course, only to those who counted the Bears out of the playoff chase weeks ago. These games don’t matter enough anymore to be frustrating.
After all that, Trubisky saved Thanksgiving with a 90-yard touchdown drive late in the fourth quarter and finished with a season-high 338 yards on 29-for-38 passing with three touchdowns and an interception. He won it on a 3-yard pass to David Montgomery with 2:17 remaining.
Even that sequence was bookended by touches of absurdity. The Bears started at their own 10 and went back 5 yards on an ineligible receiver downfield, and when they reached first-and-goal at the 2, they committed a delay-of-game penalty.
Maybe that’d be heroic if it meant something, but what do you make of a game in which the Bears brought their C-game and still won? Nothing.
At 6-6, they’re back to .500 for the first time since late October and must find a way to climb over the Vikings (8-3) or Seahawks (9-2) for a wild-card spot. Winning out might be insufficient.
Whether they’re capable of that kind of run, or even winning 3 of 4 to make it interesting, isn’t clear after squeaking by Blough and one of the NFL’s worst defenses.
This kind of performance only cuts it against the bottom of the league. It’ll take a lot more merely to compete with the Cowboys next week, and the road only gets rougher from there. That’s when it’ll turn from funny to sad.
