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Chicago
Bears
cornerback
Jaylon
Johnson
(33)
breaks
up a
pass
intended
for
Detroit
Lions
wide
receiver
Marvin
Jones
(11) in
the end
zone in
the
fourth
quarter
of an
NFL
football
game in
Detroit,
Sunday,
Sept.
13,
2020.
Chicago
won
27-23.
(AP
Photo/Paul
Sancya)
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Dull
'Dagger':
Another
collapse
costs
Lions
their
opener
By
NOAH
TRISTER
apnews.com
DETROIT
- If the
Detroit
Lions’
first
game was
any
indication,
their
“Dagger
Time”
mantra
could
use some
sharpening.
For
a second
consecutive
season,
the
Lions
blew a
big
fourth-quarter
lead in
their
opening
game.
This
year was
worse,
however.
Detroit
at least
salvaged
a tie in
its
first
game at
Arizona
in 2019.
On
Sunday
against
Chicago,
the
Lions
allowed
the last
21
points
in a
27-23
loss to
the
Bears.
That
was
after
the
Lions
adopted
a slogan
suggesting
they
would
mean
business
late in
games.
“IT’S
DAGGER
TIME”
was even
printed
behind
some of
the
upper-level
seats,
high
above
the
field.
“We’ve
got to
finish
the game
better.
There’s
a lot of
areas
we’ve
got to
improve
on,”
coach
Matt
Patricia
said.
“Certainly,
we can’t
do
things
that
hurt
ourselves,
which we
did in
the
fourth
quarter.”
Last
year,
Detroit
led 24-6
at
Arizona
in the
final
quarter,
but the
game
ended in
a 27-27
tie.
Against
Chicago,
the
Lions
were up
23-6,
and the
Bears
had not
looked
threatening
on
offense.
Then
Detroit
allowed
three
touchdown
passes
by a
previously
ineffective
Mitchell
Trubisky.
With
the
score
23-13, a
sack and
a fumble
forced
the
Bears to
punt on
fourth-and-41,
and the
Lions
appeared
to be
running
the ball
well
enough
to put
the game
away.
But Matt
Prater
missed a
55-yard
field
goal
with
4:02
remaining
— after
quarterback
Matthew
Stafford
had
taken a
sack on
second
down at
the
Chicago
33.
An
incompletion
there
would
have
stopped
the
clock,
but
Stafford
said
afterward
it might
have
been a
better
play.
“I
think it
would
have
made the
field
goal
easier,”
Stafford
said.
Trubisky
threw a
1-yard
touchdown
pass to
Javon
Wims
with
2:58
remaining.
Then
Detroit
faced
third-and-5,
trying
to
protect
a 23-20
lead.
Stafford’s
pass
over the
middle
caromed
high in
the air
and was
intercepted.
Detroit
was
without
injured
first-round
draft
pick
Jeff
Okudah
in the
secondary,
and
Trubisky
gave the
Bears
the lead
with a
27-yard
scoring
pass to
Anthony
Miller.
The
Lions
still
had 1:54
remaining
to
recover,
and they
made it
all the
way to
the red
zone.
Rookie
D’Andre
Swift,
who had
scored
the
game’s
first
touchdown
in the
second
quarter,
dropped
what
could
have
been the
winning
TD with
6
seconds
left.
“I
just
pulled
him to
the side
and told
him,
‘Hey,
it’s all
about
how you
respond
to this.
Don’t
let this
get you
down,’”
said
Adrian
Peterson,
who
rushed
for 93
yards in
his
first
game
with the
Lions.
“I can
imagine
how he
feels in
that
situation,
how he
must
feel.
But at
the end
of the
day,
what he
showed
me today
is that
he’s
going to
be able
to help
us. He’s
going to
win
games
for us.”
NOTES:
Detroit
LB Jamie
Collins
was
ejected
in the
second
quarter
when he
made
contact
with an
official
with his
helmet.
It
didn’t
look
like an
aggressive
gesture
— he may
have
been
demonstrating
something
that had
happened
on the
field —
but he
appeared
to lower
his
helmet
into the
official’s
chest.
Official
Alex
Kemp
said he
ruled
the
contact
was
unnecessary.
___
Follow
Noah
Trister
at
https://twitter.com/noahtrister
More AP
NFL:
https://apnews.com/NFL
and
https://twitter.com/AP_NFL
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