Biggest Takeaways from Chicago Bears' Week 6 Loss

The Chicago Bears were able to march down the field late in the fourth quarter against the Detroit Lions in Week 6 and tie the game up on a Robbie Gould field-goal attempt, but Chicago stumbled in overtime and lost 37-34.

Sunday's loss was Chicago's fifth in a row against the Lions, and the team dropped to 2-4 on the season. 

"We had a lot of chances," said outside linebacker Pernell McPhee, per ChicagoBears.com's Larry Mayer. "We didn't finish it, but we've just got to come back to work and tighten up the screws. We started off slow today and I think this was our worst performance all year."

The Bears failed to execute on either side of the football against the Lions when they needed to the most, and they will head into their Week 7 bye with a 2-4 record.

What are our biggest takeaways from Chicago's loss to the Detroit Lions in Week 6?

Defense Struggled Without Shea McClellin at Inside Linebacker

Charlie Riedel/Associated Press

Inside linebacker Shea McClellin missed Sunday's game against Detroit after injuring his knee against Kansas City in Week 5.

Starting inside linebacker Shea McClellin left last week's game against the Kansas City Chiefs with a knee injury, and he did not play Sunday against the Lions.

McClellin struggled as a 4-3 defensive end and as a 4-3 outside linebacker during his first three seasons with the team, but he looked comfortable playing on the inside in coordinator Vic Fangio's defense. McClellin did not make any big splash plays during the first five weeks of the season, but he was a steady contributor.

The former first-round pick was in charge of calling plays in the huddle and lining up players before the snap, and McPhee raved after last week's victory over the Chiefs about McClellin's impact on the field.

“I hope my boy Shea hurries up and gets healthy,” McPhee said, per Adam Jahns of the Chicago Sun-Times. “He is our general of the defense. He makes all the calls. He makes all the adjustments. I just hope he’s healthy.”

With McClellin unable to play on Sunday against Detroit, undrafted rookie Jonathan Anderson and veteran LaRoy Reynolds took snaps at the inside linebacker position. Anderson was on the field when the team was in its nickel package, while Reynolds held down the spot when the Bears were in their base defense.

Anderson finished the game with three tackles and one interception, and Reynolds finished with five tackles and one tackle for loss. Both linebackers played well considering the circumstances, but the team clearly missed having McClellin out on the field.

"Bears fans probably don’t want to hear this, but Shea McClellin’s absence has been very noticeable today," tweeted WGNRadio.com's Adam Hoge.

Without McClellin in the lineup, Chicago struggled at times to get settled in before Detroit snapped the ball. Christian Jones made the calls in the huddle on Sunday in McClellin's absence, but the defense looked lost on occasion without McClellin there to make pre-snap adjustments.

There Are Still a Lot of Question Marks in Chicago's Secondary

Carlos Osorio/Associated Press

Tracy Porter (21) struggled against Detroit's Calvin Johnson in Week 6.

Chicago's secondary has struggled this season to slow down opposing wide receivers, and it struggled once again against the Lions at Ford Field.

Detroit quarterback Matthew Stafford completed 27 of his 42 passing attempts for 405 yards, and he threw four touchdowns and just one interception.

Wide receiver Calvin Johnson caught six passes for 166 yards with one touchdown, Lance Moore caught five passes for 106 yards with one touchdown and Golden Tate caught six passes for 40 yards with one touchdown.

Veteran Tracy Porter matched up with Johnson throughout the afternoon, and the veteran cornerback (5'11", 190 lbs) struggled with Johnson's size (6'5", 237 lbs). Porter failed to jam Johnson at the line of scrimmage late in the fourth quarter, and Stafford was able to connect with Johnson for an easy six-yard touchdown. 

After the Bears were able to tie the score and force overtime, Johnson made his biggest play of the game. 

On Detroit's third possession of overtime, Stafford hit Johnson down the field for a 57-yard gain. The Bears were playing zone coverage, and undrafted rookie Harold Jones-Quartey was left all alone to defend Johnson down the field. 

Jones-Quartey could not gain an advantage against the former All-Pro receiver while the ball was in the air, and Johnson came away with the easy catch.

On top of Porter's struggles against Johnson, nickelback Sherrick McManis played one of his worst games of the season. McManis lined up opposite of Moore a lot on Sunday afternoon, and the veteran cornerback struggled to keep up with the veteran slot receiver.

Second-year cornerback Kyle Fuller made a couple of solid tackles on short passes and screens to the outside, but he also struggled in coverage. He finished the game with eight tackles, but he gave up a touchdown to tight end Tim Wright in the corner of the end zone because he failed to turn his head around to locate the football.

Chicago's secondary has struggled all season long, and it failed to slow down Detroit's passing offense when the game was on the line in both the fourth quarter and in overtime.

Rookies Continue to Play Well

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Nose tackle Eddie Goldman (91) did a good job of anchoring the defensive line against the run in Week 6.

Even though the Bears lost to the Lions, some of their rookies played well on Sunday.

On offense, Hroniss Grasu got his second straight start at center, and the former Oregon Duck held up well against Detroit's stout defensive line. Grasu struggled early on against the Chiefs in Week 5, but he settled in as the game wore on. He held his own on the inside in pass protection against the Lions, but he did struggle to get much of a push forward in the running game.

Grasu needs to get stronger, but it looks like he will be Chicago's center for the foreseeable future.

Second-round pick Eddie Goldman got the start at nose tackle, and he finished the game with five tackles, a half sack and one quarterback hit. He did a nice job of anchoring the middle of the defensive line against the run, and he was also able to apply pressure to Stafford. 

Running back Jeremy Langford carried the ball just five times for 10 yards, but he did score Chicago's first touchdown of the game. He was targeted twice in the passing game and came away with one catch for 17 yards. Matt Forte will continue to be Chicago's workhorse in the running game, but Langford has proved in the first six weeks of the season that he is a reliable backup running back.

Jones-Quartey struggled to defend Johnson late in overtime, but he finished the game with five tackles and played well against the run.

Fifth-round pick Adrian Amos has been Chicago's starter at strong safety all season, and he finished the game with four tackles. He played physically all game long and played well downhill against the run. He still has not been tested much in the passing game, but he has been one of the team's most consistent players against the run this season.

Anderson had his share of ups and downs at inside linebacker, but he finished the game with three tackles, one pass deflection and one interception. He showed off his good closing speed on a sack negated by a penalty in the second half.

Chicago struggled to get production out of its rookies during Phil Emery's tenure as general manager between 2012 and 2014, but current general manager Ryan Pace has found a few building blocks for the future in Grasu, Goldman, Langford and Amos.

Special Teams Showed Some Improvement, but Still Has a Ways to Go

Duane Burleson/Associated Press

Special teamer Chris Prosinski recovered one fumble and recorded one special teams tackle.

Chicago's special teams unit has struggled to find consistency this season, but the group played well at times on Sunday.

The team signed Chris Prosinski in late September, and the special teams ace recorded one tackle and recovered a fumble in Week 6. Wide receiver Joshua Bellamy played on both kickoffs and punts, and he also recorded one tackle and one fumble recovery.

Chicago's coverage units limited Detroit to an average of 23.0 yards per kick return, and punter Pat O'Donnell punted five times for 222 yards and dropped two punts inside the 20-yard line. 

Return man Marc Mariani returned two kickoffs for 50 yards and four punts for 27 yards. He did not make any splash plays as a return man, but he was consistent with the football in his hands and did a nice job of moving north and south.

Kicker Robbie Gould connected on all four of his field-goal attempts with a long of 38 yards, and he also made both of his extra-point attempts.

While the Bears did a nice job of covering kickoffs and punts, the unit did fail to stop a fake punt late in the fourth quarter. With the Lions down 21-14, they lined up for a punt on 4th-and-2 at their own 38-yard line.

Long snapper Don Muhlbach snapped the football directly to safety Isa Abdul-Quddus, and the fifth-year veteran ran the ball off the left side of the formation and gained 30 yards. Chicago's defense eventually held the Lions to a field goal, but a stop on that fake punt could have helped seal a victory for the Bears.

Chicago's special teams unit showed some progress on both kick returns and punt returns against the Lions, but its failure to recognize Detroit's fake punt in the fourth quarter led to the Lions picking up a crucial first down.

Alshon Jeffery Looked Like Alshon Jeffery

Duane Burleson/Associated Press

Alshon Jeffery finished Sunday's game with eight catches for 147 yards.

Wide receiver Alshon Jeffery missed all of the preseason with a calf injury, and after starting against the Green Bay Packers in Week 1, Jeffery missed the team's next four games with a hamstring injury.

Jeffery started Sunday's game against Detroit, and the former second-round pick looked like the wide receiver who went to the Pro Bowl after the 2013 season.

Cutler targeted Jeffery 11 times on Sunday, and the former South Carolina Gamecock hauled in eight passes for 147 yards and scored one touchdown.

The fourth-year receiver failed to fight for a ball that was intercepted by Detroit's Rashean Mathis in the end zone early in the game, but he battled back and was able to get into a groove with Cutler as the game went on.

Jeffery ran crisp routes, worked back to the football and used his strong hands to make big plays in traffic. When the Bears charged down the field late in the fourth quarter, Cutler leaned on his No. 1 wide receiver.

With the Bears trailing by three points with just 21 seconds left on the clock, Cutler found Jeffery deep down the field for a 25-yard gain. The veteran receiver made the catch and got out of bounds to stop the clock. On the very next play, Cutler hit Jeffery again for a 24-yard gain down the sideline. 

The Bears were forced to settle for a game-tying field goal by Gould, but the team would not have been in that position if Jeffery had not made those big catches.

"It was good to see him out there today," Cutler said after the game, per ChicagoBears.com's Eli Kaberon. "I thought he played his tail off, made some big-time catches for us."

Chicago's offense lacked big-play potential without Jeffery in the lineup, but he proved just how important he is to Chicago's offense on Sunday afternoon.

Statistical information and measurables courtesy of ESPN.com unless otherwise noted.

Matt Eurich is a Chicago Bears featured columnist for Bleacher Report and a member of the Pro Football Writers of America.

Follow @MattEurich.