Detroit Lions vs. Chicago Bears: Breaking Down the Lions' Game Plan

The Detroit Lions travel west on I-94 to face the rival Chicago Bears in a critical NFC North matchup this Sunday. 

What: Detroit Lions (5-3) at Chicago Bears (5-3)

Where: Soldier Field, Chicago 

When: Sunday Nov. 10, 1 p.m. ET

Watch: Fox, check local listings

The winner of this game controls its own destiny in the NFC North title race. Green Bay, Chicago and Detroit are all 5-3. All three teams are also 2-1 within the division. 

Detroit won the first meeting with Chicago 40-32 in Week 4 in Detroit. A win in Chicago would give the Lions the head-to-head tiebreaker advantage over Chicago. It would also improve the Lions to 3-1 in the NFC North and 5-2 in the NFC, besting Green Bay's 2-1 and 3-2 marks in those categories. 

The Lions are coming off a bye week, which means extra time for game preparation. Here are three things the coaching staff should have found to help devise a winning game plan against the Bears.

Exploit the Safeties

After watching every play of every Bears game on NFL Game Rewind (subscription required), one thing stands out like a black bear in a snowstorm: The Chicago safeties are terrible. 

Chris Conte and Major Wright were both third-round picks, Wright in 2010 and Conte in '11. That indicates a reasonable expectation of quality and experience. Yet play after play of game-tape review reveals major disappointment for the Chicago safeties.

Here is an example from their loss to Washington in Week 7. This is a play the Lions can readily replicate.

Washington lines up in a tight bunch formation to the right with one tight end and two wide receivers. Its top wideout, Pierre Garcon, is flanking the left. Running back Roy Helu Jr. (No. 29) starts in the backfield and motions outside of Garcon (No. 88).

The Bears are in single-high safety, with Conte (No. 47) playing center field. This is a zone coverage look that the Bears deploy quite often. 

As the play develops, Helu sits out in the flat while Garcon veers outside a little. Notice that Conte is still moving backward and staring straight ahead at quarterback Robert Griffin III.

Linebacker James Anderson and cornerback Charles Tillman (No. 33) are carrying out their assignments. Anderson rotates outside to cover Helu in the flat. Tillman uses outside technique to funnel Garcon inside to where his help is, also not allowing Garcon to get behind him.

The problem is that Conte is the inside help, but he's nowhere to be found. He's still going in reverse even though Griffin has commenced the throwing process and no receiver is within 15 yards of Conte's depth. 

Griffin makes a nice throw over the underneath linebacker and leads Garcon further inside from Tillman. It's not an easy throw; it requires good velocity and accurate placement even with the safety in absentia. Conte finally reacts, but he's 10 yards and a few seconds too late to do anything about it. 

This is a play the Lions are well-equipped to run. Swap in Reggie Bush for Helu and Calvin Johnson for Garcon, and it's easy to see Detroit making hay with concepts like this. Matthew Stafford certainly has the arm to make this kind of throw. 

This is no isolated breakdown by Conte. For further evidence, check his Pro Football Focus profile (subscription required). He's well into the negatives in both coverage and run defense.

What should scare Bears fans even more is that Pro Football Focus grades Conte significantly higher than fellow safety Major Wright. There are 85 qualifying safeties in the NFL this year in their metrics. Major Wright ranks 85th, below Conte's 79th place. 

The Lions must pounce on that consistently weak safety play.

Stay Disciplined in Coverage

Just as the Bears have their issues staying fundamentally sound in coverage, the Lions can struggle in that area as well. The safeties are not the prime concern for the Lions, however; it's the linebackers, and Stephen Tulloch in particular, that must stay on assignment and not get fooled. 

The Bears passing offense is no longer just Brandon Marshall as it has been in recent times. Alshon Jeffery and Martellus Bennett have both seen more targets and become more integral parts of the offense. 

Here is a play from Monday night's game against Green Bay where the Bears exploited a mistake by the Packers linebackers in coverage.

Even though the Packers run a lot of variable fronts, in this case they look similar to Detroit's Wide 9 up front. The two outside linebackers are standing at the line ready to rush the edge, while the three corners and two safeties fan out behind them to combat the three-wideout formation by Chicago.

The outside corners play man coverage, while the linebackers initially identify tight end Bennett and running back Matt Forte as their potential marks. At this point, the defense is still okay.

The problem ensues when Bennett crosses the formation. Both linebackers stick with him, leaving Forte all alone as he sneaks out into the wake from where Bennett came.

Exacerbating the problem is that neither linebacker realizes the err of his respective way. They continue to blanket Bennett and run away from Forte even after the ball is delivered by quarterback Josh McCown. Chicago gained 33 yards on this simple play because of a coverage breakdown. 

The Lions struggled against Cincinnati when the Bengals used their big tight end and slippery running back in tandem coordination like this. It isolates both Tulloch and DeAndre Levy in man coverage. Levy is generally game, but Tulloch just doesn't have the size or foot speed to handle this consistently. 

Bears coach Marc Trestman is an offensive mastermind. I respect his ability to scheme plays and exploit weaknesses well beyond other coaches. The Lions cannot afford to make it easier for the Bears offense by breaking down in their fundamental assignments. 

Protect the Pigskin

*All statistical rankings in this section are derived from teamrankings.com. 

While this is always important in every game, protecting the football is imperative against the Bears. Chicago is tied for fourth in the league in takeaways with 19 through eight games. Because some of the teams ahead of or tied with Chicago have played an extra game, the Bears are tied for second in takeaways per game. 

The Bears remain quite aggressive in going after the ball. In fact, they rely heavily on turnovers to bail out the defense.

Chicago is tied for 22nd in opposing yards per rushing attempt on defense at 4.4, but over the last three games, that figure jumps up a full yard per carry. The Bears rank dead last in that metric in that time. If you watched Eddie Lacy and the Packers run over, around and past Bears defenders on Monday night, you might wonder how the figure for the last three games is just 5.4 yards per carry.

It doesn't look much better in pass defense. The Bears rank 26th in sack percentage and 19th in opposing passer rating. Note that both of those figures are trending in the right direction for Chicago, but some of that credit goes to the Aaron Rodgers injury early Monday night. 

In short, the Bears defense is not really good at much other than taking the ball away. If the Lions can protect the ball, they stand a good chance of putting up a lot of points. After all, the Bears sit at 29th in points per game allowed. 

Recent history proves that it is quite difficult to beat the Bears when they take the ball away. Over the past 42 games, Chicago's record clearly demarcates based on how many takeaways it creates.

Takeaways	Wins	Losses
0-1	3	11
2	3	5
3 or more	19	1

Interestingly, the one loss Chicago has when forcing at least three turnovers came at the hands of the Lions back in Week 4. Detroit countered with four takeaways of its own to overcome the turnovers. 

Lightning is not likely to strike twice in the same season. Considering the Lions just won a rare game while being minus-four in turnover margin, it's even less likely for lady luck to smile on them once again. 

If the rested Lions can do these things and continue to play excellent special teams, Detroit can seize control of the NFC North in Chicago.