Chicago Bears vs. Detroit Lions: 5 Second-Half Adjustments the Lions Must Make

The Detroit Lions face the Chicago Bears tonight as a 4-0 team looking to prove it’s as good as its record indicates.

The Lions are off to one of the best starts in franchise history and are generating positive national attention for the first time since Barry Sanders left town. Tonight’s matchup with the Bears is a watershed game. For the first time in a decade, Detroit is up on the big stage, playing in prime time for all the world to see. Finally, the whole NFL audience has a chance to put this phenomenon under the microscope.

NFL fans are anxious to rally behind the Lions—they’re just looking for some proof.

Matthew Stafford and Calvin Johnson are fueling fantasy teams nationwide, but it's likely that many of their owners have never seen the two young studs for more than a few fleeting seconds on a Sunday night SportsCenter. Analysts praise Ndamukong Suh for his dominance, but how many fans have actually seen him spend an entire game in the opposing backfield?

Tonight is an opportunity for the Detroit Lions to prove everybody right.

If the Detroit Lions are going to take full advantage of this opportunity, Jim Schwartz will have to implement a few changes for the second half.

Stop the Penalties

Although one would expect momentum to be firmly behind the Detroit Lions tonight, they’ve done seemingly everything they can to put the advantage in the Chicago Bears’ corner.

Willie Young committed two huge penalties to extend a Chicago Bears drive in the first quarter. Cliff Avril committed one more, just to make sure that the Bears could get into field goal range.

The fact that the Detroit Lions followed up Avril’s penalty by stuffing Matt Forte on third and fourth down shows the Lions have had no problem bottling up the Chicago offense; it’s been the penalties that have kept the Bears going.

Part of what makes the Detroit defense so great is its ability to toe the line between aggressive and dirty, but in a turbo-charged environment, this defense has found it tough to hold back.

Gunther Cunningham needs to get his troops together at halftime and make them understand that all of their brilliance can be undone by just a few boneheaded plays. The Lions defense is better than this, and in the second half, it will be.

Shut Down Matt Forte

The Detroit Lions defensive has battered Jay Cutler in the first half, but too often the Lions' best defenders have let Matt Forte scoot on to the second level. There, the Detroit linebackers and defensive backs must do a better job of wrapping up. Forte isn’t the biggest or the fastest, but he’s one of the most slippery runners in the NFL.

No matter where this game goes, whether the Chicago Bears are ahead or behind in the second half, Matt Forte will be the cornerstone of their offense. Stopping him must be the Lions primary objective.

The Bears certainly have other weapons, but Detroit’s best approach is to focus on Forte and roll the dice against the rest of the Chicago offense. Devin Hester has made a couple of big plays in the first half, but he’s not likely to keep up this kind of production on offense.

Whether it’s Stephen Tulloch, DeAndre Levy or Louis Delmas, at least one Lion defender must concentrate solely on Forte on ever play of the second half.

Settle Down Stafford

Like he has in each of the Lions last two games, Matthew Stafford has stumbled out of the gate. On the Detroit Lions’ initial drive, Stafford missed two easy completions, one down the sideline to Titus Young that would have assuredly resulted in a Detroit first down.

Here, the adjustment is not to overreact to a couple of bad throws. Stafford is going to be just fine.

Early in the second quarter, Scott Linehan made a great call by giving Stafford an opportunity to air it out for Calvin Johnson. Though a ball that travelled over 50 yards in the air would seem to indicate a high degree of difficultly, it’s actually a relatively easy throw for a fired-up quarterback. Stafford hasn’t playing a charged environment like this since his days in the SEC, and letting him put all of his considerable arm strength behind a throw is a great way to put some of his adrenaline to good use.

All at once, Stafford got out his jitters and took the top off of the Chicago Bears signature Cover 2 defense.

In the second half, look for Linehan to continue to dial up some deep passes. The Lions have had some missed opportunities on the deep ball in the second quarter, but they can’t be discouraged. The Bears safeties are not good in pass coverage, they’ll struggle to contain the Stafford-Megatron connection.

Get Jahvid Best Involved

The Detroit Lions have had very little success running the football, but that shouldn’t exclude Jahvid Best from the offensive equation.

Best is an excellent receiver out of the backfield and presents a mismatch for any linebacker, even Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs. Outside of Calvin Johnson, who will undoubtedly be a focal point for the Chicago Bears, Best is the best offensive threat for the Lions.

In the first half, he hasn’t been much of a factor, aside from one big run, the Bears have done a nice job of corralling Detroit's top rusher.

Going into the second half, it’s imperative that the Lions find some balance on offense. If Scott Linehan can find a way to get 15-plus carries for Best in the second half, it'd bode well for the Lions victory.

Even if the Lions can’t get a true running game going, they need to convert in short yardage situations in the second half. Recently, Detroit’s substitute running game has been Brandon Pettigrew, but against Chicago’s great cover linebackers, the Lions will need to get Jahvid Best into the mix.

Bring Down Jay Cutler

Jay Cutler has showed remarkable toughness in the first half. He's broken tackles, extended plays and found a way to give the Chicago Bears a lead going into halftime.

In the second half, the Detroit Lions need to break his will.

The Lions pass rush has battered Cutler so far, but too often, he's eluded the Detroit rushers. Cutler isn't particularly big or fast; there's no reason that the Lions should struggle to bring him down. It's simply a matter of tackling and technique.

The Lions need to adjust to Cutler's new-found elusiveness and focus on containing him, then going in for the kill. Ndamukong Suh, Nick Fairley and the rest of the defensive line are more than capable; they just need to do their jobs in the second half.