The Detroit Lions got back to playing their brand of complementary football Sunday against the Bears and the result was a convincing 52-21 win over Chicago.
Here are five stats that stood out from Detroit's dominating performance:
1. Number: 8.8
What it means: Average yards per play for the Lions against the Bears, setting a new franchise record.
Twentyman: Lions quarterback Jared Goff said the offense goes into every game with the expectation to get six to eight explosive plays depending on the opponent. Detroit generated just one explosive play of 20-plus yards in a Week 1 loss to the Green Bay Packers. That number ticked up significantly to seven 20-plus-yard plays against Chicago on Sunday.
Sunday was the first time in team history that Detroit generated at least 500 total net yards, five passing touchdowns and two rushing touchdowns in the same game. That was as dominating an offensive performance as we've seen in Detroit and there have been some pretty dominating ones over the last few years. Credit to offensive coordinator John Morton for having a terrific plan of attack for Chicago's defense and to the players for executing it to near perfection.
2. Number: 91.4
What it means: Pro Football Focus grade for third-year safety Brian Branch, the highest in the game among Detroit defenders.
Twentyman: Branch was all over the place Sunday, recording six tackles, two tackles for loss, one sack, one quarterback hit, a pass defended and a forced fumble. His versatility and skillset allow him to do so many different things and for Lions defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard to deploy him as a chess piece in so many different scenarios.
Branch is just the NFL's third defensive back since at least 1999 to register 15 tackles for loss, five interceptions, three forced fumbles and 3.0 sacks through the first three seasons of a player's career, joining Kyle Hamilton (2022-24) and Ed Reed (2002-04). Branch's game reminds me a lot of Reed.
3. Number: 1
What it means: Total number of pressures allowed by Lions guards Christian Mahogany and Tate Ratledge.
Twentyman: After allowing seven total pressures and three sacks between them Week 1 in Green Bay, Detroit's young guard tandem was terrific in pass pro Sunday against the Bears, allowing just one pressure between them and a single quarterback hit by Ratledge.
"I think in particular Tate (Ratledge) and (Christian) Mahogany, as younger players, kind of were able to get last week out of the way and kind of settle in a little bit today," Goff said after the game Sunday. "I thought Tate played great today. I haven't seen the tape, but at least in pass pro, it felt firm there. It felt firm, he felt strong, it felt like he was pushing downhill. It felt like he really settled in."
Mahogany and Ratledge are going to continue to get better the more reps they both get. It's important to have a performance like the one they had Sunday. It should give them a ton of confidence moving forward.
4. Number: 8
What it means: Combined quarterback pressures for Aidan Hutchinson and Al-Quadin Muhammad.
Twentyman: Hutchinson got back to being his dominant self with a sack and five total pressures in the contest, despite seeing double teams and chips most of the game. The Lions needed someone opposite Hutchinson to win one-on-one matchups since teams are going to scheme to stop him, and I thought Muhammad did a nice job of that in an increased role Sunday. He recorded his first sack of the season and got good pressure on Bears quarterback Caleb Williams a few different times.
5. Number: 82.1
What it means: Goff's completion percentage in the contest on 23-of-28 passing.
Twentyman: It is such a luxury to have a quarterback as accurate as Goff. He was second among all NFL passers last season with a 72.4 percent completion percentage. He had six games last year where he completed better than 80 percent of his passes.
Sunday was Goff's fourth straight game with a completion percentage of at least 75 percent with at least 25 passing attempts, which ties Tom Brady (2007) for the most consecutive games in NFL history.
