Chicago came into Thursday's contest with the No. 1 rushing defense in the league. The Bears were only allowing around 77 yards per game on the ground.
That makes the performance running back LeGarrette Blount had filling in for the injured Kerryon Johnson even more impressive.
Blount ran for 88 yards on 19 carries (4.6 average), and scored both of Detroit's touchdowns on tough four-yard runs. It wasn't enough to ultimately get the Lions a victory, but that certainly wasn't Blount's fault.
"He's a great player," Lions head coach Matt Patricia said of his veteran running back after Detroit's 23-16 loss. "He's tough, he's competitive, he works hard and tries to do everything the right way.
"It (was) going to be tough early and he has a great knack for continually going after it and eventually, at some point, he (was) able to break a couple, which was good."
Detroit rushed for 111 yards as a team – more than 30 yards more than Chicago's average allowed for the season. But in the end, not being able to secure the win was the only thing Blount could think about after the game when asked about his performance.
"I didn't run it good enough," he said.
FLAG PICKUP
The first Bears touchdown of the game came on a throw from quarterback Chase Daniel to a wide open Taquan Mizzell Sr. in the second quarter. How Mizzell got wide open in the end was a bit of a debate between the officials.
Originally, there was a flag thrown for offensive pass interference for an illegal pick from Allen Robinson that assisted in Mizzell getting open, but after a meeting between the officials, the flag was picked up.
"There was a flag down for offensive pass interference initially," official Brad Allen said after the game. "Another official who had a different view of the play came in and offered information and we picked the flag up."
It was ruled that Robinson was running a route, trying to make a play, and not intentionally trying to set a pick.
"There are judgements on all that stuff and that's what the officials do when they take a look at it," Patricia said. "It's kind of in their wheelhouse."
GOLLADAY CONTINUES TO IMPRESS
After notching eight catches for 113 yards and a game-winning touchdown last week, second-year receiver Kenny Golladay hauled in another five balls for 90 yards in Thursday's loss to the Bears.
Playing again without injured veteran receiver Marvin Jones Jr., Golladay has become Matthew Stafford's go-to weapon, and is showing he can be a big-time player in this league for a lot of years moving forward.
Golladay now has 52 receptions on the year and is well within reach of 1,000 yards for the season with 802 yards with five games remaining.
EXTRA POINT
- Defensive end Ziggy Ansah now holds the record for career sacks on Thanksgiving with 8.5, passing Dallas' Randy White. Ansah has recorded at least 1.0 sack in six of his last seven games.
