DETROIT — The Bears entered Sunday’s game believing they could beat the Lions on the road and emerge victorious after a blowing a fourth-quarter lead in their 2025 season opener.

Those hopes were dashed, as Bears head coach Ben Johnson’s return to Detroit was spoiled by a lopsided loss to the Lions at Ford Field.

How bad did it get? 52-21 bad.

“When you play a good team on the road and you have turnovers and you don’t convert on fourth down and you give up explosive plays on defense, it can go sideways in a hurry,” Johnson, a former Lions offensive coordinator, said in his postgame press conference. “That was really the name of the game.”

This game got away from the Bears late in the second quarter, with a series of unfortunate events that led us to the final score above. Let’s break this thing down into phases and figure out what went so wrong in this Week 2 Bears report card:

Rushing offense

Johnson made it clear that he wanted a greater commitment to the run game this week, but that’s not possible when you’re down multiple scores entering the second half.

The Bears had 134 rushing yards on 27 carries, for a 5-yard average. Quarterback Caleb Williams contributed to the total (27 yards on five carries), but D’Andre Swift was the leading rusher, with 5.3 yards per carry (63 yards on 12 carries) and a touchdown. Rookie Kyle Monangai got into the action with 28 yards on seven carries.

Swift’s lost fumble was the biggest strike against the rushing attack, as he took a serious shot from Lions safety Brian Branch and lost possession. The Bears’ run game was better, but there’s much work to be done before it’s considered good.

Grade: C

Passing offense

Rome Odunze was the clear offensive bright spot on the day. He had a career-high seven catches for 128 yards and two touchdowns on 11 targets, with some chunk plays, fancy moves after the catch and tough receptions made in traffic.

Williams started strong but ended up just sort of OK, completing 19 of 30 passes for 207 yards and two TDs with an interception. The pick was a bad one — he should’ve thrown the pass out of bounds — and it launched a run of 24 unanswered Lions points. Williams still is struggling to get the snap off on time, but his inconsistencies showed up again in an uneven performance when the Bears needed far better.

The pass protection started well but struggled when the game got out of hand, as it’s known to do.

Grade: C-minus

Rushing defense

The Lions’ run game is top notch, despite it not looking that way in a Week 1 loss to the Green Bay Packers. Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery were tough to stop, and Detroit averaged 5.9 yards per carry. The Bears allowed explosive runs inside and out, including Gibbs’ 42-yard run in the second half.

Dennis Allen’s defense will struggle if it can’t consistently stop the run, and that effort didn’t hold up well against two of the NFL’s best rushers.

Grade: D

Passing defense

Lions quarterback Jared Goff had a 156.0 passer rating. 158.3 is a perfect game. That’s how much the Bears struggled in this area. The defensive front couldn’t generate pressure on Goff, and when Montez Sweat recorded a big sack, it was negated by penalty.

The Bears couldn’t cover Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, who had nine catches for 115 yards and three TDs, as he routinely beat cornerback Tyrique Stevenson for scores and explosive plays down the field.

Goff threw for 334 yards and five touchdowns. He simply couldn’t be stopped, especially after cornerback Jaylon Johnson left with an aggravated groin injury, which is the main reason why the Bears lost this game.

Grade: F

Special teams

The kicking game was better than a week ago, but it still wasn’t good. Cairo Santos sent the opening kickoff out of bounds for a penalty, which helped the Lions score on a short field.

No disasters this week, but no star plays to spark the team in a meaningful way, either.

Grade: C

Coaching

This was a tough one. It’s early in Johnson’s tenure, and the Bears still are learning his offense. Allen has been down some significant pieces on defense, but a performance like Sunday’s doesn’t sit well with Bears fans.

It’s hard to say scheme set Chicago back. Execution and explosive playmaking were the difference in this game.

Johnson and Allen didn’t help the Bears overcome in-game issues when the bleeding couldn’t be stopped. And coaching is a results-based business, and the Bears were severely beaten in points, yards allowed and every important metric. Simply not good enough from a smart and talented staff that’s expected to produce results.

Grade: D-plus