BOX SCORE

DETROIT — Ben Johnson walked into Ford Field as the Bears’ head coach Sunday morning and was greeted with a chorus of boos.

That was somewhat expected after the once-beloved offensive coordinator left the Lions to lead an NFC North rival. It also set the stage for a Week 2 game full of intrigue, with much of it focused on Johnson’s return to the place where he became the NFL’s coveted head-coaching candidate last season.

Johnson’s knowledge of the Lions’ roster, his offensive creativity and his ability to spark super-talented Bears quarterback Caleb Williams were storylines heavily discussed leading up to the game. But it was clear from the early boos, to the game itself, to some unprintable chants from the crowd that the Lions (and their fans) wanted to beat Johnson. Badly.

They did exactly that.

Let’s examine three things we learned from the Bears’ 52-21 loss to the Lions, as Chicago dropped to 0-2 to start the 2025 season.

Stumble(-bum) to a lopsided loss

The Bears have shown quality play in small spurts, but with nowhere near enough frequency to be competitive against the NFC’s top teams. That was crystal clear Sunday when the Bears made critical unforced errors and couldn’t appropriately execute in key moments.

Consider the following evidence: They committed eight penalties for 50 yards. They had a run of three consecutive giveaways, with a lost fumble, a turnover on downs and a Williams interception.

The Lions celebrated the heck out of that pick, with Detroit’s defenders doing a “Stumblebum“ celebration, referring to the trick play that Johnson, then the Lions’ offensive coordinator, used against the Bears in a Week 16 win last season at Soldier Field.

The Bears’ defense held up relatively well, giving up just seven points after all those turnovers. However, the Lions eventually unleashed a ruthless run, scoring 24 unanswered points as the game turned into a completely one-sided affair.

Odd end-of-half sequence hurts

Most Bears players, coaches and staffers left their sideline for the locker room, thinking it was halftime. The game clocks inside Ford Field, after all, had run out.

That wasn’t necessarily correct.

An Isaac TeSlaa reception down the right sideline was ruled out of bounds at the Bears’ 4-yard line with 16 seconds left in the first half, per the NFL’s official play list. That was overturned upon review, however, as the replay official ruled TeSlaa was in bounds and the clock should’ve run.

By NFL rule, a 10-second run-off was required. The Lions thus had one more play with six seconds left and the clock running.

Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown was matched up with Bears cornerback Tyrique Stevenson — a situation that favored Detroit all day — and Jared Goff found him on a 4-yard touchdown pass. The Bears then left (again) for the locker room, trailing by seven more points than the first time, at 28-14.

The Lions never looked back after that, continuing to pour it on during a second half when the game unraveled.

Rome built for a breakout

Bears wide receiver Rome Odunze spent the offseason making the physical and technical refinements required for a big jump in his second NFL season. He put all that work to bear in a dominant showing against a talented Lions secondary.

Odunze finished with seven catches for 128 yards and two touchdowns — all career highs — and he was downright dominant in the first half.

Last year’s No. 9 overall pick had five catches for 82 yards and the two TDs over the first two quarters. He scored the first Bears touchdown with an excellent 28-yard catch-and-run into the end zone.

Odunze’s second TD came late in the second quarter, on a 6-yard reception.

Odunze set up that score with consecutive receptions of 21 and 15 yards earlier in the drive. He was a frequent target even in tight coverage, and a rare bright spot in a game in which the Bears struggled overall.