DETROIT — The Bears were reeling on a five-game losing streak heading into a Thanksgiving game in Detroit.

The Lions offered them no quarter. They showed them no mercy.

Detroit dominated this game from the outset, showing the disparity between the NFC North’s best and worst.

It led to a game with overwhelmingly lopsided numbers. Red-zone defense kept the Bears in it early from a scoreboard perspective, but that wasn’t going to last.

It didn’t, and it put the Bears in terrible shape following a 23-20 loss to the Lions at Ford Field.

That’ll surely call head coach Matt Eberflus’ job into immediate question heading into a longer preparation period for Week 14 against San Francisco. There’s a lot to unpack here, so let’s get to it in this Bears instant analysis:

Bair’s break down

Detroit is the NFL’s best team right now, certainly capable of dominating the NFC North for a long time.

The Bears are a million miles from that. The gap was supposed to be closer – though certainty not closed — with Chicago an upstart unit with a talented roster and the No. 1 overall pick at quarterback.

It’s not. Just look at the records and see that’s not the case.

These Bears, however, are fighters. You can’t take that way from this downtrodden club.

After all they’ve absorbed to this point, they still keep going. That happened, shockingly, after Detroit’s dominant portended a lopsided score and a humiliating Bears defeat.

Then Chicago came to life in the second half.

Caleb Williams looking like he did against the Vikings in a last-ditch ever to overcome yet another multiple score deficit.

The Bears made some defensive stops early and a big one late to give the No. 1 overall pick time and opportunity to work even more magic. He had three second-half touchdowns and a change to tie it with a late field goal.

That attempt started at the 1-yard line and made it near midfield and went all the way into field goal range, only to get pulled out of it on an offensive pass interference call. The Bears kept fighting and worked their way into it and back out of it due to penalties and sacks.

They ultimately lost another heartbreaker. The Bears have been ramming at the NFC North’s door all month and just can’t break in. 

Key stat

53

That’s the total offensive output the Bears offense was able to muster in the first half in Detroit.

Despite their dominance, the Lions were only able to build up a two-possession lead. But the Bears offense couldn’t unlock anything against Detroit’s defense in the first half. The Bears had 3 straight 3-and-outs to open the game and turned it over on downs on their fourth drive of the game and had 32 yards up to that point and no first downs.

They picked up a first down with 55 seconds left in the half, but the half ended with the ball at their own 32-yard line.

It negated a valiant second half effort from Thomas Brown’s crew in the second half. The Bears deficit was too large that they just had no margin for error in the second half.

Pivot point

The Bears had a prime opportunity to have a shot to tie the game.

The chance never materialized.

After taking a sack with 36 seconds left in the game at the Detroit 41-yard line, Caleb Williams and the Bears rushed back to try and get a few more yards to make the game-tying field goal a little more manageable for Cairo Santos. Instead of taking a timeout, Williams and the offense scrambled back, made adjustments at the line and snapped the ball with 6 seconds left, throwing an incomplete pass as time expired.

The game ended without a chance for the Bears to force overtime — and gave them another improbable, incredible loss, their sixth straight.

What’s next

The Bears get some extra rest following a short-turnaround to play the Lions on a Thursday. There’s an NFC North break on the schedule, but that doesn’t mean things get much easier. The Bears will fly to the West Coast to face the San Francisco 49ers, a super-talented team that has played below expectation due to a rash of injuries to superstar players. If they’re decently health, though, the 49ers are one of the NFL’s best teams.