DETROIT LIONS at CHICAGO BEARS
SOLDIER FIELD
WEEK 4: SUNDAY, OCT. 3, 2021
The following are post-game notes and quotes from the Detroit Lions’ 24-14 loss to the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field on
Sunday, Oct. 3, 2021.
POST-GAME NOTES
LIONS SCORING PLAYS
- Third Quarter: QB Jared Goff threw a four-yard touchdown pass to WR Kalif Raymond to cut the score to 21-7 with 3:19 left
in the quarter. K Ryan Santoso made the extra point. - Fourth Quarter: QB Jared Goff threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to WR Kalif Raymond to cut the score to 24-14 with 11:17
left in the quarter. K Ryan Santoso made the extra point.
TEAM NOTES
The Lions… - Held Chicago to 1-of-8 (12.5%) on third-down attempts. This marks the first time in franchise history Detroit has held
opponents to one third-down conversion in consecutive games.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
WR QUINTEZ CEPHUS - Caught four passes for 83 yards (20.8 avg.), setting a single-game career high.
P JACK FOX - Punted three times for 166 yards (55.3 avg., 53.5 net), booming a long of 56 and pinning two inside of the 20-yard line.
- Produced his third game with at least 55.0 yards per punt when punting three-or-more times, the most in franchise history.
QB JARED GOFF - Completed 24-of-38 passes (63.2%) for 299 yards, two touchdowns and zero interceptions for s 105.0 passer rating.
- Has produced a passer rating of 90.0-or-higher in each of his first four games as a Lion. He becomes the first quarterback in
franchise history to accumulate a passer rating of at least 90.0 in each of the first four games of a season.
OLB CHARLES HARRIS - Logged four total tackles and a strip-sack that resulted in a loss of 24 yards.
- Has produced 1.0 sack in three-straight games, the longest sack streak of his career.
CB AMANI ORUWARIYE - Produced in interception in consecutive games for the first time in his career.
o The last Lions player to record an interception in consecutive games was DB Quandre Diggs in 2017.
WR KALIF RAYMOND - Logged three receptions for 46 yards (15.3 avg) and two touchdowns along with three punt returns for 29 yards (9.7 avg.) to
total 75 all-purpose yards on the day. - Produced his first two touchdown receptions with the Lions, resulting in the first multi-touchdown game of his career.
- Became the fourth Lions player to produce multiple touchdown receptions in a game at Chicago since the merger, joining
Calvin Johnson (2013), Marlin Briscoe (1974) and Larry Walton (1973). - Became seventh Lions player to produce two touchdowns on his first two receptions of a game and the first wide receiver to
do so since WR Leonard Thompson in 1978.
WR AMON-RA ST. BROWN - Caught a game-high six passes for 70 yards (11.7 avg.), setting career highs in both categories.
RB D’ANDRE SWIFT - Rushed eight times for 16 yards (2.0 avg.) and had four receptions for 33 yards (8.3 avg.) to produce 49 scrimmage yards on the
day. - He has now produced at
Conference
Sunday, October 3, 2021
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Head Coach Dan Campbell
Visitors Postgame Press Conference
Detroit Lions 14, Chicago Bears 24
Q. How can you got better in those situations? That was an issue that you entered in again. You weren’t able to convert a lot.
DAN CAMPBELL: Yeah. You know what, we need a lot of third down work. We need a lot of red zone work. So that’s what we’re going to start focusing on. We’re going to do a ton of work down there. We’ve been able to move the ball pretty good. We did it for the most part today inside the field, base downs, first, second down. But now we get into some of these third downs, fourth downs, got to have its, we get in the red zone. So we need work. And if we’ve got to do three days of that this week, that’s all we’ll do. We won’t even work base. But we’re going to get better at it.
Q. (No microphone)…trips inside that 10 yard line that one touchdown. I know you like to be aggressive, but do you have to look at the field goals more closely in those situations?
DAN CAMPBELL: Yeah. There again, I think you take it as it comes, man. And, you know, they — just my gut tells me to go for it. You know, you get down there that tight and you get seven out of it. You know, that’s a good thing. And then if something — if it doesn’t work out, which you don’t want, we got them pinned back there. And I just think in a game like that where you feel like, you know, they get up a couple of scores, you know, you’re just kicking field goals may not be the game. Whereas last week, it could have been a little bit more of that game. You take it as it comes, but, yeah.
Q. The converse of that would be they are one of the lowest scoring offenses in the NFL, so even being down 7 nothing, 14 nothing, whatever it was, and you decided to go for it down there that maybe a field goal is worth it. How about that decision down there? Was there a spot —
DAN CAMPBELL: Yeah. No. I trusted us to score a touchdown. And, there again, if I’m going to continue to trust, then we have to start working it much better and be better because we’re not efficient enough right now.
Q. Can you elaborate? You said you wish you would have huddled up and gotten a different play call. Can you elaborate on why it got sped up the way that it did?
DAN CAMPBELL: We were in two-minute mode. So we were going and we got down there and he’s flowing with it, you know. So he’s going. And I just think that’s on me. I just think we need to huddle and give them a play call that’s a little more fourth down-worthy, fourth and short, fourth and a yard, and put that on us, you know.
Q. The throw was still there though?
DAN CAMPBELL: It was. The play call was fine. We just didn’t execute it. But I just think on my end, I could have done a better job.
Q. Let’s talk about the youth in the secondary. Some more, I guess, busts or big plays given up today. Do you need to look for a veteran option that’s seen a little more at one of those outside spots?
DAN CAMPBELL: Yeah. Look, this is what we can’t allow anymore. I said this before, but we need these young guys to grow at a drastic rate, you know. And as long as you’re not making the same mistakes and not playing scared, but the same mistakes are showing up now a little bit. So it’s just — you know, we’ve got to find a way or we’ve got to find somebody else that can do them. And whether that’s in the building, which we’ve got a couple other guys, or — you know, you go from there. But it’s not from lack of effort. It’s not from want to. It’s none of those things. But we just — they’re hurting us a little bit right now.
Q. What was the mood of your team in the locker room after this game today?
DAN CAMPBELL: Yeah. I mean, they were frustrated. They didn’t like losing, you know. And I wouldn’t say it was
— I felt like there was a little more anger than there was disappointment. And that’s a good thing because that will drive you to come back. It ought to piss you off.
Q. Neither Romeo or Ragnow were able to finish this one. Didn’t look good with Romeo at all. Do you have an update on either one of those guys?
DAN CAMPBELL: Yeah. I would say Romes, it isn’t good, doesn’t look good at all. And Frank, I think, is — you know,
Frank is better than Romes, but I don’t — you know, he may be out a little bit too.
Q. Romeo potential Achilles?
DAN CAMPBELL: Yes. Yeah. Yeah. We’ll know more in the morning, but, yeah.
Q. Just going back to the fourth downs in general — because you’ve done it a few games, and you talk about aggressiveness. Do you have to relook at that? Like if you have a different type of team, maybe you can be more aggressive. Do you have to rethink that with this team?
DAN CAMPBELL: You know, what’s funny about it — it’s not funny, but you go through the — when you look at all the analytics of going for fourth down, when you go for it, what you do, and you look at the totality average of it, it’s like, well, don’t forget, on one end of that is, well, where I came from, New Orleans, and then on the other end of that is who knows what team. So, yeah, if you’re a team who — I mean, you are very good in the red zone, you’re very good on third down percentage, which means fourth down you’re probably pretty good. Well, yeah, your odds are going to be a lot better, your number should be better. You should be on the high side of those numbers. There again, we’ve got to do a better job. I have to do a better job. Because if we don’t — and this is what we’re, I guess, not producing, then it’s — you know, it does. It’s got to make you think, well, maybe we’re being too aggressive. We need to just take field goal and punt. Play it safe.
Q. Is there a human element to it where you like putting it on your offense of getting this done, I’m trusting in you. I want to see how you guys step up and respond?
DAN CAMPBELL: Yeah. No, I do. I put a lot on the offense. I think a lot of that offensive line. Jared’s a veteran quarterback. I feel like we’ve got a couple of runners and so I do. I think a lot of this, you find out how you perform under pressure, you know. And not just players but also as a unit, as a group. And we’ve kind of shot ourselves in the foot now last couple of weeks with some of this stuff. So that would tell me that we’ve got to do a lot more of it. And we need to put — we need to make the stakes a little higher is what it would tell me. We need to be pressuring ourselves a little more and putting a little more onus on it, if you will.
Q. One more on the fourth and five because that’s an area of the field where coordinators don’t love it because they feel kind of boxed in, you almost don’t have an option to run there. You’ve got to pass. So how close was that decision for you where you’re weighing the field goal versus going for it in that situation?
DAN CAMPBELL: Yeah, I don’t think it was that close. I wanted to go for it. I like the plays that we had in. I did. I mean, I felt like we had two or three good plays that we had answers for what they were going to try to do to us. And, man, we just — you know, it didn’t work out.
Q. The run defense, I mean, you guys were pretty good against it last week and then early on today, they hit you for a couple on the specials. Any letdown carryover last week’s game? What happened on the run defense?
DAN CAMPBELL: Yeah. Look, it wasn’t as good as it was last week. And, you know, there again, I know there was a couple things we — there was a couple of guys getting out of their gaps, things of that nature, not being disciplined
that we’ve got to clean up. You know, and it seems like it’s more — it’s one here, it’s one there. It’s on this guy this time. And it’s stuff that we’ve got to clean up. I think a lot of this does, it starts with me. And it goes to my coaches. We’ve got to coach better. We’ve got to do a better job. We’ve got to get these guys to where they can handle pressure situations. We’ve got to give them plays that they can handle when they get in those situations. And we just have to play a lot more crisp than we are. We get — feel like we get in the fire and we’re — fundamental, we start falling apart a little bit. So we’ll clean this up.
Q. You rotated Worley in at safety today. Is that under the same category of just trying to find someone to help you stabilize things, or did you like what he was giving you there?
DAN CAMPBELL: Yeah. We like Worley. We brought him in. He did a couple things in practice for us. So we wanted to get some eyes on him, see where he was at. He’s a smart guy. He’s got a little versatility, corner, safety, nickel. And so, yeah, I mean, we’re just — we’re trying to find the best guys we can here that can help us. And also develop some of these young pups.
Q. Has he practiced primarily safety because, you know, he was a corner for a lot of his career. Maybe he can be a solution for you there.
DAN CAMPBELL: Yeah. He’s done a little bit of safety. He did it last week and, you know, in practice there again.
He’s just — I think there’s a little more versatility than we even thought with him.
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Chicago Bears Media
Conference
Sunday, October 3, 2021
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Jared Goff
Visitors Postgame Press Conference
Detroit Lions 14, Chicago Bears 24
Q. Jared, what was your perspective on the fourth down call. As the quarterback, I assume you like to have the trust in the offense to go for it?
JARED GOFF: Yeah. Of course. You always want to go for it as an offense. And, unfortunately, we didn’t capitalize on anything today. And, obviously, it’s a different day if we do. It’s a different game. And overall, all the in the red zone errors would have affected the game tremendously.
Q. When you look at it, it’s a different game too if you kicked the field goal?
JARED GOFF: Yeah. Or if we scored a touchdown, either one, it’s a different game. But, I mean, like, we score a touchdown, probably a much different game. Right? So it’s a decision that we make every week.
Q. One for five in the red zone. You mentioned it. Dan said it’s something you guys really need to work on this week. Just from your perspective, I know you haven’t seen the film yet, but what is it down there that maybe just — you guys were pretty good coming into this game. What —
JARED GOFF: Yeah. We’ve been really good in the red zone. The first one was on me, just trying to make — some
communication errors, loud. Miscommunication there. Second one, I believe was the fourth from the 5 yard line where we went for it. And they made a good play. Their linebacker jumped up and tipped it. I remember — the last one right there, obviously, we just missed it there. But I don’t remember what the last one would be, if there is a fourth one.
Q. The strip sack?
JARED GOFF: Yeah. I mean, they made a good play. Again, like, it’s just execution. They executed better than us in the red zone. But, I mean, to kind of speak previously to what you were talking about with Dan, like, yeah, we want to go for it. If we’re in the position to go for it, we want to go.
Q. Do you have to start making them, you know, to go for it and even some of the fourth and ones before?
JARED GOFF: Of course, yeah.
Q. I mean, to continue giving him that confidence to have you go for it, I guess, I mean?
JARED GOFF: Of course. You think so. Right? You want to always have that confidence in your — or the coach have the confidence in you guys. But damn right, we better start making them if we’re keep doing it.
Q. Campbell said on the last one that his regret was that you didn’t huddle up. Was everybody on the same page? It was even hard to tell if it was fourth down or if you got the first down even.
JARED GOFF: Yeah. It was a little hectic there. I’m sure — hindsight, obviously, we’d love to huddle up and get our best play call there. But we were just rolling with the momentum.
Q. Is that a balance of trying to also catch them off guard as well?
JARED GOFF: Yeah. It’s always double sided. You want to let them get their best call on defense, you want to get your best call on offense. And so, yeah, it’s always both sided. We thought we were moving the ball pretty good there and wanted to keep going.
Q. What happened with the route for the throw? Or where was the breakdown, I guess, on the play?
JARED GOFF: On the last one?
Q. Yeah.
JARED GOFF: I missed him.
Q. We’re obviously talking about the red zone opportunities. But there was one I think to Kalif that you missed as well. Was that another one where —
JARED GOFF: Yeah. That’s the one I’d like to have back today. Absolutely.
Q. You guys don’t have an easy time coming up with the schedule. Just talk about how can you lift this team and get guys — how can you lift these guys and try to get that first win?
JARED GOFF: Yeah. We need to make sure we don’t go numb to it and keep that hope, keep that faith that we’ve had. It’s hard. Right? It’s hard. We’re 0 and 4. We’ve lost some tough ones. We’ve shown fight. We’ve shown some good things. But ultimately it hasn’t been close to good enough yet. So keep that hope. Keep believing in each other. Offense keep believing in the defense. Defense keep believing in the offense and vice versa. It goes a long way.
So I couldn’t ask for a better group of guys to do it with, to fight this adversity and come out the other side. But it will
be a challenge but one that we’ll embrace.
Q. Obviously, you went through that as a rookie, you know, had a tough start, a lot of losses to start off with.
What’s the difference this time around just at this point in your career? You’ve had a lot of success?
JARED GOFF: Yeah. Comparing it to that, it’s entirely different. I’ve matured a lot. I’ve grown a lot. I have a better perspective on things and I feel like I can definitely affect the game a lot more than I could my rookie year. So a lot of it is on me, which is the exciting part of the opportunity, how quickly can we get this fixed and get on the right track.
Q. Obviously, the red zone struggles are frustrating, but you guys got down there five times and scored a sixth time. Can you take any positives from the drives you put together?
JARED GOFF: Same thing every week. Yeah. I mean, there’s good moments, but how can we do it the whole game. Right? And you’d like to think once we start doing it the whole game we’ll starting winning some games. And that’s the
whole thing. Right? That’s what good teams do. We’re on our way. We’re on our way. And I know it’s kind of been, you know, a record player for me every week. But trust me when I say that we’re on our way. And I believe in these guys.
Q. Is this mental or physical at this point do you think? Just trying to get over the —
JARED GOFF: It’s physical. It’s both. It’s both. It’s mostly just execution. I know that’s, like, the word that everyone throws out there. But it really is. We do it in practice. We’ve done it in games at times. How do we do it consistently.
Q. Campbell said after the game he thought the team looked more angry than disappointed, unlike previous games. Because you knew you had chances or —
JARED GOFF: Yeah. Yeah. I think you just get to the point where you’re — there’s no longer like, oh, we did these things good. You get to the point where it’s like we still lost and you’re not happy about it. And, yeah, maybe a pissed off team will execute a little bit better. And that’s me included. How can we be better next week. Maybe being pissed off will be the answer.
Q. You talk about keeping that positivity and that hope alive. How much do you feel responsible? You along with maybe Brockers and the leaders of this team in kind of keeping this — I guess the mood and the focus of this young roster going in the right direction?
JARED GOFF: Yeah. It’s definitely a responsibility I think of all our leaders, all our veteran guys. And it’s not easy. It’s not for everyone. Right? You know, a lot of teams — and, again, we’ll have this conversation at the end of the year. But a lot of teams you’ll look back and it will tank early and you’ll be done. And I don’t believe that’s the case with our group at all. But you have to be intentional about it. You have to be intentional about not letting it go there. And I know our coaching staff is. And I know Dan’s as energetic about everything as anyone I’ve ever met. So we have the pieces, we have the people to keep it positive. We just have to be intentional about it and make those plays in practice translate to the game.
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