DETROIT — After Eddie Jackson’s go-ahead pick-six, the Bears still needed to muster a stop to finish out a win over the Detroit Lions Thursday at Ford Field. For a little while, it looked like that stop may not happen: Matthew Stafford quickly marched the Lions downfield, entering the red zone just before the two-minute warning and getting 11 yards from the end zone with a little over a minute to play.
After Stafford and Kenny Golladay couldn’t connect for a touchdown on second and nine (with some help from Kyle Fuller), inside linebacker Danny Trevathan brought the defense together and delivered a message that resonated with every player who heard it:
This is the moment where the Bears defense becomes legendary. Trevathan broke the huddle with a “legendary on three” message. And a few seconds later, Fuller intercepted Stafford in the end zone, sealing a gutsy, hard-fought 23-16 win on Thanksgiving.
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“It was just me feeling like this is our opportunity to showcase we’re for real on this defense,” Trevathan said. “We can put away games. And I wanted them to know that this is a statement game. This could be legendary, man. Let’s keep writing our story. We’re writing a story right now that’s not done yet, and let’s never let it be done until we feel like it’s done.”
The Bears were galvanized this week by a pointed message from defensive coordinator Vic Fangio about finishing games — Fangio relayed to his players the defense’s fourth quarter stats. And those stats weren’t exactly encouraging: Entering Thursday, 15 of the 21 touchdowns allowed by this defense came in the final 15 minutes; opponents averaged 6.8 yards per play in the fourth quarter, far higher than any other period.
That message stuck with the Bears, especially as Stafford drove deep into their territory for a game-tying field goal midway through the fourth quarter and pushed them close to a game-tying touchdown inside the two-minute warning. But Trevathan’s speech amplified that message, and hit home at the pride of this defense.
“When he speaks, you listen,” Jackson said.
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“I was telling DT, don’t think I forgot about that speech you said,” cornerback Prince Amukamara said. “… When they start getting big plays and stuff like that, the best thing not to do is to point (fingers) or yell at each other. It’s to unify and come together and say hey, we got this. And that’s what happened.”
The Bears have the best defense in the NFL, and have now proved it to a national audience twice in the last four days. No team has a better chance than the Bears to slow the steamrolling offenses of the Los Angeles Rams or New Orleans Saints or Kansas City Chiefs, as impossible a task as it may seem. This defense already has 20 interceptions and a ridiculous six touchdowns — three of which are now owned by Jackson. They’re ruthlessly solid across the board and take the ball away better than anyone.
Is that good enough to be legendary? We’ll see over the final six games, and then a playoff appearance that’s inching closer and closer to being a lock.
But legendary defenses come up with the kind of plays the Bears’ defense did in the fourth quarter against the Lions.
“We don’t like excuses,” Trevathan said. “We’re all tired, some sick, but you’ll never hear us complain. My hand went out — I couldn’t feel my hand for a second — Akiem was hurting. Nobody — we don’t complain. We just push through it and fight. And that’s what makes us some warriors and some dogs on that defense, and we fight for one another.”
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