–The shuttle at guard continues, even if the faces have changed.
Before it was James Daniels and Eric Kush shuttling at left guard. After Kyle Long landed on injured reserve with a foot injury last week, it went to Kush and newly acquired Bryan Witzmann shuffling at right guard.
And head coach Matt Nagy said this will continue, even if continuity of personnel is perceived as a requirement for good blocking schemes.
“It’s just like, the more you do it, the better you get at it,” offensive line coach Harry Hiestand said about the changing of guards. “Eric didn’t have a lot of experience on the right (side) and Witz has.”
Also, Hiestand pointed out that Kush has just returned from a bout with neck stingers and they tend to flare up.
Hiestand is elated with the progress of Daniels as a rookie starter.
“He’s learning on the run and he’s getting used to the NFL game,” Hiestand said. “Like I said earlier, he’s going to get beat sometimes but the good news for him is he’s a good learner and he knows why. He self-corrects flaws. He knows right away he leaned out too far or he took a bad target or a bad step. So the next time the same thing comes up he generally doesn’t do that again.”
–Linebacker Roquan Smith lost his forced fumble that resulted in Eddie Jackson’s 65-yard fumble return for a touchdown last week, but didn’t really care. The NFL stat review gave the fumble caused to Jackson, as well.
“I don’t care about that,” Smith said. “The end result was a touchdown. That’s the main thing — putting points on the board. I could care less who gets the recognition.”
The defense, as a whole, has been echoing Smith’s thoughts when discussing its status in the league’s top five.
“We’re just playing great overall team defense,” Smith said.
–The Lions offense normally revolves around quarterback Matthew Stafford and receivers, but the Bears defense sees an emerging running attack as a threat, as well. Running back Kerryon Johnson is the chief reason.
“He’s a running back with great vision, and he hits the hole when he sees it,” Smith said.
Still, the Lions haven’t entirely shrugged off their reputation as a throwing team.
–Whether it’s the Bears’ recent run of failures within the division, or just being an unproven team, they’re insisting they won’t be looking past the 3-5 Lions.
Having to face Stafford has a lot to do with it.
“He’s (Stafford) been with the Lions for all of his career and he has a great group of receivers, and for some reason they’re not putting games together,” cornerback Prince Amukamara said. “But they’re still a great team and I know for a fact we won’t take them lightly.”
Being in first place this late in the season for the first time since 2012 — Lovie Smith’s final season as coach — hasn’t turned the offense’s heads either.
“First place right now doesn’t matter,” running back Tarik Cohen said. “It’s all about where you finish at the end. So we don’t even feel like we’re in first place.”
The next three games — Lions, Vikings and at Detroit on Thanksgiving — should go a long way toward deciding if the Bears are who they think they are.
“We’re halfway through the season now and we’ve got three big divisional opponents coming up, and we kind of know where we’re at as a team,” Trubisky said. “These next three games’ll tell a lot about who we are and where we’re headed.”
–If the Bears get Allen Robinson II back on offense, as expected, it gives Trubisky a deep threat and back-shoulder threat along the sidelines to help open up the attack. It could make all the difference.
“He’s got really high football IQ, handles himself really well as a pro, knows all the receiver spots so he can help other guys get lined up,” Nagy said. “He knows how to run routes and how his route fits within each concept to get open.
“You use all those intangibles along with great hands, route-running ability and being physical, and it allows you to get open and makes it easy for a quarterback. He’s easy to throw to and gets open.”
–In a sense, the Bears feel like they’ve already seen the Lions’ defense even if it’s their first meeting of the two this season.
They’ve already faced New England, where Lions head coach Matt Patricia was the defensive coordinator last year.
“They cause a lot of havoc up front, keep it in front,” Trubisky said. “They’ve had some games where they’re shutting them out and some where they’re letting in some points; it can go either way so we’ve got to focus on what we’ve got to do this week on offense.”
–Detroit is allowing 5.1 yards a carry, second worst in the NFL. But that’s about to change and it may have started last week with the arrival of 355-pound Damon Harrison playing the interior.
“He’s a big player that’s really good at stuffing the run,” Nagy said. “I remember last year he was coming off a slight injury with his ankle when we played him in New York and we were concerned about him because he’s a dominant player. When he plays hard and wants to stuff that run, he’s very challenging.”
BY THE NUMBERS: 82 — Points scored by the Bears following turnovers, best in the NFL.