The Detroit Lions had an emphatic respose to the Chicago Bears coming to town with former offensive coordinator Ben Johnson in tow. They put up 28 first half points against the Bears, hitting them with four separate Lions players getting into the red zone thanks to much-improved play from Jared Goff and better protection from the offensive line.
Of course, it couldn't be a clean win between two NFC North teams vying for greatness this season. At the very end of the first half, Detroit was running through a 2-minute drill, trying to get a score prior to halftime since Chicago was going to get the ball back to begin the 3rd quarter. On another gravity defying catch by rookie Isaac TeSlaa, the Lions managed to get within a few yards of the red zone.
What a catch by Isaac TeSlaa!
— NFL (@NFL) September 14, 2025
CHIvsDET on FOX/FOX Onehttps://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/6aCwOysNwQ
TeSlaa runs up immediately, gets lined back up with the Lions offense, and they spike the ball to stop the ongoing clock - except, that wasn't what stopped the game clock after that catch. It was the referee, who had the clock reset to a 10 second runoff as TeSlaa had been called out by the sideline referee with the clock not reflecting that.
Strange call from refs led to TD for Lions against Bears
Of course, that correction led to a touchdown for Detroit, getting their lead up even higher. This was a huge swing call, and one that directly benefitted the Lions. But, it just feels like they were rewarded for the ridiculous catch that TeSlaa had made just the play before.
“If it was officiated properly, than they probably wouldn’t have gotten the play off," said FOX broadcast color commentator Jonathan Vilma on the call.
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It was a penalty riddled contest for Chicago, and surely, this added to their frustrations on the day. It also surely added to the frustrations of Johnson, who was probably looking to silence the Ford Field crowd by helping lead Chicago to a victory on the road against his former team.
He's helming a young team with a young staff, though, so it's not a shock that Detroit managed to soundly bury them in such a high-energy environment. One "bad" call that led to a touchdown shouldn't have been the game's decider, anyway.