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Mitchell Trubisky's fumble seals Bears' fate in painful loss to Lions

CHICAGO -- Blow it all up.

The Chicago Bears (5-7) are done. Finished. Over.

Chicago pulled off the impossible on Sunday when it snatched defeat from the jaws of victory versus a Detroit Lions team that just fired its coach and general manager.

Clinging to a three-point lead with 1:54 left in the game, Bears quarterback Mitchell Trubisky made the unforgivable error of fumbling the ball on a strip sack that Detroit recovered on Chicago's 7-yard line. Adrian Peterson did the rest, scoring from five-yards out to give the Lions an improbable 34-30 come-from-behind victory.

The Bears have now lost six straight, and appear in serious danger of having the make major offseason changes.

The loss is particularly galling because Detroit accomplished Sunday what the rest of the league could not.

The Lions made the Bears' 31st-ranked offense look good, mostly.

Coach Matt Nagy's offense -- ridiculed from coast-to-coast after three recent debacles in prime time -- controlled tempo much of the afternoon, albeit with offensive coordinator Bill Lazor calling plays for the second consecutive week.

The Bears had more points at halftime (23) than they had in six entire games in 2020.

Lazor wisely kept the Lions off-balance by calling second-year running back David Montgomery's number 11 times in the opening half. Montgomery -- fresh off a 100-yard performance at Green Bay last Sunday night -- rewarded the coaching staff with 62 yards and two rushing touchdowns, including a gritty 13-yard score when he skillfully bounced outside to avoid would-be tacklers and dove successfully for the front corner of the end zone.

As a team, the Bears rushed for 140 yards, with Cordarrelle Patterson chipping in 59 yards on the ground and a touchdown -- Patterson's first touchdown from scrimmage since 2018.

Trubisky, who started again over Nick Foles, followed a predictable pattern for whenever he faces the Lions, until the fumble.

Trubisky played smart, efficient and turnover-free football as he recorded a passer rating of more than 100.0 for the fifth consecutive time against Detroit, but the turnover at the end of the game will forever haunt him.

The incessant calls to fire Nagy, general manager Ryan Pace -- and, well, everyone in the building -- are about to reach a fever pitch.

It's going to be an excruciating final four weeks of the season in Chicago.

Troubling trend: The play of the defense once again left a lot to be desired. Nagy raised eyebrows when he publicly chastised the defense after last week's embarrassment at Lambeau Field, but the group failed to respond the way many hoped it would in Week 13. Detroit quarterback Matthew Stafford passed for more than 400 yards, three touchdowns and burnt the secondary for a 49-yard touchdown bomb late in the second-quarter. The defense forced a key turnover when lineman Bilal Nichols intercepted a goofy Stafford side-armed throw, but overall, the defense floundered. You can argue -- for the first time all year -- the Bears would have won a game in spite of their defense, had the offense not botched it at the end.

Special teams: Don't ... kick ... to ... Patterson. The Lions eventually stopped kicking off to Patterson on Sunday, but not before the Pro Bowler opened the game with a 46-yard return -- his sixth kickoff return of 40-plus yards this season. The Bears capitalized on the field position Patterson provided when Cairo Santos booted a 45-yard field goal to stake Chicago to an early 3-0 lead. Santos has now made 16 consecutive field goal attempts.