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Lions fall behind Bears early, rally for 21-17 lead at half

Posted at 2:24 PM, Nov 19, 2017
and last updated 2017-11-19 14:26:41-05

CHICAGO, Ill. – The Detroit Lions fell behind their longtime rivals, the Chicago Bears, 10-0 and 17-7 early before rallying for a 21-17 advantage at halftime of their game at Soldier Field on Sunday afternoon.

The Lions entered the game as 3-point favorites over the Bears.

The game is airing live on FOX 17.

On Sunday, Detroit saw rookie quarterback Mitchell Trubisky drive the Bears steadily downfield from the outset, culminating in a 23-yard field goal by Connor Barth for a 3-0 edge with 8:21 to go in the opener. In Chicago’s 10th game, it marked the first time all season that the Bears had scored on their opening possession.

Making the 106th consecutive start of his career, Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford immediately fumbled the ball away, and Chicago took a 10-0 advantage when Trubisky hit tight end Adam Shaheen with a 1-yard touchdown pass at the 3:23 mark of the initial period. That score stood until the opening break.

The second stanza began with Trubisky fumbling and Lions cornerback D.J. Hayden returning it 27 yards for a TD to slice the gap to 10-7 with exactly 14:00 showing on the clock.

But the Bears came right back with another score — this time a Jordan Howard 12-yard run for a 17-7 bulge with 8:30 left in the first half.

Stafford quickly retaliated by hitting Marvin Jones Jr. with a 28-yard scoring strike to trim the deficit to 17-14 with 5:17 showing on the clock. He then connected with Ameer Abdullah for a  2-yard touchdown to give Detroit its first lead at 21-17 with only 20 seconds left until intermission.