It has been eight years since Detroit last won on Thanksgiving. But phew! No one expected this game to be so close, 23-20. When the Detroit Lions were up by 16 points in the first half, it looked like the Chicago Bears were already down and out. While the latter managed to rally a late final-quarter comeback with two TDs, it still wasn’t enough to snap their five-game losing streak that extends to six after today’s loss in Detroit. Although they didn’t manage to get over the finish line, they did scare Lions QB Jared Goff.

The Bears often struggled to score TDs this season, but witnessed Caleb Williams throw three touchdown passes in the second half. Their first one came on the back of a 31-yard TD pass from Williams to his receiver, Keenan Allen. Although that reduced the deficit to 9 points, the Lions yet again scored a TD through LaPorta. This extended their lead to 23-7, with the final quarter left to play.

Then Williams managed to find Allen again with a 9-yard TD pass to begin the fourth quarter. He followed it up with a precision-filled 31-yard thunderbolt to D.J. Moore. At that moment, the Lions only had 3 points on their side to secure the win. And they did as Williams took a sack with only 36 seconds left to play. His incomplete pass trying to put his kicker Cairo Santos in field goal range failed miserably. But he still has some good news.

In the 11th start of the season, Caleb Williams has set the Chicago Bears franchise record for the most passing yards in a season by a rookie QB. He entered this game with only 178 years away from breaking Mitchell Trubisky’s total of 2,193 set in 2017. Williams broke Trubisky’s record on the 37-yard screen pass to wide receiver D.J. Moore, which put him at 2,229 yards. No wonder the Lions’ QB, Jared Goff, was a bit scared.

Sharing his post-game thoughts, he stated, “That was awesome. It was a crazy ending, and we fought hard, to the end to get it done. My first win on Thanksgiving. All of our first wins on Thanksgiving.”

Talking about finally winning a game on Thanksgiving, he shared, “This is one of the things we had to check off the list that we hadn’t done yet. We’ll do it now and enjoy this turkey here…”

But what about the final seconds of the game? “Yes, it was scary. Our defense held strong. Our defense, they’ll bend not break and they made those plays at the end there and we win.”

After three field goals by Jake Bates and Goff’s TD pass to Sam LaPorta, the Bears were left soul-searching going into the second half. But to everyone’s surprise, the Bears managed to come out with all guns blazing.

However, the win for the Lions came with its fair share of sacrifices as they saw multiple players suffer injuries on Thanksgiving.

Dan Campbell offers concerning updates on the Lions’ mounting injury list

The Lions had to watch a bunch of their players head to the blue tent on Thursday. Out of all the players, LB Malcolm Rodriguez, defensive lineman Levi Onwuzurike, and defensive end Josh Paschal are a few of those who didn’t return. Rodriguez’s knee injury was the one Campbell was the most concerned about.

“I feel like it’ll be okay. It could be a little bit. It may, they could be down for a little bit,” the head coach said when discussing the injuries to Onwuzurike and Paschal. “I’ll be honest with you, I think Rodrigo’s the one that could be the worst. I don’t know how significant it’ll be just yet, but he’s the one I fear, a little bit, could be down.”

As for Rodriguez’s game against the Bears, his day ended with five tackles and one pass defense. But if he doesn’t manage to return next week, then the Lions’ issues at linebacker will only increase. Malcolm is the fourth player Campbell has used in that position after Trevor Nowaskem, Ben Niemann, and Ezekiel Turner.

Derrick Barnes, Alex Anzalone, and Jalen Reeves-Maybin are already on injured reserve. With a growing list of injuries, the Lions have to rethink their strategies. It also puts them under pressure to continue that hot winning streak that stretches back to week 3.

Regardless, are you happy about the Detroit Lions’ latest win? Share your thoughts in the comments below.