Ben who? Lions stomp Bears in Johnson's return, 52-21.

DETROIT — A bad decision from Caleb Williams soared through the air, overshooting his intended receiver, and landed right in the hands of Detroit Lions safety Kerby Joseph.

With a frustrated Ben Johnson looking on, Joseph gathered the defense in Detroit’s end zone to celebrate with a play the Chicago Bears coach remembers well: Stumblebum, a trick play that Johnson used to smush the Bears at Soldier Field last season — when he was still the offensive coordinator in Detroit — a play that seemed symbolic of the creativity and attention to detail that Johnson would bring to Halas Hall.

But on Sunday, it was once again used as a tool of mockery against a franchise that doesn’t look any closer to figuring things out than they did before Johnson arrived in January.

After a week of nervous anticipation about what might come next for this Lions team, only one question remains around these parts: Ben who? Of course, that's rhetorical — at several points in the fourth quarter, chants of "F--- Ben Johnson" broke out amongst the crowd at Ford Field.

The Lions’ offense is a juggernaut once again, leading Detroit to a stabilizing 52-21 win at Ford Field.

Detroit (1-1) put up 511 yards of offense as quarterback Jared Goff went 23 for 28 for 334 yards, five touchdowns, no interceptions and a passer rating of 156.0. The Lions had three players top 100 yards from scrimmage, with the best game coming from Johnson's former top pupil, wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown. He caught nine passes for 115 yards and three touchdowns; wide receiver Jameson Williams caught two passes for 108 yards and a touchdown; running back Jahmyr Gibbs had 12 carries for 94 yards and a touchdown.

Caleb, the quarterback who attracted Johnson to Chicago (0-2), was pulled with 7:58 left in the game, after St. Brown scored his third touchdown — marking the first time in his career that he's pulled down three receiving touchdowns — to go up 52-21. Caleb finished 19 for 30 for 207 yards, two touchdowns and an ugly interception to Joseph.

It took just one drive for the Lions to look like the Lions again. After a kickoff out of bounds gave Detroit starting field position at the 40 on its opening drive, Goff connected with St. Brown for 34 yards on the opening play, a completion longer than any the week prior against Green Bay. Just four plays later, Gibbs finished off the five-play, 60-yard drive to go up 7-0 at 12:13 in the opening quarter.

The Bears answered right back to tie the game with 8:30 remaining in the first quarter. Chicago converted on third-and-4 early in the drive, then converted on third-and-9 in Lions territory with a 28-yard touchdown pass to Rome Odunze.

Running back David Montgomery got on the board at 2:39 in the first quarter to give the Lions a 14-7 lead. After St. Brown got Detroit to the 1-yard line with a 32-yard reception, Montgomery punched it in for his first of the season.

Brian Branch forced the Lions' first takeaway of the 2025 season, smoking former Lions running back D'Andre Swift to force a fumble that was recovered by linebacker Jack Campbell with 31 seconds left in the first quarter.

The Lions couldn't turn the takeaway into points, punting it away a few plays later. But the defense came up with another big stop, stuffing Caleb Williams on quarterback sneaks on two straight plays to force a turnover on downs at the 37-yard line of Chicago. After another three-and-out, kicker Jake Bates missed a 55-yard attempt, wide left.

But the third time was the charm. Caleb Wthrew up a prayer after escaping from the arms of Lions edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson and safety Kerby Joseph ran under it for the interception. Detroit turned it into a touchdown on the other end, going 67 yards in eight plays, culminating with an 8-yard touchdown reception by Lions tight end Brock Wright to go up 21-7 at 4:48 in the second quarter.

Chicago cut into its deficit before the end of the first half on a 6-yard pass to Odunze with 1:55 left, but the Bears left too much time for Goff and the Lions' offense. Detroit marched back down the field, in part thanks to a 29-yard one-handed catch by Isaac TeSlaa.

Controversy arose when one of the officials initially ruled TeSlaa out of bounds, only to later rule that he remained in bounds. Detroit ran to the line and spiked the ball as time expired, appearing to end the half. But because the clock operator initially stopped the clock, the officials put 16 seconds back on the clock and used a 10-second run-off to get it to 6 seconds, leaving just enough time for Goff to hit St. Brown for a 4-yard touchdown to go up, 28-14.

The Lions' defense forced a three-and-out to begin the second half and capitalized immediately, moving the ball into Bears territory with a 64-yard completion to Jameson on the first play of the drive. The Lions stalled in Bears territory but made it a three-score game with a 34-yard field goal from Bates.

And then came the knockout punch(es). Jameson scored his first touchdown of the season with 6:22 left in the third quarter on a 44-yard reception in which he was wide open behind the Bears defense. After a 42-yard run by Gibbs on the next drive, St. Brown added to the lead with an 8-yard touchdown reception to go up 45-14 on the opening play of the fourth quarter.

Aidan Hutchinson sacked Caleb in the fourth quarter, his first since suffering a season-ending leg injury last year, which brought a roar from the Ford Field crowd.

The Lions now turn their attention to Baltimore, where they'll face off with the Ravens on Monday Night Football in Week 3.

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