Caleb Williams stared onto the field Sunday afternoon as he stood on the Chicago Bears sideline at Ford Field in Detroit. Williams held his helmet near his ear so he could hear the offensive play call over the crown noise.

There were just under eight minutes left in the Bears’ game against the Detroit Lions, but backup quarterback Tyson Bagent was the one taking offensive snaps. Williams wasn’t injured, but with the Lions leading 52-21, Bears head coach Ben Johnson decided to take Williams out and not risk an injury.

Williams stood there, frustrated as the final minutes passed of the Bears’ 52-21 loss. Chicago had planned to come to Detroit to prove that it could compete against one of the NFL’s best.

Instead, Williams was left standing there wishing he could be out there competing with his teammates.

“That team came out and played a hell of a game on the other side of the ball,” Williams said. “We had momentum swings where we were taking punches and we ended up turning the ball over, having false starts and things like that. With a team like that, when you have two turnovers and a couple false starts, just overall penalties on the offensive side of the ball with a team like that on the other side, they make you pay and they did that today.”

Johnson explained it another way after the game, trying to process what had happened.

“You lose a game like that, man it’s a kick in the teeth,” Johnson said. “Nothing about that feels good.”

Sunday’s game had a lot of juice to it for a Week 2 matchup. Not only did both teams want to avoid falling to 0-2 on the season and in the NFC North. Johnson also returned to Detroit for the first time since the Bears hired him as their head coach after serving as the Lions’ offensive coordinator over the previous three seasons.

Both teams matched the moment at the start of the game. After Detroit easily marched down the field to score on its opening drive, the Bears responded with a touchdown of their own. But when it came time to make game-changing plays, Detroit proved why it’s still a Super Bowl contender.

The Lions showed that difference in the final two minutes of the first half.

Chicago had just made it a 21-14 Detroit lead with 1:55 left in the second quarter when Detroit took over on its own 24-yard line. Lions quarterback Jared Goff led an efficient two-minute drive down the field that was highlighted by a 29-yard pass to Isaac TeSlaa down the sideline. The drive originally ended with time running out on the half because one referee ruled that TeSlaa was still in-bounds. But he was later ruled out of bounds and six seconds was added to the clock. Goff hit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown for a 4-yard pass to make it a 14-point halftime lead instead of seven. “When you play a good team on the road and you have turnovers, you don’t convert on fourth down and you give up explosive plays on defense, it can go sideways in a hurry,” Johnson said. “That was really the name of the game.” The Bears never regrouped from that moment. Chicago’s offense went three-and-out on its opening second half drive while the defense had no answers for Goff and the Lions’ playmakers. The defense had come up with some stops in the first half, but the Lions did what it wanted in the second half. Goff threw for 334 yards and five touchdowns against his former coordinator while the Lions had 511 yards. Detroit scored points on all but one of its second-half drives when the game was already over, even going for it on fourth and 4 on the Bears’ 4 to make it 51-21. The offense, meanwhile, continued its issues from Monday’s opener against the Minnesota Vikings with mixed results. Penalties derailed drives once again while Williams also threw an interception and running back D’Andre Swift fumbled the ball in the first half. Chicago became easier to defend since it had to throw more and picked up eight first downs on its six second-half drives. When it finally ended, the Bears were left wondering what happened. “I feel like we just weren’t violent enough,” Bears wide receiver Rome Odunze, who had a career-high 128 receiving yards, said, looking for an answer. “Especially for this NFC opponent that we know plays that brand of football.”Despite the blowout, the Bears weren’t sounding the alarms after two games. Players repeated the refrain that 15 games remained, starting with Sunday’s game against the Dallas Cowboys. But things will need to start looking different. Chicago was plagued by inconsistent play in its two losses to start the year. Johnson believes they can right the ship with the group the Bears have.

“We have a lot of prideful guys,” Johnson said. “We’re two games into the season. I think they’re just as disappointed as the coaching staff is and we’re committed to getting this thing right. I have a lot of belief in them.”