Jim Schwartz likely will have a few words for his Lions team this week about tackling, and the 61- and 37-yard runs by Bears RB Matt Forte are sure to be on the projection screen when he's doing so. But those words also ring true for a special-teams group that was simply awful in the Bears' 48-24 win over the Lions in Chicago on Sunday. Despite scoring eight times, the Bears had only one drive longer than 48 yards and no drives of more than six plays. The short fields the Lions gave the Bears all day on special teams were the real killer.

The PFW spin

There actually were some tangible positives for the defense. Throw out the two runs by Forte, and the Bears gained only 178 yards on the other 48 plays. The Lions held Bears QB Jay Cutler to 4.2 yards per pass play and only allowed a few long completions in their safe, two-deep defense. They also had two sacks and some pressures — there were a few positives on that side of the ball.

Of course, the special-teams performance was inexcusable. Bears KR Johnny Knox ran back the opening kickoff of the second half for 102 yards and a touchdown, a play on which Jordon Dizon and newly signed Adam Jennings both overran the play and got out of their gaps. In fact, by the time Knox hit his own 27-yard line, eight of the 11 Lions on the coverage team were behind him. With Knox's speed, that's a death sentence. Later, Danieal Manning subbed for Knox and had a 43-yard return that led to another short field for the Bears.

The poor coverage wasn't restricted to the kickoffs, either. The Bears averaged an unacceptable 17.4 yards on five punt returns, including a 25-yarder by Earl Bennett and a 24-yarder by Devin Hester. All told, the Lions allowed the Bears' return units (277) more yardage than the Bears' offense (276).

Regarding the Lions' kickoff returns, you could feel a change was coming even before this game started. The Lions had fired shots across rookie Aaron Brown's bow last week, not so subtly letting him know his KR job was on the line. He had an 87-yard return in the opener against the Saints but only averaged 18.8 yards per return since. So what did he do? He muffed the opening kickoff return and later found himself replaced by Jennings, who was signed on Thursday after being cut in training camp.

On eight kickoff returns, Brown averaged a putrid 18.6 yards on Sunday. The average starting position following a kickoff for the Lions was their own 21-yard line.

"To be in a situation where our average start was after a kickoff, obviously changes need to be made, and we're not afraid to make them," Schwartz said.

Even normally reliable PK Jason Hanson and P Nic Harris had poor days. Hanson booted one kickoff out of bounds, though it came at the end of the first half and the Bears didn't score, and Harris' short punt allowed Hester to give the Bears great field position. Harris' five punts netted only 26.2 yards, though the coverage was clearly awful.

Of the Bears' nine scores, five of them came on offensive drives that were 35 yards or shorter, including the Knox return. The Lions' average starting position was their own 18-yard line, and the Bears' was the Lions' 46-yard line. Considering that the 46 was only about 10 yards outside of Bears PK Robbie Gould's range, that was a formula for disaster.