3 Lions players who must step up in critical game vs. Bears

The Detroit Lions are headed back to the comfort of Ford Field for a Week 2 clash with the Chicago Bears.

The NFC North battle is the second in a row for both teams, with the Lions coming off a loss to the Green Bay Packers in Week 1 and the Bears looking to bounce back after a choking up a lead to the Minnesota Vikings on Monday Night Football to open their year.

This will be a huge return for Ben Johnson, the former Lions offensive coordinator who is now the Bears' head coach. It's also a huge game for John Morton, who has to prove that the Packers game was simply the result of the offensive line and Jared Goff feeling each other out in a new offensive system.

There are three specific Lions who will need to have big games in Week 2 in order to wipe away the memory, at least temporarily, of just how badly Week 1 went for the team.

3 Lions players who must step it up in Week 2

Jared Goff

While Goff struggled to find open receivers in Week 1 thanks to the Packers' elite defense in the secondary, Goff still looked like he wasn't ready to trust his pocket against Green Bay's pass rush. It's obvious that the play from Christian Mahogany, Penei Sewell, Graham Glasgow, and Tate Ratledge need to improve drastically so that Goff can thrive.

If the pocket is a bit cleaner, then Goff will have ample opportunity to bounce back from a performance featuring one garbage time touchdown and an interception.

The Lions' offensive line

As stated above, the first step to Goff managing to bounce back in Week 2 is him getting a better pocket to work with. With better blocking, the run game will open up, which will make everything easier for the Lions' offense.

The IOL is still young, so it's fair to expect some growing pains there. But, Sewell and Taylor Decker performing poorly really swung things away from the Lions' favor all game long.

With more reps, perhaps Mahogany and Ratledge can get a better feel for action and for protecting Goff, Jahmyr Gibbs, and David Montgomery. And, they can get a better feel for the communication necessary to avoid the several missed assignments that plagued the team in Week 1.

READ MORE: Lions make a swap at linebacker on their practice squad ahead of Week 2 vs. Bears

Chicago's defensive line isn't nearly as difficult to manage as Green Bay's. They generated just one sack on the day, with Montez Sweat and Dayo Odeyingbo the only true threats for the Bears defensively against their offensive line.

Marcus Davenport

All offseason long and throughout training camp, we heard about how much better Davenport looked as a pass rusher alongside Aidan Hutchinson. It's why head coach Dan Campbell said the team was "good for right now" in terms of adding another pass rush threat to the line.

Lo and behold, in Week 1, Davenport couldn't get anything accomplished against the Packers' offensive line, especially with them double teaming Hutchinson for most of the contest. Hutchinson is going to face a lot of coverage like that throughout the year, and it's why Davenport has to make them pay for that choice. Without any further pressure outside of Hutchinson, Detroit's pass rush will continue to struggle.