ALLEN PARK, Mich. -- The Detroit Lions broke a seven-game losing streak dating back to last season on Sunday in a 37-34 overtime win over Chicago.

While the Lions insisted they weren’t going to change all that much other than some small tweaks, there were some noticeable differences both during the week and Sunday that could have potentially led to the somewhat obvious change in play.

The big one was throwing downfield and opening up the offense -- something I covered Monday in writing about Calvin Johnson -- and that’s a thing Detroit has to continue if it wants sustained success. Here are a few other things that changed in the last week that the Lions need to stick with in the future.

Theo Riddick and the Lions' running game had a strong day against the Bears, and that opened up the play-action pass. Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images

1.Joe Lombardi upstairs in the box: Lance Moore said he didn’t even notice it until late in the game. Matthew Stafford said the difference was the “Tennessee twang” coming through his helmet before plays. But it was a pretty stark change even if the Lions downplayed it after. Lombardi called by far his best game of the season. There was better sequencing, more downfield shots and a greater comfort level all around. The shift in the offense was noticeable, even if Jim Caldwell downplayed it after the game. He said Lombardi had wanted to make the move for a while -- why he didn’t earlier, then, is a question for him this week -- but there was a clear benefit. The Lions put up the second-most offensive yards in a game this season, 546 – two yards shy of the 548 yards San Diego put up later Sunday.

2.Lions crushed it on play action: This worked because Detroit actually had rushing success -- 32 carries, 155 yards – but it opened up play action for Stafford. The Lions ran nine play action plays and Stafford was 5 of 7 for 173 yards with one rush for one yard and a sack taken. But this was one of the principles Lombardi wanted in his offensive identity and the Lions nailed it.

3.It worked because of the run: Sure, the Lions were playing a pretty poor run defense in Chicago, but the Lions kept running the ball, even whey were down to only Theo Riddick in the backfield. They more than doubled their rushing yardage in any single game from this season and actually gained more yards Sunday than they did in their first three games combined. The 4.84 yards per carry was the highest of the Caldwell/Lombardi era in Detroit by a hundredth of a yard.

4.No individual introductions: This, legitimately, is a very small thing. But it was a message Caldwell was trying to send as a way to unite his team. Typically, the Lions will introduce offensive or defensive starters prior to games at Ford Field. Instead, the Lions went with just the entire team at once. Caldwell said it was “what we had to be in order for us to make any strides.” Whether that continues in the future is a question, but it was clearly a message sent.

5.Moving Laken Tomlinson into the lineup even though Larry Warford played: This was bound to happen at some point, but Tomlinson appears to have finally earned his spot at left guard next to Riley Reiff. Sure, some of this may have had to do with checking Warford’s ankle -- at some point Manny Ramirez came in for him -- but this had to give Tomlinson some confidence as well. He should remain the starter there for the rest of the way.