The Chicago Bears are 4-7 going into their Week 13 Thanksgiving matchup as 10.5-point road dogs against the 10-1 Detroit Lions. The Lions are 6-4 against the Bears in Detroit over the last 10 years and 5-5 against the spread.
Detroit is the best team in the NFL against the spread with a record of 9-2. The Lions have won six of their last eight games by double digits. The reality is that the Lions might be the best team the Bears face all season.
Bears On Tap talked through the Lions’ roster and how the Bears could attack them. Before the season kicked off, we spoke with Ryan Mathews, the Senior Editor for Pride of Detroit about the Lions’ strengths, weaknesses, and how the Bears should attack their roster. Both episodes are available on YouTube, Apple, and Spotify. Our conversations led to these concepts for the Bears’ victory on Sunday.
In Week 12, the Bears let Caleb Williams off the leash in the final two minutes of the game. New offensive coordinator Thomas Brown told him to “be Superman,” and Williams delivered with 10 points scored in the final two minutes of regulation.
Given the Bears’ roster talent at wide receiver, running back, and tight end, Williams has all of the tools at his disposal to do ridiculous things. With a good game plan, timely play calls, continued growth from the offense, and a few ridiculous moments from the rookie quarterback, the Bears will have a chance to win this game.
2. Play Clean Football
The Bears need to play clean, quality football in Thursday’s game. This sounds obvious, but it needs to be said. When the Bears are losing games because of special teams gaffs, poor communication from coaches, and rotating pieces in the secondary, playing clean football needs to be a point of focus. The Bears haven’t played much clean football this year, and it shows in their 4-7 record.
Chicago has accumulated more penalty yardage than its opponent seven times this season. The Bears have lost at least one game due to a blocked field goal, and one on a Hail Mary. This doesn’t look like a serious football team, and until they start to look like one, the idea of clean football can’t be assumed. The standard is the standard, and the way the Bears have been playing is well below it.
1. Make Jared Goff Uncomfortable
Even though most Bears fans want Matt Eberflus gone, he did an outstanding job of making Jared Goff uncomfortable last season. Goff totaled 397 yards, three touchdowns, five interceptions, and six sacks across two games against Chicago. The Lions’ quarterback has had issues with the Bears in his career, even before Eberflus took over. In nine games against Chicago, Goff has averaged 214 yards with 13 touchdowns, nine interceptions, and 18 sacks with a 5-4 record.
In all honesty, I think the Bears are a boogeyman of sorts for Goff. In 2018, Goff was an MVP candidate until coming to Soldier Field late in the year. He fell apart in that contest and the game plan that then-Bears defensive coordinator Vic Fangio used was parroted in the Super Bowl by Bill Belichick.
Maybe Goff gets the monkey off his back on Thanksgiving. He does have a new sense of confidence and swagger to him this season. While Goff has put together solid games against the Bears since that fateful 2018 night, the Bears just have a knack for making him uncomfortable. When teams slow down the Lions’ run game and get Goff to throw the football outside of their play-action, heavy-box comfort zone, the Lions’ offense becomes beatable.
Bears Players to Watch
Gervon Dexter Sr: After an energizing performance against the Minnesota Vikings this past Sunday, the Bears will need Dexter to bring that energy again against the Lions. His raw power and tenacity are major keys for the Bears’ defense against both the run and the pass. Last season, Dexter won some reps as an EDGE rusher against Penei Sewell.
T.J. Edwards: Coming off his worst game of the season from a coverage standpoint, Edwards will surely be pitted against Sam LaPorta and Jahmyr Gibbs in the passing game. He needs to prove his value to keep the Lions from spamming the football in his direction.
D’Andre Swift: Nothing like a good revenge game. The starting running backs for both teams have revenge on their mind. Swift has never played the team that drafted him, and he has a chance to make big plays with how much man coverage the Lions run.