Bears and Lions Preview for Game Day

Chicago Bears (3-12) at Detroit Lions (7-8)

Kickoff: Noon, Sunday, Ford Field, Detroit

TV: Fox (Kenny Albert, Jonathan Vilma, Shannon Spake)

Streaming: fubo TV (Sign up for free trial)

Radio: WBBM AM-780, FM-105.9 (Jeff Joniak, Tom Thayer, Mark Grote)

Spanish Radio TUDN AM-1200, Latino Mix FM-93.5 (Omar Ramos, Miguel Esparza)

NFL On SiriusXM: Bears broadcast 119 & 385; Lions broadcast 108 & 230

Latest Betting Line: Lions by 4 1/2 (Over/under 51 1/2). Money Line, Bears bet $100 to win $205. Lions, bet $250 to win $100. Most up to date betting info at SI.com sportsbook.

BearDigest Record: 12-3, against the spread 7-7-1.

The Series: The 186th regular-season game. The Bears are 104-76-5 all-time against the Lions, including a 44-46-1 record playing on the road. The Lions won at Soldier Field 31-30 on Nov. 13. The Bears have won four straight in Detroit.

The Coaches: Bears coach Matt Eberflus is 3-12 in his first season including 0-1 against the Lions. Lions coach Dan Campbell is 10-21-1 in his second season with Detroit, and 15-28-1 overall as an NFL head coach. He is 1-2 against the Bears.

Last Week:

The Bears led the Buffalo Bills 10-6 at halftime on a day when wind chill hit 12-below zero for kickoff at Soldier Field, but the Bills scored a touchdown, then took advantage of a David Montgomery fumble and scored again to take control 35-13. The Bears lost despite three takeaways for the second straight week, including interceptions by Kyler Gordon, Nick Morrow and an Elijah Hicks fumble recovery. The Bills held the Bears to 80 yards rushing, their second-lowest total of the season, and Justin Fields had a season-low 11 rushing yards.

The Lions needed a win over Carolina and were soundly beaten on the road 34-20 after coming up with a fourth-quarter TD. The Lions gave up 320 yards rushing to Carolina and had only 45 yards rushing themselves. Jared Goff threw for 355 yards and three TDs, hitting on 25 of 42. Receiver DJ Chark had four catches for 108 yards and TE Shane Zylstra had all three Lions TD catches.

This Season: The Bears have lost eight straight to match a franchise record and break the mark with a loss. They have lost seven times by a touchdown and two point conversion or less. Justin Fields makes his 25th career start Sunday and has a passer rating of 88.3 on the season with 16 TD passes, 10 interceptions and 62.3% completions (185 of 297). He has run for 1,011 yards on 150 carries and needs 196 yards to break the QB rushing record held by Lamar Jackson. TE Cole Kmet leads the Bears with 44 receptions for 460 yards. Darnell Mooney has the most receiving yards (493) but is on IR. Running back David Montgomery has 756 yards on 188 carries with five TDs. while RB Khalil Herbert leads all NFL running backs in yards per carry at 5.7. The Bears are last in sacks with 18, and safety Jaquan Brisker leads the team with four. CB Kyler Gordon needs an interception to tie for the team lead with Eddie Jackson (4), who is on IR.

The Lions started out 1-6 but roared back to reach .500 at 7-7, then lost to Carolina and need a win to have a shot at a wild card spot. They would be eliminated with a loss on Sunday and a Washington win over Cleveland. QB Jared Goff needs 41 yards to hit 4,000 yards for the season.He is 338 of 524 for 3,959 yards with 26 TDs and seven interceptions for a passer rating of 98.3. Slot WR Amon-Ra St. Brown, brother of Bears receiver Equanimeous St. Brown, has 96 receptions for 1,050 yards and six TDs. The rest of his throws have gone to varying targets, with Kalif Raymond having 40 catches and Josh Reynods 36. DJ Chark (25) and Jameson Williams (1 catch, 41 yards) have been injured much of the year but are now healthy. TE Shane Zylstra has 10 catches but four went for TDs. Rookie edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson has seven sacks and former Illinois defensive back Kerby Joseph leads the Lions with three interceptions.

Matching Up:

The Bears are 26th on offense, 32nd (last) passing and first rushing. They are 22nd in scoring. Chicago is 24th on defense, 12th against the pass and 30th against the run. Only the Lions have allowed more points than the Bears.
The Lions are 4th on offense, eighth passing and 16th rushing. They are fifth in scoring. Detroit is 32nd (last) on defense, 30th against the pass and 28th against the run. The Lions have allowed more points than any team in the NFL.

Injury Report:

Bears: G Ja'Tyre Carter (back) and LB Sterling Weatherford (illness) are out. WR Chase Claypool (knee), WR Dante Pettis (ankle) and TE Trevon Wesco (calf) are questionable.
Lions: T Kayode Awosika (ankle) and S DeShon Elliott (shoulder) are out. RB Justin Jackson (hip), C Frank Ragnow (foot) and LB Josh Woods (biceps) are questionable.

Of Note: Goff had three 300-yard passing games in December. He had nine TDs but no interceptions. ... Goff hasn't thrown an INT in seven games and is the only NFL QB with as many as 25 TD passes but as few as seven INTs. When he gets 41 more yards he'll hit 4,000 yards for the third time in his career. The Bears are 278 yards rushing away from the franchise record set in 1984. ... Fields is seventh in the NFL in rushing. ... Lions TEs need two TD catches to break the franchise record for TE TD catches. ... St. Brown is one of only three players (Michael Thomas, Odell Beckham Jr.) to have 90-plus catches in their first two seasons.

Next Week: The Bears finish the season at home against the Vikings at noon Sunday while the Lions finish at noon Sunday at Green Bay.

Key Individual Matchups

Bears CB Josh Blackwell vs. Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown

St. Brown goes all over the field and the easiest place for him to pick apart the secondary should be inside, if Blackwell is manning the slot again. Blackwell is very limited in experience. He's been on the field for only 92 passes and has been targeted only 10 times. Ra might get targeted 10 times in a half. Graded as the second-best receiver in the league by PFF, St. Brown has had six catches or more seven straight games. He had 10 catches for 119 yards in the first game against the Bears and their secondary was still intact at that point.

Bears CB Jaylon Jones vs. Lions WR DJ Chark

Chark gives more verticality and 50-50 chances to the Lions passing attack. The 6-4, 198-pound former Jaguars receiver has returned for the last six games from an ankle injury and had serious rep totals in the last give. In those five, he has had 94 receiving yards or more three times. The Bears probably never anticipated they'd be using an undrafted cornerback from Mississippi on 46% of all their defensive snaps this year but this is what their injury situation has come to in the secondary. Jones has been targeted 42 times, according to Sportradar, had has a respectable passer rating against of 92.0. He has allowed just one TD catch and just made his first two pass breakups of the season against Buffalo.

Bears CB Kyler Gordon vs. Lions WR Josh Reynolds

Reynolds averages 3.3 catches and 53.3 yards against the Bears and has battled through ankle, knee and back injuries this year. His experience probably makes him a better target for the Lions against the Bears than Jameson Williams, who is their future. Reynolds makes big plays of at all depths in the secondary when healthy. Gordon has been forced into a leadership role as a rookie and starting with the Nov. 27 game against Atlanta has played at a higher level. He still has spurts when he doesn't tackle as well as he needs to but his coverage has been outstanding, particularly the last two games when they moved him outside more.

Bears DE Trevis Gipson vs. Lions T Penei Sewell

The second-year Lions right tackle has allowed only two sacks on the year and is graded the 10th best tackle by PFF. His run blocking has been stellar, even more effective than his pass blocking, but the Lions have been at their best throwing. Gipson remains active but unproductive for the Bears as a rusher or stopping the run. His ceiling seemed high a year ago in a 3-4 scheme as the third edge behind Khalil Mack and Robert Quinn. He had seven sacks as Mack's replacement and now hasn't had one since Week 2. He is graded 114th among 120 edge players PFF grades and 118th against the run. Coach Matt Eberflus has been talking about moving Justin Jones out to end more and it wouldn't be a surprise if they did it this game against Sewell's power blocking.

Bears RT Riley Reiff vs. Lions DE Aidan Hutchinson

It's no easy accomplishment for a rookie to crack the top 25 at the edge position for PFF considering how many good edge players there are in the league but the former Michigan standout has done this. His combination of relentless play and intelligence with solid technique has led to seven sacks and 13 quarterback hits, as well as two interceptions. He had a sack and a season-high eight tackles against the Bears in Chicago. Reiff has allowed three sacks and is graded the 50th tackle among 81 PFF has graded. It's unclear whether the Bears plan to alternate Alex Leatherwood again with him at the position. They did this for two games and last week only put Leatherwood on the field for a play. Reiff provided a little more stability at the position.

Bears DT Justin Jones vs. Lions LG Jonah Jackson

Jackson, the former Ohio State standout, has ascended in the view of analysts and is ranked 21st among the league's guards and 11th as a run blocker. His consistency as a pass blocker still needs to improve but he hasn't allowed a sack. Jones could be slid down to end more in this game but at his usual three technique spot for the year hasn't pleased the analytics sect. PFF rates him 112 of 125 defensive tackles graded. He has had tackles for loss in just one of the last 10 games after a solid start. His last sack came in Week 5 and he has two for the year.

Bears G Teven Jenkins vs. Lions DT Isaiah Buggs

Jenkins' return this week from a neck injury brings back the guard ranked fourth by PFF this year, third as a run blocker. It should have been no surprise that without Jenkins and starting left guard Cody Whitehair, the Bears struggled on the ground last week. Buggs is a Steelers sixth-round draft pick who was waived and picked up this year by the Lions. He is ranked 101 stopping the run out of 125 interior defensive linemen by PFF and has 38 tackles with one sack and no tackles for loss. The 6-foot-3, 295-pounder will have a hard time matching strength against 6-6, 320-pound, highly mobile Jenkins.

Bears TE Cole Kmet vs. Lions LB Alex Anzalone

Kmet's single-game yardage high as a receiver for this year came against the Lions earlier when he had 74 yards on four receptions but defending the pass is supposed to be Anzalone's strength. The real place Kmet can do damage in this game is at the second level as a blocker. He has become a much better run blocker this year while Anzalone ranks 82nd among 85 linebackers graded by PFF at defending the run.

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