Bears and Lions Game Day Outlook

Detroit Lions (9-3) at Chicago Bears (4-8)

When: Noon, Sunday

Where: Soldier Field, Chicago

TV: Fox (Adam Amin, Mark Schlereth, Kristina Pink)

Streaming: fubo TV (free trial)

Radio: ESPN AM-1000 (Jeff Joniak, Tom Thayer, Jason McKie)

SportsUSA (Josh Appel, Mark Carrier)

Spanish Radio: Latino Mix 93.5 (Omar Ramos, Miguel Esparza)

The Line: Lions by 3 1/2 (Over/under 43 1/2)

BearDigest Pick: Lions 24, Bears 20

The Matchup: The rematch of a Week 11 game won 31-26 by the Lions with a miracle comeback in the last four minutes from a 26-14 deficit. Detroit remains in the hunt for home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, trailing Philadelphia by a game in the NFC, and looks to push to the brink of an NFC North title. The Lions lead the Vikings and Packers by three games in the divisional race. The Bears have been off since their 12-10 win on Monday Night Football during Week 12 and are trying to establish their first winning streak since they had won two straight going into the last week of the 2021 season before Matt Eberflus was coach.

The Series: The 188th game, including a 1933 Bears playoff win indoors at Chicago Stadium after a snowstorm. The Bears lead the series 104-78-5. The Lions have won the last three straight, including the last game at Soldier Field, 31-30 last November.

The Coaches: Bears coach Matt Eberflus Bears coach Matt Eberflus is 7-22 in his second season and 0-3 against Detroit.

Detroit coach Dan Campbell is 21-24 in his third season and 26-31 for four seasons overall in the NFL. He is 2-3 against the Bears with Detroit.

Last Week: The Lions went up on New Orleans 21-0 in the first quarter of Week 13 on David Montgomery's 2-yard TD run and Jared Goff TD throws to Sam LaPorta and Amon-Ra St. Brown. Then they hung on in the fourth quarter for a 33-28 victory. In Week 12 before the bye, the Bears let a 9-3 lead slip away in the fourth quarter as Justin Fields lost two fumbles, but they rallied for a 12-10 win on 30-yard Cairo Santos field goal at the end of a 10-play, 61-yard drive. Fields hit DJ Moore for 36 yards to set up the field goal.

Matching Up: The Lions are second on offense, fourth at passing and fourth rushing. They are 14th sixth in scoring. Detroit is 14th on defense, 21st against the pass and fifth against the run. They are 23rd in points allowed.

The Bears are 20th on offense, 25th at passing and third in rushing. They are 21st in scoring. Chicago is 11th on defense, 25th against the pass and No. 1 against the run. The Bears are 27th in points allowed.

Stat Leaders:
Lions QB Jared Goff is 291 of 430 (67.7%) for 3,288 yards with 20 TDs and eight interceptions, for a passer rating of 98.1. David Montgomery leads the Lions in rushing with 151 attempts for 704 yards (4.7 yards per carry) and 10 rushing TDs.WR Amon-Ra St. Brown has 84 receptions in 115 targets for 1,042 y ards to lead the Lions in receiving. He is tied with TE Sam LaPorta for the lead in TD catches with six. On defense, LB Alex Anzalone leads in tackles with 87 and slot CB Brian Branch leads in tackles for loss with seven. DE Aidan Hutchinson leads in sacks with 5 1/2. He leads in forced fumbles with two while CB Jerry Jacobs leads in interceptions with three.

Bears QB Justin Fields is 143 of 222 (64.4%) for 1,587 yards) with 12 TDs, six INTs and a passer rating of 92.3. He also leads the Bears in rushing with 400 yards on 77 attempts. RB D'Onta Foreman leads in rushing TDs with four. WR DJ Moore has the most receptions with 70 in 93 targets and in yardage at 1,003 and TDs with six. T.J. Edwards leads the defense with 127 tackles while Justin Jones has a team-high seven tackles for loss. DE Yannick Ngakoue leads in sacks with three while Jaylon Johnson is the leader in interceptions with three. Nine different Bears have forced a fumble.

Injury Report: For the Bears, WR Equanimeous St. Brown (pectoral) is out. WR Velus Jones Jr. (illness), DE Yannick Ngakoue (knee) and WR Tyler Scott (hamstring) are questionable.

For the Lions, C Frank Ragnow (knee, back) and QB Hendon Hooker (knee) are out. LB Malcolm Rodriguez (ankle) is questionable. DT Alim McNeill was placed on IR earlier this week (knee).

Notable: The Bears have lost nine straight following a bye week dating back to their last win under Marc Trestman in 2013. ... The Lions are 9-3 for the first time since 1962. ... Detroit leads the NFL in plays of 20 yards plus with 64. ... The Lions and Dolphins are the only teams in the league ranked in the top five in passing and rushing. ... Lions TE LaPorta is the first rookie at his position in history with 60 catches, 600 yards receiving and six TDs in his first 12 games and first rookie tight end to get 140 yards receiving and a TD since Pete Mitchell in 1995. ... Bears DE Montez Sweat needs one sack for his first double-digit sack season. He had a sack against Detroit in the earlier game. ... Hutchinson has only one sack in the last seven games. It was the strip-sack of Fields at Detroit. ... Goff had gone five straight games against the Bears without an interception before he threw three at Detroit last month.

Key Individual Matchups

Bears DE Montez Sweat vs. Lions T Penei Sewell

Sweat started the last game right against the Lions by sacking Goff in the first series, setting a tone for the rest of the game. He has 2 1/2 of his nine sacks while with the Bears and needs four pressures to past his pressures total for all of last season (31). He has nine pressure since coming to the Bears and 28 on the year. He's going against Sewell, graded No. 1 by Pro Football Focus in the NFL this year. The one sack he allowed this year was the one to Sweat in the last game. He has six penalties.

Bears WR DJ Moore vs. Lions CB Jerry Jacobs

Now ninth in receiving yards in the league (1,003) and over 1,000 for the fourth time in his six-year career, Moore will be looking to add to his TD total against a Lions secondary that allowed him into the end zone on a 39-yard pass last time. Moore has averaged 6.2 catches for 99 yards in games he has played with Fields as QB. Jacobs has a respectable 92.0 passer rating against when targeted but has been beaten five times for TDs this year according to Sportradar and allows 63.6% completions (49 of 77). he is graded the 83rd cornerback out of 119 in the league according to PFF.

Bears CB Kyler Gordon vs. Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown

The Bears slot cornerback is graded 79th of 119 cornerbacks by PFF and has a 97.1 passer rating against when targeted with 81.1% completions allowed (30 of 37) according to Sportradar. Gordon made his first interception of the season and fourth pass breakup last week against the Vikings. St. Brown will move all over the formation, although he's listed as a slot receiver. St. Brown is sixth in the league in receptions with 84 and in yards (1,042). He's eighth in yards after the catch (410). He has been held below 10 yards a catch only twice this season, once by the Bears (9.6) and the other by Baltimore (7.8).

Bears LB T.J. Edwards vs. Lions RB David MontgomeryEdwards is tied for third in tackles in the league with 127 and is graded 12th among NFL linebackers by PFF and also 11th against the run. He has been so-so in pass coverage at 98.2 passer rating against and 53 of 61 completions allowed (86.9%), although he has interceptions in each of the last two games. Montgomery, the former Bears starter, had 76 yards on 12 carries against the Bears last time in Detroit, including a 22-yarder. The Lions haven't used Montgomery much as a receiver, with just nine catches, because they have Jahmyr Gibbs, who has 42 catches for 272 yards. It's a powerful tackler at 242 pounds against a strong runner at 224 pounds.

Bears S Jaquan Brisker vs. Lions TE Sam LaPorta

No doubt the Bears would love to repeat what they did against the Lions rookie in the fist game, with career lows of three catches and 18 yards. Their zone kept him blanketed in the spots he normally likes to find for the big catches and some of the credit goes to Brisker, who hasn't been the most consistent player in coverage but has his moments. His second career interception and a pass breakup came last game and his passer rating against is 98.0 when targeted, with a 59.5% completion percentage according to PFF. He benefited in the last game also from the coverage of middle linebacker Tremaine Edmunds, who returned then from injury and was on limited play count. LaPorta is graded seventh-best tight end as a receiver this year by PFF, one spot ahead of Cole Kmet. He still needs work as a blocker but his receiving skills as a third-down target are making the Lions offense go this year.

Bears T Darnell Wright vs. Lions DE Aidan Hutchinson

Wright had a good game against the second-year Lions pass rusher in November untnil the final Bears possession with 29 seconds left. Then he allowed the strip-sack for a safety to finish off the chances for a miracle comeback. Wright's PFF grade has gradually slid to 55th among 83 tackles and he's quite a bit behind Pittsburgh's Broderick Thomas (43rd), another tackle the Bears could have selected. Hutchinson has had to battle plenty of double teams this year as his reputation built after an outstanding rookie year. He also hasn't had the benefit of pass rusher James Houston on the other side because of an injury that has left him on IR. Even with the opponents focusing on him, Hutchinson is graded sixth by PFF among edge rushers and fourth as a pass rusher and his other rush numbers indicate he is battling. He has 36 pressures, six more than all last year, and 16 QB hits, one more than he had all last year.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven