Bears and Lions Game Day Outlook

Chicago Bears (3-7) at Detroit Lions (7-2)

When: Noon, Sunday

Where: Ford Field, Detroit, Mich.

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

Streaming: fubo TV (free trial)

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

SportsUSA, WGN AM-720 and WSCR AM-670 (Josh Appel, Brandon Noble)

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

The Line: Lions by 7 1/2 (Over/under 47 1/2)

BearDigest Pick: Lions 31, Bears 17

The Matchup: The Bears look to end their 11-game NFC North losing streak with Justin Fields starting at quarterback for the first time since Week 6 against Minnesota, when he suffered a dislocated thumb. Running back Khalil Herbert and fullback Khari Blasingame also return from injuries as the entire starting Bears backfield returns to face a Lions team led by former Bears running back David Montgomery. Detroit leads the NFC North by 1 1/2 games over Minnesota and the two Lions losses came to Baltimore and Seattle.

The Series: The 187th game overall, including a playoff in 1933 won by the Bears indoors 9-0 at Chicago Stadium after a blizzard forced the game to be moved indoors. The Bears lost both games to the Lions last year and their last win in the series was at Ford Field in 2021 on Thanksgiving, 16-14. The Bears have won seven of the last 10 games in the series.

The Coaches: Bears coach Matt Eberflus is 6-21 in his second season and lost both games last year against the Lions.

Lions coach Dan Campbell is 19-23-1 in his third year and 24-30 overall for four NFL seasons as a head coach. He has a 2-2 record against the Bears with Detroit.

Last Week: The Bears beat the Panthers 16-13 with their defense allowing a season-low 213 total yards, while D'Onta Foreman ran for 80 yards and a TD. The Lions got a 41-yard field goal from Riley Patterson to beat the L.A. Chargers on 41-38. Montgomery ran for 116 yards while QB Jared Goff threw for two TDs and 333 yards.

Matching Up: The Bears are ranked 20th on offense, 24th passing and fifth rushing. They are 19th in scoring. Chicago is 15th on defense, second against the run and 26th against the pass. They are 27th in scoring defense.

The Lions are ranked second on offense, fourth rushing and fourth at passing. They are sixth in scoring. Detroit is ninth on defense, 20th against the pass and third against the run. The Lions are 20th in scoring defense.

Stat Leaders: For the Bears, Fields is 100 of 162 (61.7%) for 1,201 yards with 11 TDs, six INTs and a passer rating of 91.6. ... D'Onta Foreman leads the Bears in rushing with 367 yards on 86 carries (4.3 ypc) and three TDs. ... WR DJ Moore leads the Bears in receptions with 52 for a team-high 793 yards and is tied with TE Cole Kmet for the TD receptions lead at five. ... LB T.J. Edwards leads the Bears and is second in the NFL in tackles with 112. DT Justin Jones leads in tackles for loss with seven. ... DE Yannick Ngakoue leads in sacks with 3.0 and Jaylon Johnson in interceptions with two. Tyrique Stevenson leads in pass defenses with six.

For the Lions Goff is 223 of 326 (68.4%) passing for 2,507 yards with 14 TDs, five INTs and a passer rating of 99.1. ... Montgomery leads in rushing with 501 yards on 106 carries (4.7 ypc) for seven TDs while WR Amon-Ra St. Brown leads in receptions with 65, yards receiving with 821 and is tied for TD catches with TE Sam LaPorta at four. ... LB Alex Anzalone leads the Lions in tackles with 66 and is tied with DT Alim McNeill in tackles for loss with five. ... Edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson has a team-high 4.5 sacks and CB Jerry Jacobs has three interceptions and seven pass breakups.

Injury Report: For the Bears, LB Noah Sewell is out (knee). LB Jack Sanborn (ankle), LB Tremaine Edmunds (knee) and Foreman (ankle) are questionable. For the Lions, DT Isaiah Buggs (illness) and G Jonah Jackson (wrist/ankle) are out. S Ifeatu Melifonwu (hand) is questionable.

Noteable: The Bears are looking for their first winning streak since Weeks 16-17 of 2021. ... Edwards has 12-plus tackles in three straight games and now is over 100 tackles for the third straight year. His 112 tackles in 10 gagmes are the most by a Bears player on record for 10 games. ... The Bears have run for 133 yards or more in six of their last seven games. ... The Bears defense has allowed 97 yards rushing or less in seven straight games and an average of 56.4 yards a game in that stretch. ... Montgomery's three 100-yard rushing games is tied for the league lead. He already is the first Lions player with 350-plus yards rushing and five TDs in a four-game span since Barry Sanders in 1997. ... Amon-Ra St. Brown has six 100-yard receiving games on the year, tying him for the NFL lead. If he gets another he will join Odell Beckham Jr. and Isaac Bruce as the league's only players under 25 years of age to net five straight 100-yard games.

Key Individual Matchups

Bears DE Montez Sweat vs. Lions RT Penei Sewell

Sweat doesn't have a sack yet but has definitely taken pressure off new teammates on the defensive line as the Bears had successive strong games from a pressure standpoint. He'll usually command double-teams but maybe not in this game because the Lions will have 6-5, 335-pound former Pro Bowl tackle Sewell to do the blocking. Sewell hasn't allowed a sack, has six penalties and is graded the second-best tackle in the league overall by Pro Football Focus.

Bears LB T.J. Edwards vs. Lions RB Jahmyr Gibbs

The league's second-leading tackler, Edwards is graded 13th overall among linebackers by PFF and sixth against the run. Gibbs is going to challenge Bears linebackers both as a receiver and runner. At 200 pounds, he's not physically imposing but has great acceleration and runs through tackles. He has 16 fewer carries than Montgomery and has 25 yards less than Montgomery in a perfectly balanced Lions backfield attack. Gibbs' 31 catches are the third-most on the team.

Bears LG Teven Jenkins vs. Lions DT Benito Jones

Jenkins hasn't let being moved around from left guard to right guard and now back to left be a crutch. He simply does whatever is asked effectively. He's graded 11th by PFF among guards and probably was a little more effective at right guard lined up alongside rookie Darnell Wright, but wasn't bad on the left side either. He played 276 snaps at right guard and all last season was there, so he's probably more comfortable on that side after only 103 on the left side where he will be playing. Jones is graded 107th of 125 interior defensive linemen in the league and the lowest of all the Lions. He won't be on the field on passing downs but will be facing Jenkins on first downs and in short yardge.

Bears CB Jaylon Johnson vs. Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown

It's not a matchup guaranteed because of their positions. Johnson usually is outside and St. Brown in the slot, but the Bears have moved Johnson there in the past against top receivers and can be expected to do it some on Sunday. In terms of pure speed, they're probably evenly matched, but St. Brown has excellent football speed and plays the game making decisions at a rapid rate. Johnson's challenge will be keeping his head around and not getting pass interference trying to stay with the brother of Bears receiver Equanimeous St. Brown. Johnson has a passer rating against of 61.5 when targeted according to Sportradar. The 61.1% completions he's given up is the highest percentage he's allowed when targeted during his career.

Bears WR DJ Moore vs. Lions CB Jerry Jacobs

Jacobs is leading the Lions in interceptions with three and allows only 56.9% completions with a 69.1 passer rating when targeted according to Sportradar. He's about the same size as Moore at 5-foot-11. Moore hasn't gone over 58 yards receiving in the last five games, since Fields suffered his thumb injury. But Fields is back.

Bears S Jaquan Brisker vs. Lions TE Sam LaPorta

Brisker came back from a concussion and had a solid game after getting beat on one deep ball against Carolina. Brisker's passer rating against has ballooned this year to 114.6. He has allowed three TD catches according to Sportradar, but just 59.4% completions when targeted. Coming up in coverage to stop LaPorta will be a challenge and they may count on him more to do it because of the injury to middle linebacker Tremaine Edmunds. LaPorta, the rookie sensation, is 6-3, 245 and 24 of his 47 receptions have gone for first downs. He has been Mr. Third Down for the Lions so far.

Bears RT Darnell Wright vs. Lions Edge Aidan Hutchinson

Wright refuses to let the shoulder injury he suffered be a problem but his PFF blocking grades have declined slightly in games since he had the injury. PFF said he allowed four pressures in the last game but none of consequence, but tracked his run blocking as being down. Hutchinson's sacks are down slightly this year at 4 1/2 but he already has more pressures (32) than he had all last season (30).

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