Do the Bears have any shot vs. Lions in Week 2? Here’s what NFL experts think

NFL experts have weighed in on Week 2's Bears vs. Lions game, and it isn't great for Chicago.

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The Chicago Bears almost upset the Minnesota Vikings on Monday Night Football in Week 1. In fact, they probably should've won that game.

Armed with a 17-6 lead in the second half, an ice-cold Caleb Williams and a defense that lost its mojo allowed J.J. McCarthy and the Vikings to storm back and eventually steal the win, 24-27.

What's happened since the Bears' meltdown was predictable. Talking heads are questioning Williams' capacity to handle Ben Johnson's offense. Those same talking heads were already circling Williams during the preseason.

With Week 2 quickly approaching, Williams and the Bears must get off to a fast start in Detroit against a Lions team that also lost a frustrating division game to the Green Bay Packers in Week 1.

Williams said this week that the trust he and Ben Johnson have in each other will ultimately lead to better results as the weeks march on.

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“Trusting and believing,” Williams said. “Being able to trust Coach Johnson and being able to trust my teammates and things like that, keep doing what I was doing in the first half. Taking what the defense gives me, moving the ball down the field, and being decisive. There was a lot of positive that came out of that. Obviously, we had negatives within that game, like Coach Johnson said, we had more negative plays than they did, and we lost the game.

“It’s being able to find in those moments where maybe a drive goes bad, finding ways to come back together and go out on the next drive and be efficient and do what we did in the first half.”

The Bears will search for those moments in the unfriendly confines of Ford Field against a team that's one season removed from winning the NFC North with a 15-2 record and a team that's mostly intact. Sure, the Lions no longer have Johnson running the offense or Aaron Glenn running the defense, but it'll take at least a few more weeks to really gauge the impact of the coaching staff changes.

Still, Week 1's meltdown by the Chicago Bears apparently left a more sour taste for NFL experts than the Lions' loss did, as an overwhelming 94% of experts who picked this game have Detroit getting the win.

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One of the biggest variables this week, as it is in every NFL game, is penalties. The Bears were penalized 12 times against the Vikings. In a three-point game that came down to the wire, mistakes like that are often the difference between a win and a loss.

Johnson said clean football will be a point of emphasis in Week 2.

"It's going to be a playoff-like atmosphere," Johnson said. "Ford Field has been something else over the last couple of years, so we're going to have to be at our best. Certainly, we haven't been good enough over the course of camp. We haven't been good Week 1, and so this is going to be a huge point of emphasis for us going forward."

Maybe it will come down to something as simple as that. Maybe clean football will lead to a Bears win.

But reality will likely paint a very different picture. Caleb Williams has to make big throws in big moments. The Bears need a healthy defense to combat what should be a still-potent Lions offense. Ben Johnson needs to call an A+ game, which, by his own admission, he didn't do against the Vikings.

So, sure, it makes sense that almost all of the experts think the Bears will lose. But that's how Chicago should want it. They can play free and loose and with very little pressure. Sometimes, that's what leads to an unexpected win.

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