Odds Lions Beat Bears in Week 17
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On Sunday at Ford Field, the Detroit Lions (7-8) will attempt to notch their second straight win against the Chicago Bears (3-12).
The Lions, which are winners of six of their last eight, are coming off a disappointing 37-23 loss at the hands of the Carolina Panthers.
Meanwhile, the Bears are losers of eight in a row, and have yet to beat an NFC North squad this season (0-4).
In order for Detroit to keep Chicago winless within the NFC North, a couple of things will need to happen. The Lions will need to prevent Bears quarterback Justin Fields from thrashing them on the ground, and they'll need to get their own run game back on track.
More: Lions Expect Large, Standing Room Only Crowd at Ford Field
In the last meeting between these two teams (a 31-30 win for Detroit in Week 10), Fields ran all over the Lions, producing 147 yards and a season-best two touchdowns on 13 carries. He also threw for two touchdowns in the divisional tilt.
For Fields, the 147-yard output was his second-best rushing performance of the season. He amassed north of that total in Week 9, when he ran for 178 yards and a touchdown against the Miami Dolphins.
On the season, the Ohio State product has rushed for 1,011 yards -- the most among all NFL passers -- and eight touchdowns. He's also currently averaging 72.2 rushing yards per contest, and has run for 70-plus yards in five of his last six games.
Meanwhile, Detroit has struggled in stopping the run -- and against mobile quarterbacks (as noted above) -- all season long.
Just a week ago, the Panthers gashed the Lions on the ground, to the tune of 320 yards. Detroit's rush defense, in fact, allowed two of Carolina's backs to rush for north of 100 yards in the contest: D'Onta Foreman (165) and Chuba Hubbard (125).
Additionally, going into its Week 17 matchup with Chicago, Detroit defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn's unit has permitted the fifth-most rushing yards (2,188) and the second-most rushing TDs (22).
It makes me think that Glenn & Co. will have their hands full on Sunday against Fields.
"The number one thing that we learned (in Week 10) is how strong this player (Fields) is," Glenn told reporters earlier this week. "We had him wrapped up a couple times in that game, and we missed the tackle. He's an athletic player. He's going to make some plays. He's going to do that. The thing that we have to do is eliminate the big plays that he's able to make."
On Sunday, Detroit will also be tasked with getting its ground game back on track.
Over the last five weeks, the Lions have combined for north of 110 rushing yards only once. Additionally, in their matchup with Carolina last week, they produced a measly 45 total yards on the ground.
So, Detroit's run game has been far from a high-functioning unit in recent weeks.
Yet, it has a great chance to get itself righted in Week 17 against the Bears. The reason why: Chicago has allowed both the third-most rushing attempts (465) and the third-most rushing yards (2,268) thus far in 2022. Additionally, the Bears, through 15 games this season, have permitted the highest number of rushing scores (27).
Although the losing has persisted for Chicago since the first matchup this season between the NFC North rivals, Lions head coach Dan Campbell views the Bears' defense as being an improved bunch.
"Look, I think (Bears LB Nicholas) Morrow’s playing very well at linebacker. I think this D-line’s playing pretty good," Campbell expressed. "(Bears DL Justin Jones) 93 is -- there’ll be some double teams, he gets lifted and all of a sudden, he’s out of the double team and making a tackle for a loss or he’s getting a one-yard gain. I think it is a young secondary, but I think they’re playing pretty good. They had a couple of bumps a couple weeks ago, and then every week, they’ve gotten a little bit better.
"There again, they are opportunistic. But, I think collectively, when you watch them, they play hard, and they’re pretty sound."
At this present juncture, I'm willing to give the Lions a 70 percent chance of capturing the home victory Sunday.
