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Detroit Lions WR, OL Active Against Chicago Bears

Here is the Week 18 Detroit Lions inactives list.
John Maakaron|
Washington Commanders cornerback Jonathan Jones (31) blocks a pass intended for Detroit Lions Amon-Ra St. Brown (14)
Washington Commanders cornerback Jonathan Jones (31) blocks a pass intended for Detroit Lions Amon-Ra St. Brown (14) | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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Detroit Lions

The Detroit Lions have officially revealed their list of players inactive for their Week 18 road contest against the Chicago Bears.

Wideout Amon-Ra St. Brown and offensive lineman Taylor Decker, who both were listed as questionable, will suit up to play their division rival at Soldier Field.

The veteran lineman would like to end the 2025 season on a high note.

"Even though there’s, air quotes, nothing to play for, per say, it’s still an opportunity to go out there and play in an NFL football game," Decker said this week. "The NFL will move on whenever I decide to be done playing football, so none of that matters and I don’t want to make it about me. I want to just go out there and play with my teammates, so I don’t have a timeline on any of that.

"I do have some things that I’m going to have to figure out to see where I’m at. But, as of right now, I’m just operating business as usual."

Previously, Giovanni Manu, Alim McNeill, Penei Sewell, Alex Anzalone, Trystan Colon and Thomas Harper were ruled out.

This week, defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard was asked just how much the injuries at the safety position impacted the run defense and overall defense this season

“I’d say whenever you lose the caliber of players that we lost, not just at the safety spot, but any position, you’re talking about two All-Pro players. We were able to have (Brian Branch) BB I think it may have been through nine, 10 games or something like that," said Sheppard. "But obviously Kerby (Joseph) was only with us for I believe five games this year. Whenever you lose an All-Pro caliber player at any position, it affects you."

Through 10 games, Detroit's defense was able to execute and give the team a decent chance of competing and winning.

Unfortunately, the last six games, the amount of explosive plays given up significantly increased, the ability to limit the opponents rushing attack was much more challenging and key mistakes started to pile up at inopportune moments.

"What I do want to do, I want to credit the guys that stepped in for those guys," said Sheppard. "I think we had about seven different safeties start and go out and compete for us this year. And some games, those guys stepped up and played at a high level. And other games, unfortunately we weren’t able to make plays at the point of attack and we gave up a few more explosive plays than we would like to. So, I’m not going to sit here and say that’s the reason why this, that or the fourth happened. But I will say whenever you lose All-Pro caliber players, it’s going to affect you in some capacity.”

Lions' Week 18 Inactives List

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John Maakaron
JOHN MAAKARON

John Maakaron has covered Detroit Sports since 2013. Brings a vast array of experience covering the Detroit Tigers, Detroit Lions, Michigan Wolverines, Michigan State Spartans, Detroit Mercy Titans, and Oakland University Golden Grizzlies. John brings a wealth of sports broadcast experience. In 2013, John had the vision to establish the Detroit Sports Podcast Network. Has recorded over 3000 podcasts analyzing Detroit Sports. In 2019, Sports Illustrated Media Group, a historical sports media outlet, partnered with Detroit Sports Podcast to provide daily Lions content for their growing and expanding digital media outlet. Our Lions content can also be read in the newspaper at The Oakland  Passionate about Detroit Sports and it is reflected in his coverage of the local teams!

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