Bear Digest

Chicago Bears and Detroit Lions Game Day Preview

Key numbers and trends with top individual matchups in Thursday's game at Ford Field between Caleb Williams and the Bears and the NFC North-leading Lions.

Gene Chamberlain

David Montgomery celebrates scoring a fourth-quarter touchdown in the Lions' comeback win last year at Ford Field.
David Montgomery celebrates scoring a fourth-quarter touchdown in the Lions' comeback win last year at Ford Field. / Kirthmon F. Dozier / USA TODAY NETWORK
In this story:

Chicago Bears (4-7) at Detroit Lions (10-1)

Kickoff: Thursday, 11:30 a.m.

Where: Ford Field, Detroit, Mich.

TV: CBS (Jim Nantz, Tony Romo, Tracy Wolfson)

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

National Radio: Westwood One (Jason Benetti, Ryan Leaf)

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

The Line: Lions by 10 1/2, over/under 48 ½ (Fan Duel)

Chicago Bears on SI Pick: Lions 31, Bears 17

The Series: The 189th game with the Bears leading 105-78-5. The Lions have a 48-44-1 edge in home games in the series. The Bears won at Soldier Field last year 28-1. Detroit won at Ford Field last year 31-26. The Bears have won the last four games on Thanksgiving Day between the teams and the Lions haven’t won on Thanksgiving since 2016.

The Coaches: Bears coach Matt Eberflus owns a 14-31 record in his third season and is 1-3 against the Lions. His Bears teams are 3-18 as the road team.
Lions coach Dan Campbell is 39-34-1 in his fourth season with Detroit. He had a 5-7 record as Dolphins interim coach in 2015. The Lions are defending NFC North champions. For his career, he is 3-3 against the Bears.

The Teams: Caleb Williams' improvement in two games under new Bears offensive coordinator Thomas Brown has been overshadowed by the devastating way they've lost back-to-back divisional games, falling to Green Bay on a walk-off blocked field goal and then to Minnesota in overtime after rallying from 11 down with 30 seconds remaining. Williams led a late comeback with a touchdown drive, then got them in position for the tying field goal after an onside kick recovery, but they lost 30-27 last week. Williams threw for 340 yards on 32 of 47 with two TDs and no interceptions. He has now thrown 193 straight passes without an interception and needs 19 more to break the NFL rookie record held by Kyler Murray. The Bears have lost five straight and the calls for Matt Eberflus' job continue to increase with each one. The last Bears road win under Eberflus came on Nov. 27, 2023 over Minnesota.

Detroit rolls on, its only loss this year in Week 2 coming against Tampa Bay. Their defense is now kicking into gear, having gone 10 quarters without allowing a touchdown. Jahmyr Gibbs ran for 90 yards and two touchdowns and David Montgomery for 37 yards and a TD last week in a 24-6 win over Indianapolis. The Lions held the Colts to 96 yards rushing in that one. The Lions can clinch a playoff berth with a win and any one of a series of things happening around the NFC, including a loss or tie by San Francisco.

Stat Leaders: Williams is 233 of 372 (62.6%) for 2,356 yards with 11 touchdowns, five interceptions and a passer rating of 84.9. RB D'Andre Swift leads the Bears in rushing with 665 yards on 168 carries (4.0 yards per carry). RB Roschon Johnson is the rushing TD leader with six. WR DJ Moore leads in receptions with 54, receiving yards with 566 and receiving TDs with four. ... LB T.J. Edwards is the Bears tackling leader with 87 while DE Montez Sweat leads in tackles for loss with seven and in sacks with 4 1/2. CB Jaylon Johnson is the interceptions leader with two. CV Tyrique Stevenson has eight pass defenses to lead the team.

BEARS AND LIONS FANTASY FOOTBALL STARTERS AND NFL PICKS

BEARS AND LIONS: WHO WINS AND WHY

WOULD BEARS JOB INTEREST BEN JOHNSON AND OTHER BEARS-LIONS ISSUES

THREE KEYS TO BEARS UPSET OF LIONS ON THANKSGIVING

For the Lions, QB Jared Goff is 223 of 306 (72.9%) for 2,761 yards with 20 TDs, nine INTs and a passer rating of 109.9. RB Jahmyr Gibbs leads the Lions in rushing with 886 yards on 154 carries (5.8 ypc) and David Montgomery leads in rushing TDs with 11. Amon-Ra St. Brown is the Lions leader in receptions with 71, yards with 747 and TDs with nine. ... LB Jack Campbell has the lead in tackles with 87 while S Kerby Joseph is the leader in interceptions. S Brian Branch leads in pass breakups with 13. DT Alim McNeill is the active sacks leader with 3 1/2, after Aidan Hutchinson (7 1/2) went on IR. LB Alex Anzalone is the active leader in tackles for loss with seven.

Injury Report: For the Bears, G Ryan Bates (concussion) and S Elijah Hicks (ankle) are out.

For the Lions, LT Taylor Decker (knee) and CB Carlton Davis (knee) are out; RB David Montgomery (shoulder) and WR Amon-Ra St. Brown (knee) are questionable.

Matching Up: The Bears are 26th on offense, 29th passing and 22nd rushing. They are 22nd in scoring. Chicago is 17th on defense, 13th against the pass and 20th against the run. They're eighth in scoring defense.

The Lions are second on offense, sixth passing and fourth rushing. They are the top scoring team in the league. Detroit's defense is 12th, 25th against the pass and fifth against the run. Their defense is second in scoring.

Of Note: Goff leads the NFL in yards per pass attempt at 9.0. ... Joseph's seven interceptions is tied for the NFL lead. ... St. Brown has more touchdowns (9) than all Bears wide receivers combined (8). ... The Bears have converted only 28.7% of their third downs since their bye week. ... The Bears defense has allowed a league-worst 1,977 yards since Week 8. ... If the Lions win, it would be the first time in team history they won 11 of their first 12 games. They have already won in double-digits for the first time in their history. ... Williams has already set a Bears rookie passing record with 2,356 yards and needs one TD pass for 12 to set the rookie TD passes record.  If Williams doesn't throw an interception in this game, it  will be his sixth straight game without one, the longest stretch in games by a rookie QB since Charlie Batch in 1998.

Key Individual Matchups

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

The Lions won't leave St. Brown only in the slot but when he's there Gordon would definitely have him. Gordon is coming off the highest Pro Football Focus grade of his career for a single game, a 90.9 overall mark and 91.1 coverage grade. Gordon is the highest graded Bears cornerback by PFF at 26th out of 112 in the league, after Jaylon Johnson fell off the last few weeks to 40th overall. St. Brown is coming off a knee injury and was questionable. He has gone over 62 yards receiving only once in the last five games but is eighth in the NFL in receiving yards. He has one career TD catch against the Bears and was held to 21 yards on three catches in the last matchup. At Ford Field, he has 18 catches for 209 yards against the Bears in three games.

Bears CB Terell Smith vs. Lions WR Jameson Williams

Williams has had a breakout year but hasn't been catching a lot of deep passes. Instead, he's getting yardage after the catch. Detroit's 6-foot-1, 180-pounder has not had more than five catches in a game this year but has had 75 yards or more five times and has four TDs. Smith has been slowly winning over the job while splitting time with Tyrique Stevenson. Smith has an outstanding passer rating against of 64.6 and has allowed only 62.7% completions. The only TD pass he has given up was last year. Williams has a good speed advantage on Smith.

Bears DE Montez Sweat vs. Lions T Penei Sewell

Sewell, an All-Pro, hasn't allowed a sack this year and has committed three penalties. As the Lions' road-grader, he has the second-highest Pro Football Focus run grade in the league. Sweat had been in a sack slump but snapped it with a sack last week and has 4 1/2 on the year while still being well behind last year's pace in pressures with 17. He had 40 last year for two teams. It's unclear whether Sweat would stay at left defensive end or would move to the right side of the D-line at times and there he would have a good speed advantage on backup left tackle Dan Skipper, a 6-9, 330-pounder.

Bears WR DJ Moore vs. Lions CB Khalil Dorsey

It's also possible they'd put former Bears CB Kindle Vildor there, but the Lions have been battling cornerback injuries and won't have Carlton Davis on the right side of their defense. And Dorsey has played there. Dorsey, a former Northern Arizona player, is only 5-8 and gives up a good size advantage to Moore. He has only faced 11 pass targets in his career and was undrafted. He played one year for Baltimore before being cut and was signed by the Lions last year. He started two games last year. Moore has had two 100-yard games this year and now has his average over 10 yards per catch with Caleb Williams showing more confidence in targeting him.

Bears TE Cole Kmet vs. Lions LB Jack Campbell

The Lions are better equipped to cover Kmet without committing a safety to the job because Campbell is a 6-5 linebacker and if he's not covering Kmet it might be Alex Anzalone, who has been an effective coverage linebacker. He's giving up a career-low 7.4 yards per catch this year. Kmet has 12 catches for 119 yards in his last three games after going through a lull before Thomas Brown took over as offensive coordinator. However, the Bears' best red zone threat hasn't had a TD catch in five games.

Bears G Teven Jenkins vs. Lions DT Alim McNeill

Detroit's disruptive inside force, he now has DJ Reader as a partner inside and is even more of a road block. McNeill had to pick up the pass rush when the Lions lost Aidan Hutchinson and had 3 1/2 sacks with six tackles for loss. McNeill is graded the fifth-best defensive tackle in the league by PFF. Jenkins is graded the sixth-best pass blocker among guards this year in the league by PFF and 19th best blocking the run. He has given up three sacks and committed two penalties.

-Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

-If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER

Twitter: BearsOnSI

Published |Modified
Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.