Bear Digest

Three Keys to a Chicago Bears Thanksgiving Upset of Lions

Big games by Caleb Williams and D'Andre Swift will be critical if the Bears are to have a hope of upsetting the Detroit Lions at Ford Field on Thanksgiving.

Gene Chamberlain

It's going to take Caleb Williams passing and even running to put up enough output and establish enough ball control to beat Detroit.
It's going to take Caleb Williams passing and even running to put up enough output and establish enough ball control to beat Detroit. / Daniel Bartel-Imagn Images
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In the last two seasons, the Detroit Lions have lost only once to a losing team.

Dan Campbell's team ascended over the last year to another level, one where Super Bowl contenders reside.

This is the task the Bears face on Thanksgiving only four days after their third devastating defeat of the season and second in two weeks, the 30-27 overtime loss after a miracle comeback against Minnesota.

"We've just got to be professionals right now," wide receiver DJ Moore said. "Can't dwell on this loss because we've got Detroit and they're going to bring their A-game, so we've got to be ready to bring ours on a short week."

Detroit's C-game is enough to beat many teams, and the Lions are highly motivated by a Thanksgiving Day losing streak dating back to 2016.

Getting over the emotional shock of coming back to win a game seemingly lost, only to lose it in overtime is probably not on the level of losing on a Hail Mary pass and a blocked field goal, but it's not far from those.

So the Bears have that emotional weight dragging them down when they go to face the Lions at Ford Field Thursday.

Can they do this?

The only losing team to beat the Lions in the last two seasons is the Chicago Bears, so it's not like they haven't done it. They just haven't done this after three heartbreakers.

"You could be frustrated, but you've still got to play the next week, and it's any given Sunday and I feel our Sundays lately have been in the favor of the other team, which we need to turn that around on this short week," Moore said. "So that's all I'm looking forward to."

In this case it would be any given Thursday.

Here are the three keys to a Thanksgiving Day victory over the team with the best record in the NFC.

3. The "T" in HITS

Takeaways and taking care of the football is going to be huge for the Bears here. It seems unlikely they could even stay with the Lions without it. Simply breaking even won't do it.

Cornerback Jaylon Johnson recalled taking it away three times from the Lions in the 28-13 win by the Bears at Soldier Field and also the four takeaways at Ford Field in the 31-26 game they let slip away by giving up 17 points in the last 4 1/2 minutes. They picked off Jared Goff five time in those two games.

"So I mean that's what we did good," cornerback Jaylon Johnson said. "We get him to turn the ball over."

It's not so simple. It take a heavy pass rush, one like they had last week and even better to coax mistakes out of Goff.

THOMAS BROWN CONNECTION WHAT CALEB WILLIAMS HAS NEEDED ALL ALONG

SHORT WORK WEEK ALREADY TAXING FOR CALEB WILLIAMS

WHAT DJ MOORE SEES AHEAD FOR BEARS PASSING ATTACK

BEARS DEFENSE SEARCHING FOR ANSWERS AFTER COLLAPSE IN KEY MOMENTS

The only way they get any of this done is by stopping the run first, and that might be the toughest task.

The only loss the Lions had was a game when they lost the turnover battle (2-1).

2. Welcome Back

They need a big game from former Lions running back D'Andre Swift. They have to have it.

Swift had gone seven straight games with 51 yards rushing or more, then the Vikings shut him down. He gained 30 yards on 13 carries.

There's reason to believe Swift can do it. Although Detroit's defense has improved greatly, they are still giving up more yards per rush around left end than all but four other teams. They're yielding 7.14 yards per carry around left end. They also give up 6.25 yards per carry over left guard, the highest average in the league. If you'll remember, two of Swift's best runs were around left end and off left guard.

When the Bears won over Detroit at Soldier Field last season, and nearly beat them in Ford Field, they ran for 142 yards and 183 yards.

If they can't control the ball and clock with the running game or short passing, they're losing and it might be by a big score.

1. It's a Bird. It's a Plane...

"Superman" needs to make another appearance, after he showed up in the last two Bears games.

Williams needs to be the same pinpoint passer who put on a show in the closing minutes of Sunday's game to force overtime. It has to be a Williams "Superman" style effort.

They're not beating Detroit with a mundane 10 of 21 effort for 142 yards. It needs to be 200 to 250 yards, including a TD pass or two.

Williams needs to find the cape and even run a times, but get down. The Lions have given up only three first downs via scrambles all year. The Bears will need to keep the chains moving.

They can't expect to turn it into a wild shootout and win, but if they get controlled passing, scrambles and mix it with the running game, then they can control the ball and do what they did against Detroit last season.

Then maybe another team will be feeling frustrated the day after a game.

Twitter: BearsOnSI

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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.