Game day: Everything you need to know about Lions vs. Bears, including 3 things worth watching
● What: Detroit Lions at Chicago Bears
● When: Sunday, Dec. 21, 1 p.m.
● Where: Solider Field, Chicago
● How to watch: Fox 2 (Kenny Albert/Jonathan Vilma/Megan Olivi)
● How to listen: 97.1-FM The Ticket in Metro Detroit or any number of network affiliates around the state.
● Line: Lions -6.5
● Injury report: On the active roster, the only player the Lions ruled out for Sunday is running back David Montgomery (knee). Additionally, safety Brian Branch (calf), guard Graham Glasgow (knee) and safety Ifeatu Melifonwu are questionable.
● Officiating assignment: Clete Blakeman’s crew. A head official since 2010, he's handled a Lions game every year during that stretch and this will be No. 20 overall. This year, his crew has been throwing 17.31 flags per game, well north of the league average.
● Last meeting: The teams met last month with the Lions jumping out to a 16-0 lead at the half and holding on for a three-point victory on Thanksgiving.
Coverage from the week
● Lions film review: Before the tape gets incinerated, let's talk about what happened to the defense
● Lions film review: Why couldn't the offense run against the Bills?
● Detroit Lions will wear throwback uniforms for regular season finale
● Combing through Lions' lengthy injury list searching for a common thread
● What Detroit's injured reserve list looks like against other Super Bowl contenders
● DFN Mailbag: Lineup decisions, IR situations and other turnarounds that compare to Lions
Three things worth watching
● Resiliency is a big component of Detroit’s identity. They haven’t lost back-to-back games since Oct. 2022. After a disappointing showing against Buffalo last week, in a game many had labeled a potential Super Bowl preview, the Lions will be looking to their NFC North rivals to help right the ship.
Division games are rarely easy, and Chicago showed some fight in the teams' Thanksgiving meeting, nearly pulling off the rally after getting dominated in the first half.
That loss led to the in-season dismissal of coach Matt Eburflus, and the Bears have been rolled in their two games under interim leader Thomas Brown, getting outscored 68-25 in losses to Minnesota and San Francisco.
But both those defeats came on the road, where the Bears are winless this season. They’ve been respectable at home, winning four times in seven tries. And they whooped the Lions at their place in 2023, one of the team’s worst losses that season.
Will Detroit's resiliency shine through again this week or will the Bears be able to defend their den?
● Montgomery is on the shelf with a knee injury, putting an onus on Jahmyr Gibbs to shoulder the backfield load. But the dynamic dual-threat won’t be asked to do it alone.
The Lions have a trio of options to round out the rotation. There’s veteran Craig Reynolds, in his fourth season with the team. He averaged 242 yards from scrimmage and 4.3 yards per carry his first three seasons with the team, but he hasn’t been needed as much in 2024 with Montgomery and Gibbs dominating the workload.
Then there’s rookie Sione Vaki, who has electric, big-play potential, but remains raw after only dabbling with playing running back in college before the Lions committed to a full-time position switch.
My eyes will be on Jermar Jefferson, the former seventh-round pick who has been toiling away on the practice squad since last playing in a regular season game three years ago. It's difficult to explain how much he's fought to stick around and get this opportunity.
Jefferson offers good size and a little more speed and athleticism than Reynolds, with a similar understanding of the scheme.
● Like Montgomery, the Lions need to replace cornerback Carlton Davis III, who landed on injured reserve this week after suffering a broken jaw making a tackle against Buffalo last Sunday.
The Lions have multiple ways they can approach the situation. The easiest would be a one-to-one replacement, moving backup Kindle Vildor into the starting lineup.
Alternatively, nickelback Amik Robertson could be shifted outside with some combination of Brian Branch, Ifeatu Melifonwu and Emmanuel Moseley backfilling the slot.
Melifonwu and Moseley are the wildcards to Detroit’s post-Davis approach. Melifonwu was activated off injured reserve on Saturday after missing the first 14 games with ankle and hand injuries. Still, it’s easy to remember the breakout role he had down the stretch of the 2023 campaign, making a number of key plays, both in coverage and as a blitzer.
As for Moseley, he’s barely played the past three seasons due to a string of major injuries, only getting a handful of special teams reps since the Lions activated him from injured reserve last month. He’s been a healthy scratch for the past two games. Regardless, this is a player the Lions envisioned starting going into each of the past two seasons. With Davis down, it feels like now or never for Moseley to contribute.
Moseley should see more snaps. They might need him in the playoffs if he can get it going a bit. Ifeatu should play too but between the two, one of them needs to stay available going forward.
Oh god Clete Blakeman. At least the incompetence should affect both teams equally. The over/under for number of flags picked up is 4.5. I’m taking the over.