The Chicago Bears (3-5) return to Soldier Field still without a win over the past four games. They’ll face a struggling Detroit Lions (3-4-1) team that is better than their record indicates.
The Bears need a win, and they need one badly. But so do the Lions.
Here are five storylines to watch as the Bears face the Lions on Sunday:
1. Which struggling team gets the win?
The Bears and Lions are both struggling and in desperate need of a win, and one of them is going to get that win come Sunday — unless there’s a tie, which wouldn’t be a surprise with these teams.
Chicago and Detroit are battling for third place in the NFC North — and looking to keep out of last place. Both will need to overcome a glaring weakness on their team. For the Bears, that’s their mediocre offense, which hasn’t shown any sign of improvement over eight games. For the Lions, that’s their defense, which ranks near the bottom of the league in both the run and pass.
Something’s gotta give in this game. The Bears just hope they’re on the winning side of it.
2. Can Mitchell Trubisky improve against a struggling Lions defense?
Bears quarterback Mitchell Trubisky continues to struggle in his third season in an offense that is among the worst in the league. Perhaps this matchup against the Lions is coming at the perfect time.
He’s practically being gifted a matchup against a Lions defense that’s among the worst in the NFL both in the run and pass. Trubisky has a chance to put together a solid performance against a bad defense, in a game where he should be aided by the rushing attack.
The last time Trubisky faced a flood of criticism, he came out against the Lions and lit them up for 355 yards and three touchdowns for a passer rating of 148.6. Whether that’s what awaits us Sunday remains to be seen, although it’s not likely given his season.
3. Will the Bears commit to the run game?
The best the Bears offense has looked was two weeks ago against the Los Angeles Chargers, where they committed to the run and allowed rookie running back David Montgomery to march all over the Chargers.
The Bears need to get back to that rushing attack, however much it goes against Matt Nagy’s desire to abandon it. Montgomery had a career-high 135 yards on 27 carries against the Chargers. But last week against the Eagles, he had just 40 yards on 14 attempts.
Detroit’s run defense ranks 27th in the league, and in three of the last four games they’ve given up 100-yard games to Green Bay’s Jamal Williams, Minnesota’s Dalvin Cook and Oakland’s Josh Jacobs. The Bears would be smart to commit to Montgomery and let him do the same.
4. Can the Bears defense force turnovers?
After a strong start to the season, the Bears defense has struggled as of late. Part of which is due to the fact that they’re on the field most of the game due to their struggling offense.
When Chicago needed a stop last week against Philadelphia to give their offense a shot to win the game, the Bears defense couldn’t do it with four opportunities.
The Bears defense needs to play better against the Lions, and there’s one key area where they need to start: Creating turnovers. They’ve produced just one takeaway in their last three contests after generating nine in their previous three games.
But it won’t be easy against Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford, who is having one of his best seasons. He has thrown for 2,499 yards with 19 touchdowns, five interceptions and a 106.0 passer rating, which ranks fifth in the NFL.
