Both the Detroit Lions and the Chicago Bears have wounds to lick after what happened to them in Week 12. The two teams will meet at Soldier Field this coming Sunday for the second time this season, with the Bears winning the first one. Which team will bounce back? Check out our preview of this game below.
We are about to find out how the Lions are going to pick up the pieces after the team’s ownership hit the reset button by sacking head coach Matt Patricia and general manager Bob Quinn following Detroit’s 25-14 home loss to the Houston Texans on Thanksgiving Day. But given the reported level of bitterness players have towards Patricia, seeing him gone might just be the shot in the arm these Lions need. As for the more tangible needs, the Lions would want to have wide receiver Kenny Golladay back. Golladay has missed the last few weeks due to a hip injury and his status for Week 13 remains up in the air. Danny Amendola and TJ Hockenson led the Lions’ receiving corps in Week 1’s 27-23 home loss to the Bears, with the former getting 81 receiving yards on five catches, while the latter had 56 receiving yards and a touchdown on five receptions as well. Adrian Peterson led Detroit on the ground in that game with 93 rushing yards on 14 carries, and he might start again this time, with rookie running back D’Andre Swift still out with a concussion.
The Bears tried Mitchell Trubisky again at quarterback in Week 12, and what they got was the same old result: a letdown performance in a 41-24 blowout road loss to the Green Bay Packers. Trubisky went 26 of 46 for 242 passing yards and three touchdowns but had two interceptions and a lost fumble. The Bears know the risks of starting Trubisky, but if they want to turn things around, they probably have to start accepting the limitations of their quarterbacks and embrace a run-heavy attack with David Montgomery leading it. Montgomery had 103 rushing yards on 11 carries in the Green Bay game and also had 40 receiving yards and a touchdown on five catches. The Bears can feed Montgomery a lot of touches against Detroit’s run defense that is just 25th in the league with 133.4 rushing yards allowed per game.
The under is 8-2 in the Bears’ last 10 home games.
