Lions face must-win game against struggling Bears
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[December 29, 2022]
A disastrous defensive outing left the Detroit Lions with no margin
for error in their fight for an NFC wild-card playoff berth.
They need to defeat the Chicago Bears in their home finale on Sunday
to stay in the race.
Detroit (7-8) had won six of its last seven before Carolina
literally ran past the Lions on Saturday. The Panthers gashed their
run defense for a franchise-record 320 yards and handed them a 37-23
road loss.
"We're moving on," Lions coach Dan Campbell said. "We identified
those things that happened and they're behind us. Now it's all about
working forward for Chicago."
Detroit remained a half-game behind Washington for the final
wild-card spot, though it's also tied with Seattle and Green Bay.
The Lions will face the Packers on the road in the regular-season
finale.
Patching up the holes in the defense will be paramount. Detroit also
needs to reenergize its running game, which was virtually abandoned
in Carolina. Quarterback Jared Goff led the Lions with 15 rushing
yards.
"To me, this is our recalibrate week," Campbell said. " We're going
to recalibrate, man, because we were doing some good things. We
found a pretty good spot in what we were doing and how we needed to
do it and we got a little out of line. So, let's do a little
realignment, a little re-calibration and go back to work because
we're not far off. As bad as some of it was, honestly you're not as
bad as it appears to be."
The first meeting with the Bears was a thriller. Detroit scored 21
points in the fourth quarter to pull out a 31-30 victory.
Chicago (3-12) heads to Detroit with an eight-game losing streak,
but after last week's debacle, the Lions know better than to take
any opponent lightly.
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"You have to treat this no different than anybody else," Campbell
said. "This is the Buffalo Bills as far as we're concerned, and it's
going to come down to the wire."
Quarterback Justin Fields' mobility tops the list of concerns for
Detroit. Fields rushed for 147 yards and two touchdowns in the first
meeting. He also threw for two scores.
Fields and the entire offense struggled against the Bills in their
latest defeat on Saturday. He was limited to 119 passing yards and
11 rushing yards in a 35-13 loss.
Now, the Bears face a team that has won three of its last four at
home.
"They're looking to rebound and right the ship and it's important
that we learn how to do that," Chicago coach Matt Eberflus said.
"We've got to learn how to finish games, learn how to execute at
those moments. That's what we're trying to do."
The Bears, who host Minnesota in their season finale, have gone
winless since a 33-14 triumph over New England on Oct. 24. They've
produced 20 points or fewer in the last four games.
"We want to finish these two games off strong," Eberflus said.
"We've got a lot of development to do, a lot of things to look at
and a lot of players we want to evaluate."
Bears wide receivers Chase Claypool (knee) and Equanimeous St. Brown
(concussion) didn't practice on Wednesday. Center Frank Ragnow
(foot) and safeties Kerby Joseph (back) and DeShon Elliott
(shoulder) were among the Lions held out of Wednesday's practice.
--Field Level Media
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