Dan Campbell, Jared Goff, and the Detroit Lions head to Chicago on Sunday. They’ll clash with Thomas Brown, Caleb Williams, and the Chicago Bears. The game is set for 1:00 p.m. ET kickoff on FOX from historic Soldier Field. It’ll be around a cook 31 degrees at kickoff with little to no wind (we’ll see if that actually happens in the Windy City!). Let’s jump in and take a look at this Lions-Bears preview and predictions.
The Detroit Lions are coming off an emotionally draining loss on Sunday afternoon to the Buffalo Bills in an absolute thriller of a game. It was just their second loss of the season dropping them to 12-2, but still tied with the Eagles for the #1 seed in the NFC. The Lions currently hold the tiebreaker based on the strength of schedule. The injuries keep piling up for the Lions, David Mongomery’s season came to an end after surgery to repair his MCL.
The Bears suffered their eighth loss in a row last week with an intra-divisional loss to the Minnesota Vikings 30-12. After starting the year 4-2, the wheels have just fallen off in Chicago. Interim head coach Thomas Brown hasn’t been able to do much to help the situation.
Detroit Lions at Chicago Bears Preview and Predictions Video
Detroit Lions at Chicago Bears Preview and Predictions
Jahmyr Gibbs Over 32.5 Receiving Yards (-121)
Unfortunately for the Lions, they lost David Montgomery to a season-ending injury last week. Fortunately for them, they have the explosive Gibbs to pick up the slack. The absence of Montgomery will likely lead to more snaps and on field time for Gibbs. Therefore he’ll have the opportunity for more checkdowns and even more designed plays. Gibbs went over this total in a big way last week against the Bills when he caught five passes for 83 yards. He’s cracked 30 yards through the air in four of the last six games and also had a 59-yard game against the Bears last year.
Chicago gave up 36 yards through the air to Montgomery when they matched up on Thanksgiving day and another 17 to Gibbs. Issac Guerendo got them for 50 yards on two catches and Josh Jacobs also put 58 up on them over the last five weeks.
Detroit Lions -6 (-120)
This is one of the easiest bets of the weekend for me. When they played on Thanksgiving the Bears kept it a game and only lost by three. The same case as when they’d played Minnesota before, and we saw how that played out the second time they played last week.
The Lions are a great team coming off a loss and looking for revenge, and the Bears are simply just not a good team. And they have nothing left to play for. The Lions are the third-best team ATS 9-4-1 while the Bears are just 7-6-1. As favorites of seven points or less this season the Lions are 6-2-1. The Lions roll easily in this one. I’ll be betting the Lions’ first half, and I’d bet the alternate total all the way to -20 (+406).
