Lions at Bears: Playing for pride in Week 10
The Detroit Lions travel west to take on their NFC North rivals, the Chicago Bears Sunday in Week 10 action. Neither team has a winning record or much of a chance to make the playoffs, but there are still some compelling reasons to watch.
The chances of the Detroit Lions making the playoffs were essentially squashed last weekend. Fortunes may have turned with consecutive losses to the Packers and the Vikings, sure, but last week’s loss to the Raiders might have been the final nail in the coffin. That said, the Chicago Bears are in a bit of a free fall themselves, so this might be a good week to pick up a win against a division rival in Week 10.
But they’ll have to try to do it without Matthew Stafford, according to Adam Schefter. Stafford has fractured bones in his back, so doctors will not let him play, Schefter says. Jeff Driskel is set to get the start at quarterback for the Lions.
One obvious aspect to watch will be the quarterback battle. Chicago quarterback, Mitch Trubisky has famously not been the quarterback the Bears thought they were getting at No. 2 overall in 2017, especially compared to notable quarterbacks still on the board (e.g. Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson). Trubisky did take the Bears to a losing playoff game last year, but has had a rough go since then.
After starting the season winning two of the first three games, Trubisky went down with a shoulder injury in Week 4, missed two more games, and has lost three straight games since coming back. He has thrown only five touchdown passes this year, three of which came against the 1-8 Redskins (currently ranked 24th per Football Outsiders’ pass defense efficiency rating). Last week, he threw for only 125 yards against the Eagles. The Lions have seen Trubisky three times, and they are 2-1 against him in his short career.
Driskel will be getting his first start of his Lions career after making five starts with the Bengals last season. He completed 105 of 176 attempts for 1,003 yards, with six touchdowns and two interceptions.
Another reason to be optimistic about the Lions this weekend is that they have played surprisingly well in Chicago recently. After more than a decade of struggling to beat the Bears on the road, they have won four of their last six in Chicago. They have been close games, though, with all of those wins being by six or fewer points. This will possibly be a close one, too.
Finally, the Lions still have a chance to finish 4-2 in the division–or at least split it, 3-3. After today, they host the Bears in two weeks on Thanksgiving. They also have a home game against a Green Bay Packers team who may have no reason to play in Week 17, having already locked up a playoff spot or home-field advantage. The Lions were a few plays from winning one in Green Bay anyway. Assuming the Lions make it through today with a win, those are both winnable games. The one roadblock is in Minnesota on December 8, although the Lions played them closer than the final score would seem to show last month.
Of course, with two sub-.500 teams, this is far from the best game of the weekend. There are still some meaningful reasons to watch, though. As if you needed reasons to watch the Lions play a division rival in November. With the NFC North, there is always dignity involved as well.