Why Jahmyr Gibbs is Going to Hammer the Chicago Bears in Week 16

Heading into their Week 16 matchup against the Chicago Bears, the Detroit Lions will have to change their offensive game plan as they won’t have veteran running back David Montgomery.

Montgomery suffered an MCL injury in last week’s loss to the Buffalo Bills, which was reported as a season-ending injury. However, the veteran running back is getting a third opinion on his knee and hasn’t been placed on injured reserve yet.

Without Montgomery to help lead the charge, the Lions will put their faith in second-year RB Jahmyr Gibbs to carry the ground attack, which starts on Sunday against the Bears. The former first-round pick is playing well this season, producing 1,442 scrimmage yards (1,047 rushing) and 14 total touchdowns.

However, Gibbs and Montgomery struggled to get going against the Bills’ run defense. Gibbs only had 31 yards and a touchdown on eight carries. But he made some noise in the passing game with five receptions (seven targets) for 83 yards and a touchdown.

If you are a Lions fan this is a good sign, as Gibbs is at his best when utilized in the running and passing games, and getting that in a matchup against the Bears defense positions Gibbs to have one of his best games of the year.

The former Alabama star playmaker's prop bet for combined rushing and receiving yards is a massive 123.5 on on BetMGM, with -115 odds on the over. That looks like a huge number on paper, but it actually might not even be high enough to capture how much Gibbs will dominate this Chicago defense.

Lions vs. Bears Prediction: Jahmyr Gibbs is Going to Crush Chicago’s Defense

When you look at Gibbs’ stats from this season, he’s only gone over 123.5 rushing+receiving yards twice, which might not inspire much confidence. In Week 7 against the Minnesota Vikings, he had 160 total yards (116 rushing, 44 receiving).

Gibbs followed that up the next week against the Titans, torching them for 133 total yards (127 rushing, six receiving) in a dominating win by Detroit. In both games, Gibbs led the way in rush share (56% and 44%).

It will likely be a similar outcome on Sunday as the Lions won’t give double-digit carries to Craig Reynolds or Sione Vaki. The last time the Bears and Lions played each other on Thanksgiving, Gibbs shined with 104 total yards (87 rushing, 17 receiving) on 13 touches.

Now, he’ll be facing the Bears’ defense as the lead guy, which has struggled against the run this season (allowing 133.3 yards per game and 125.5 at home). 

In the Bears’ loss on Monday night to the Minnesota Vikings, Aaron Jones had 106 total yards on 20 touches. And then the week before that, San Francisco 49ers rookie Isaac Guerendo posted 128 total yards on 17 touches.

Not to mention, Jones also had 129 total yards in the Vikings’ first meeting against the Bears, and Josh Jacobs racked up 134 total yards in November. Simply put, Gibbs going off against Chicago is not a farfetched idea.

In fact, in three games Gibbs has played without Montgomery, he’s averaging 132.3 total yards per game. He had 126 total yards against the Ravens in Week 7 last season and 189 total yards against the Raiders in 2023.

After how the Lions lost last week to the Bills, Detroit will have a point to prove and will try to dominate the Bears by playing their style of football.

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Odds refresh periodically and subject to change