3 Keys to a Chicago Bears victory over the Lions in Week 14

In their first meeting with the Detroit Lions this year, the Chicago Bears made history. The bad kind of history. They became the only team in the Super Bowl era to force four takeaways on defense, control the ball for 40 or more minutes, and still lose.

Despite leading 26-14 with a little over four minutes left in the game, the defense suffered an epic collapse and gave up 15 points, and Justin Fields fumbled on the first snap of what could have been a game-tying drive.

That was three weeks ago. Since then, the Bears outlasted the Vikings in an ugly slugfest, winning 12-10, followed by their bye week. Unfortunately for Chicago, they have been pretty bad following bye weeks. Their last win following a bye week was in the 2013 season, a 27-20 victory over the Green Bay Packers.

In other words, things don’t look good for the Bears as they head into Week 14’s divisional matchup against the Lions.

Still, there are some bright spots. For one, their injury report looks clean. As of Wednesday, linebacker Noah Sewell was the only player who was not a full participant. The defense has also looked much better lately, having forced eight turnovers in their last two games. And the Lions are caught in a bit of a funk, having been embarrassed by the Green Bay Packers on Thanksgiving and nearly blowing a 21-point lead to the struggling New Orleans Saints.

A win for the Bears is not impossible, and I wouldn’t even say improbable. But they must bring their A-game on Sunday, including hitting some key points.

Find the endzone

The Bears scored just two touchdowns against Detroit the last time they met despite multiple short fields thanks to defensive takeaways. Against Minnesota in Week 12, they didn’t get to the endzone once. You can’t win many football games with field goals, especially not against a team like the Lions.

Lions quarterback Jared Goff has been very good with the football over the last year and a half. I doubt the Bears will be able to pick him off three times again. They must engineer long, double-digit play drives that get into the endzone. You better believe the Lions will have made adjustments since their first match. The question remains whether Luke Getsy and Matt Eberflus will do the same.

Control the run game on both sides of the ball

Taking away quarterback rushing stats, Detroit averaged 5.4 yards per carry, while Chicago averaged just 3.2 yards per carry in their last meeting.

The Bears allowed running back David Montgomery to pound the rock down their throats on the go-ahead drive, including the game-winning touchdown. On the other side of the ball, only Justin Fields could get anything going on the ground.

DAVID MONTGOMERY TOUCHDOWN!!!

THE DETROIT LIONS TAKE THE LEAD WITH WITH 30 SECONDS LEFT pic.twitter.com/DCCSCLhHKI

— Woodward Sports Network (@woodwardsports) November 19, 2023

The Bears can’t let this happen again. They have one of the best run defenses in the NFL and an explosive trio of running backs. They must find holes at the line of scrimmage and pick up serious yards, especially on early downs. This will open up the playbook for Justin Fields and give Chicago a better chance to convert third downs.

Darnell Wright vs Aiden Hutchinson

This is going to be a key matchup again. Three weeks ago, rookie Darnell Wright held star pass rusher Aiden Hutchinson completely in check for about 59 minutes. The one time he got beat badly was on the play that resulted in the game-ending strip-sack of Fields.

Still, that final play shouldn’t mar what was otherwise a terrific outing by Wright. I expected Hutchinson to give Fields absolute fits, but he was mostly invisible.

If Wright can duplicate that performance and keep Fields clean, the Bears will have the time needed to take downfield shots to DJ Moore and company.