Week 11 GDT - Lions (5-4) vs Bears (3-6)

[Sugashane]

 

HISTORY:

The Bears–Lions rivalry is a National Football League (NFL) rivalry between the Chicago Bears and Detroit Lions. The franchises first met in 1930 when the Lions were known as the Portsmouth Spartans and based in Portsmouth, Ohio. They moved to Detroit for the 1934 season. The Bears and Lions have been division rivals since 1933 and have usually met twice a season since the Lions franchise began.

This rivalry is also the longest-running annual series in the NFL as both teams have met at least once a season since 1930.[1] (Due to the 1982 strike, the Bears–Packers rivalry was not played that season.) However, one of the two meetings between both teams was cancelled during Week 3 of the 1987 season, which does not make this rivalry the longest-running continuous series in the NFL (that feat belongs to the Lions–Packers rivalry, who have met at least twice a season since 1932 without any cancelled meetings).

 

Chicago Bears Detroit Lions
First meeting	October 22, 1930 Portsmouth 7, Chicago 6
Latest meeting	December 11, 2016 Detroit 20, Chicago 17
Next meeting	11/19/2017
Statistics
Meetings total	173 meetings
All-time series	CHI: leads 97–72–5
Postseason results	Chicago leads 1–0 December 18, 1932, CHI 9, POR 0 (for NFL title)
Largest victory	CHI: 49–0 (1941)
Smallest victory	POR: 3–0 (1931)
Longest win streak	CHI: 11 (1946–1951) DET: 6 (1968–1970, 2013–2015)
Current win streak	DET: 1 win (2016–)

 

KEYS TO THE GAME:

The Lions face a mobile rookie quarterback for the second straight week, and their goal is to make him and the Bears' offense one-dimensional. That means stopping the running game above all else, and that means the focus will be on Jordan Howard. In two games against the Lions last year, Howard rushed for 197 yards. If he has another big game, the Bears could be primed for the upset.

Offensively, the Lions should have an opportunity to push the ball downfield as long as they can protect Matthew Stafford. The Bears have given up six plays of 40-plus yards this season, and the Lions will have their full complement of offensive weapons with Kenny Golladay back to join Marvin Jones and Golden Tate at wide receiver.

The Bears last week started out trying to run the ball against Green Bay, but failed and consequently put more pressure on Mitchell Trubisky to pass. They should have come out passing. This week they need the same game plan they had last week. It is difficult to predict what the Bears will do, but the amount of 3rd and longs last week made them entirely too predictable, they hope to be able to avoid that this week.

Since Detroit lost Haloti Ngata to injured reserve, they are giving up 136.8 yards a game on the ground. They were allowing only 74.6 on the ground when he played. It's easier for defenses to defend against the Bears' zone blocking scheme with Howard running because they know the Bears are going to do it, but Detroit appears unable to stop any ground attack.

Defensively, it's best to mix up coverages and play it safe against Stafford. He has the arm and ability to move around and burn blitzers. It's a game to let the regular pass rushers work for pressure and force Stafford into turnovers. The Lions will try to run early in the game to give the defense something to think about, but they'll never be serious about it, and the emphasis must be on getting to Stafford with four men while defending the pass with man to man.

 

MATCHUPS TO WATCH:

--Bears WR Dontrelle Inman vs. Lions CB Darius Slay. Inman made an immediate impact and will need to continue sharpening his connection with Mitchell Trubisky. In cuts, slants and posts were Inman's best routes last week, and the Bears need him to get downfield for back-shoulder passes or the deep ball. Slay is having a second straight outstanding season for a Lions pass defense that has yielded yardage but not necessarily points. At 6 feet, Slay is a size matchup for 6-3 Inman. It is difficult to gauge who will get the majority of the reps though, as the Bears' WR corps has rotated starters with regularity. Inman had a very respectable game last week, but may not even be the starter this week with the history of the Bears.

--Lions RT Rick Wagner vs. Bears OLB Leonard Floyd. Wagner, the Lions' top free-agent addition of the offseason, has steadied himself after a rough start, and he appears to be healthy after dealing with an ankle injury much of October. He'll face a stern test in Floyd, the second-year linebacker who's clearly the Bears' best outside pass rusher. The Lions have allowed entirely too many hits on quarterback Matthew Stafford this year. They'll be extra careful with Akiem Hicks inside, who is having an All Pro caliber year, so Floyd should have one-on-one matchups much of the day.

 

PLAYER SPOTLIGHTS:

 

Lions DE Cornelius Washington. The Lions signed two defensive linemen at the start of free agency in March, Washington and tackle Akeem Spence. Spence moved into the starting lineup after Haloti Ngata's season-ending bicep injury, while Washington has played mostly as a backup this season. Washington got his first two sacks of the year last week against the Browns, and he ranks second on the team behind Anthony Zettel with eight quarterback hits. Washington has been a better run defender than pass rusher so far, and he fell in the doghouse and was inactive for a game last month against the Saint.  But, with Ziggy Ansah nursing a back injury, he could make his second straight start Sunday.

Bears ILB Danny Trevathan - With starter Jerrell Freeman out for the season, Trevathan will continue to be heavily relied upon to make calls and adjustments pre-snap. Trevathan is the team's communicator on the field, getting the call from coordinator Vic Fangio and relaying it to his teammates. In addition to that he also makes adjustments during his pre-snap read. On Sunday the Bears looked a bit out of sorts without him making his usual calls and the defense had a few plays in which their miscommunication may have cost them. Both Jones and Kwiatkoski have shown enough to be complimentary players in the inside but neither has shown the ability to call and make pre-snap reads. Should Trevathan miss more time, the defense will likely struggle as they have without him this year. Earlier this year Green Bay picked up 342 yards of total offense, including 160 yards on the ground. After the game it was evident the Bears missed having their top linebacker in the lineup. The veteran linebacker is currently dealing with a calf injury and the Bears have not indicated exactly how severe the injury is.

 

FAST FACTS:

Lions QB Matthew Stafford ranks fourth in the NFL with 2,461 passing yards. In the past three games, he has 1,033 yards (344.3 per game), five TDs and one interception. He has 917 passing yards (305.7 per game), four TDs and one interception in the past three games against division rivals. ... RB Ameer Abdullah aims for his third game in a row with a rushing TD. He has 166 scrimmage yards (83 per game) and two rushing TDs in the past two games against division foes. ... DE Ezekiel Ansah has five sacks, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery in the past six games on the road. ... Bears QB Mitchell Trubisky passed for a career-high 297 yards and a TD in Week 10. He aims for his third game in a row at home with a 95-plus passer rating. ... RB Jordan Howard had 110 scrimmage yards (86 rushing) in the last meeting. He had 111 rushing yards in the last home meeting. In 13 career home games, he has 1,317 scrimmage yards (101.3 per game) and nine rushing TDs. Since entering the NFL in 2016, he ranks third with 2,029 rushing yards. ... DE Akiem Hicks aims for his third game in a row against Detroit with a sack. He has five sacks in his past five games.

 

My prediction - Chicago loses 17-24

Fox gets outcoached again, costing the Bears another game that should have been been winnable. He continues his slide and drags the Bears with him.

[Pool]

No chance they win this.

[DABEARSLCF04]

Close game with Lions pulling ahead without looking back mid way through the 4th quarter.

[Madmike90]

We lose this game and hopefully it's the final nail in the coffin for Fox but I can only hope we see some more progression from Tru and they let him air it out like last week...the rest of this year has to be purely about him.

[WindyCity]

Lions 24 Bears 13

I will start anxiously start checking Twitter on Monday AM.

[GOGRIESE]

Well this is a loss. Windy you must be giving the Chicago Bears Social Media Intern a headache lol 

[topwop1]

2 hours ago, WindyCity said:

Lions 24 Bears 13

I will start anxiously start checking Twitter on Monday AM.

Don't get your hopes up.

[blkwdw13]

 

Quote

Jeff Dickerson ESPN Staff Writer 

Chicago Bears inactives: QB Mark Sanchez, RB Taquan Mizzell, CB Bryce Callahan, ILB Danny Trevathan, DL John Jenkins, OL Tom Compton and TE Dion Sims.

 

Well the defense is going to be all sorts of confused again with Trevathan out, speaking of him how bad is his calf that he hasn't practiced since New Orleans a game that he played all but one snap in.

[Sugashane]

55 minutes ago, blkwdw13 said:

 

Well the defense is going to be all sorts of confused again with Trevathan out, speaking of him how bad is his calf that he hasn't practiced since New Orleans a game that he played all but one snap in.

Yep. At this point I say start Acho at ILB and have him make adjustments. He's not a great starter but at least seems more aware than Nick K and Jones.

[HuskieBear]

NK44 did perfectly fine making the calls, he actually has the intelligence and instincts to handle walking and chewing gum unlike CJ52. CJ52 needs to not think and just go out and play

[HuskieBear]

Also, Glazer was talking about KL75(he trains with him in the offseason). On top of the torn labrum, KL75 is still dealing with the ankle(which we knew about), a torn ligament in his wrist, 2 dislocated fingers, plus the broken finger he sustained a couple weeks ago. 

[blkwdw13]

1 minute ago, HuskieBear said:

Also, Glazer was talking about KL75(he trains with him in the offseason). On top of the torn labrum, KL75 is still dealing with the ankle(which we knew about), a torn ligament in his wrist, 2 dislocated fingers, plus the broken finger he sustained a couple weeks ago. 

When is Long not dealing with injuries.

[HuskieBear]

2 minutes ago, blkwdw13 said:

When is Long not dealing with injuries.

We know about his ankle, had a rough offseason with that. And we know about the torn labrum he's been playing through the last 2 years. the wrist and fingers are new. IMO we should just shut him down for the year, fix up his shoulder and everything else, and come at next year healthy.

[blkwdw13]

6 minutes ago, HuskieBear said:

We know about his ankle, had a rough offseason with that. And we know about the torn labrum he's been playing through the last 2 years. the wrist and fingers are new. IMO we should just shut him down for the year, fix up his shoulder and everything else, and come at next year healthy.

Ok, but that's not what I was talking about.  He has been dealing with nagging injuries through out his career, he just plays through them.

[Sugashane]

Why not extend the route into the endzone? It was right there, that should be something that is taught when practicing routes inside the 10.

 

I know Trubisky was hoping to throw him open on the right but overdid it. Too short of a distance to get that much of an adjustment from any RB or WR.