The Detroit Lions conclude their 2025 season today with an NFC North matchup in Chicago against the Bears. Chicago is playing for the No. 2 overall seed when the playoffs start next week. Detroit is trying to sweep the season series against the North champions and finish the season strong with a winning record of 9-8.
Here are five things to watch out for in today's contest:
1. Turnover battle
Detroit's six turnovers on Christmas in a loss to the Vikings was certainly an outlier this season as Detroit has been one of the better teams in the NFL taking care of the football. They had only eight giveaways the first 15 games of the season before the six turnovers on Christmas and their 14 giveaways on the year still rank in the top five.
The Lions will need to get back to being the team that takes care of the football today against a Bears' defense that ranks No. 1 in the NFL with 32 takeaways. Chicago's plus-22 turnover differential is eight better than second place Houston. Chicago only has 10 giveaways on the year.
"You put those two together and at the end of the day, you're winning a bunch of ball games like we have this year," Bears quarterback Caleb Williams said this week.
2. Get run game rolling
The Lions have seen a stark contrast in their run game in wins versus losses this season. They average 170.5 rushing yards with a 5.8 yards per carry average in the eight wins and 69.4 yards and 3.1 per carry in the eight losses.
Jahmyr Gibbs hasn't reached 100 yards rushing in a game since his 219-yard performance Nov. 23 vs. New York. He's rushed for 192 yards and three touchdowns in the five games since. Detroit will be looking to get their run game going one more time Sunday against a Chicago run defense that ranks 28th in the NFL (135.3) and is allowing 5.0 yards per carry on the season.
"I think we can get after these guys a little bit, I really do," Lions offensive coordinator John Morton said this week about Detroit's rushing attack. "They are giving up almost five yards per carry, so, I like our chances there. I like the matchup here."
On the other side of the ball, Lions defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard knows they have a tough task trying to slow down Chicago's improved rushing attack. D'Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai are both in the top 25 for rushing yards this season. Swift leads the way with 1,047 yards (14th in the NFL) and nine touchdowns, while Monangai has 769 yards (25th) with five touchdowns.
3. Pass defense
Williams is sitting at 3,730 passing yards on the season. He's 109 yards away from setting Chicago's single-season Bears record of 3,838 set by Erik Kramer in 1995. Williams needs 270 yards to become the first Bears quarterback to ever throw for 4,000 yards in a season.
"For me, it would be cool just in the sense of there's never been one here and I was brought here for those types of things and types of moments that haven't been done here," Williams said this week.
Bears head coach Ben Johnson said the No. 1 objective Sunday is to get the win by whatever means necessary and secure the No. 2 seed in the NFL playoffs. Getting Williams to 4,000 passing yards is secondary to winning the football game.
Weather in Chicago today calls for 31 degrees and light winds. Detroit's passing defense ranks 19th in the NFL allowing on average 218.1 yards passing per contest.
Williams has thrown multiple touchdown passes in each of the last four games and has passed for at least 240 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions in his last three starts.
4. Win the fourth quarter
This is one of those seasons for Chicago where the ball seems to be bouncing their way and they are finding all the right ways to make big plays in close games. Chicago has won six games this season after trailing in the final two minutes of the fourth quarter, the most by any team in a season since at least the 1970 merger. Chicago has scored 93 points in the fourth quarter or overtime over the last nine weeks, the most by any team in the NFL.
If this is a close game in the fourth quarter, can the Lions find a way to be the team that makes the winning plays in crunch time to help end their season on a high note?
5. O-line gains
One of the more disappointing aspects of this season for the Lions is they haven't won the line of scrimmage, particularly on offense, the way we've been used to seeing the past couple years.
Detroit's offensive line ranks 20th in run block win rate (70 percent) and 31st in pass block win rate (55), per ESPN statistics. Lions head coach Dan Campbell was asked this week which unit he'd like to see finish on a strong note.
"I'd probably start with the O-line," he said. "Just want to see - and just a tick more, just a little bit better. See if we can polish some things up, work together, work our combinations just a little bit. But I can say that for every position too, I really can. Just like I can say that for us as coaches. I mean we've got to collectively all get better."
