Despite being eliminated from playoff contention with a loss in Minnesota on Christmas, Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell is expecting to finish out the season strong with a good showing in Chicago against the NFC North champion Bears, who still have playoff seeding to play for.
"I expect everybody to be ready to go when we get back in, in a couple days," Campbell said after Thursday's loss in Minnesota. "Be locked in and be ready when we get on the plane to go to Chicago. You know, to be locked in one more time. That's what I expect. And then we'll go from there.
"You know, Brad and I will have a lot of decisions to make. You know, a lot of things to look at. The what's, the why's, the how do we improve, because we need to improve."
The Week 18 matchup between the Lions and Bears will be played at 4:25 p.m. on Sunday, January 4 on FOX.
After losing to the 49ers on Sunday night, Chicago (11-5) can no longer earn the No. 1 seed in the NFC. If they beat the Lions, they're locked into the No. 2 seed and will host the Packers in the Wild Card round.
If the Lions win Sunday and the Eagles beat the Commanders, Chicago will drop to the three seed and play whichever of the NFC West teams finishes as the six seed – 49ers, Seahawks or Rams.
Detroit (8-8) is looking to break a three-game losing streak and finish out the season on a good note while taking the season series from the division champions. For Detroit, Sunday's game will impact having a third place or last place schedule depending on how they finish against the Bears and how the Vikings (8-8) finish up hosting the Packers at 1 p.m. Sunday.
