CHICAGO – The Detroit Lions ended their season on a positive note, sweeping the season series with the NFC North Champion Chicago Bears with a 19-16 win Sunday afternoon to finish the 2025 season 9-8.
Chicago wiped away a 16-0 Detroit fourth-quarter lead as Bears quarterback Caleb Williams threw touchdown passes to wide receiver Jahdae Walker (25 yards) and tight end Colston Loveland (1 yard). Chicago converted both two-point tries following those touchdown passes to tie the game with just over five minutes left.
Lions quarterback Jared Goff threw an interception at the Bears' 5-yard line that thwarted a late scoring attempt with just over two minutes left in the game. Detroit's defense stepped up big and held the subsequent Bears drive to three plays and out, giving Detroit the ball back following a Bears punt at the Detroit 37-yard line with one minute, 41 seconds left.
Goff navigated the Lions down to the Chicago 24-yard line in six plays to set up kicker Jake Bates for a walk-off 42-yard field goal to give Detroit the win.
Detroit's lone touchdown came in the second quarter on a 15-yard Goff pass to running back Jahmyr Gibbs. It's the 31st game in which Gibbs has recorded a touchdown, which tied Barry Sanders and Randy Moss for the most games with a touchdown in a player's first three seasons in the NFL.
Bates added field goals of 34, 30, 25 and 42 yards. He missed from 53 yards.
Safety Avonte Maddox had a big interception for the Lions in the Detroit end zone in the third quarter to keep the Bears scoreless at the time.
QB comparison: Goff was efficient all afternoon, completing passes to seven different pass catchers on way to 27-of-42 passing for 331 yards with one touchdown, one interception and a 86.5 rating. He was sacked three times.
Williams finished the contest completing 20 of his 33 pass attempts for 212 yards with two touchdowns and the one interception for an 86.9 passer rating. He was sacked once (Aidan Hutchinson). Williams came in needing 270 passing yards to become the first 4,000-yard passer in Bears history but the Lions kept him 58 yards shy.
Impact moment: Looking to get into at least field goal range with less than one minute to play at their own 48-yard line, Goff hit wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown on a 26-yard pass over the middle down to the Bears' 26-yard line with just 30 seconds left.
The reception helped set up Bates' 42-yard walk-off winner.
Key stat: Chicago came into the contest third in the NFL averaging 149.4 yards per game rushing. Detroit held Chicago to just 65 yards on the ground Sunday, their lowest rushing total of the season.
Star performer: St. Brown finished the game with 11 receptions for 139 yards.
