The Chicago Bears, surprisingly, are playing for a higher playoff seed with the NFC North title already clinched. The visiting Detroit Lions, unexpectedly, are playing for pride.
That’s where things stand in the final game of the regular season Sunday. It’s a scenario few would have predicted after the Lions clobbered the Bears and their former offensive coordinator, Ben Johnson, 52-21 during the second week of the season on Sept. 14.
“It’s early in the season, and you’re still getting to know your team a little bit,” said Johnson, the Bears’ first-year head coach. “Being in that locker room after the game and how that felt, you don’t always remember exactly what was said or anything like that, but you always remember how you felt in those moments. And so, I know our players do, too.”
Chicago (11-5) lost any chance of gaining the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs when it dropped a 42-38 thriller to San Francisco on Sunday night. The Bears can still gain the No. 2 seed with a win over the Lions or a Philadelphia home loss to Washington. In that scenario, the Bears would host Green Bay during the wild-card round next weekend.
The Bears would be the No. 3 seed with a loss to Detroit and a Philadelphia victory. Chicago would then host either the Los Angeles Rams or the 49ers in the wild-card round.
“I think anytime you lose, you want to get back on track, you want to get back on a winning streak,” quarterback Caleb Williams said. “That’d be great for us to get that going. I know (the Lions’) record is 8-8 and they’re not necessarily in the playoffs, but that’s a really good team over there.”
Williams exceeded 300 passing yards for the first time this season against San Francisco, throwing for 330 yards and two touchdowns. He can become the first QB in franchise history to reach 4,000 yards in a season by throwing for 270 yards on Sunday.
“It’d be cool just in the sense of there’s never been one here. I think I was brought here for those types of things and those types of moments — things that haven’t been done here, to try and be able to accomplish,” he said. “Like I’ve said before, the self goals and all of that always gets swept under when you go for the team goals. That’s winning ballgames. That’s first and foremost in my mind.”
Detroit fell out of the playoff race by losing three straight following a win over Dallas to open the month of December. The Lions were held to 231 total yards and quarterback Jared Goff was sacked five times in a 23-10 loss to Minnesota on Christmas Day which formally ended the team’s playoff hopes.
Goff plans to play against the Bears.
“It’s what I’m paid to do,” he said. “I’m the quarterback of this team and paid to play on Sundays and do my job and do it to the best of my ability. It doesn’t matter what our record is, what the situation may be, that’s my job.”
Lions coach Dan Campbell wants to leave this disappointing season on a winning note.
“Sometimes you’ve got to hit rock bottom before you can work your way back up,” he said. “And relative to where we were at, this is rock bottom.”
Star receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown (knee/ankle), offensive tackle Penei Sewell (ankle) and linebacker Alex Anzalone (concussion) were among the Lions who didn’t practice Wednesday.
Bears receiver Rome Odunze (foot) was a limited practice participant Wednesday as he attempts to return from a four-game absence.
