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The Lions come in to their traditional Thanksgiving day contest hoping to get themselves back in the win column after dropping two games in a row to the Arizona Cardinals and the New England Patriots. The Lions at 7 and 4 find themselves a game back in the NFC North behind the Green Bay Packers. They are also tied with the Seattle Seahawks and the San Francisco 49ers for one of the two wild card births meaning they must get back to winning if they hope to stay in the race. Since their last minute win over the Dolphins three games ago the Lions offense has only been able to muster 5 field goals in two games scoring 6 and 9 points in those two contests. The Lions have struggled all season scoring only an average of 17.9 point per game. Much of that can be attributed to injuries to some of their big names on offense like Joiquie Bell, Calvin Johnson and former Dolphins Reggie Bush. Adding to their offensive woes is starting quarterback Matt Stafford who has had a very up and down season but mostly down ranking 26th in the league with a 81.0 passer rating through 11 games.
The Chicago Bears have been an excellent example of what it means to be up and down in the NFL as a team. They are on a two game win streak having beat the not very good Minnesota Vikings and Tampa Bay Buccaneers in order. They also have back to back losses this year to the New England Patriots and Green Bay Packers in their last two road game giving up over 50 points in each game. Ouch! The Bears struggles can be linked to many things including starting slow in games. Chicago has been outscored 41 to 0 in the first quarter of their last 6 games. Additionally as an offense they are averaging 6.3 fewer points a game this season vs. their 2013 average. Things do not look to get any easier on the Bears today going up against a Lions defense that is currently ranked first in the NFL in points surrendered at only 17.3 per game. Expect the Bears to continue to lean heavily on running back Matt Forte who is third in the league with 1,420 yards from scrimmage. Defensively the Bears may be without linebacker Lance Briggs and cornerback Kyle Fuller.
- TV: CBS
- TIME: Thursday, November 27th, 12:30 PM EST
- LOCATION: Ford Field, Detroit, Michigan
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