Week 18 game preview: Bears vs. Detroit Lions

The final week of the NFL regular season and the Chicago Bears are playing for playoff seeding.

This seemed impossible one year ago, when they limped into week 18 against the Green Bay Packers on a 10-game losing streak.

But that upset left a good taste in fans’ mouths. Caleb Williams said, “And there’s a lot more coming.” He wasn’t wrong.

The calendar year 2025 was good to the Bears, and now it’s about continuing that momentum into 2026.

Chicago won 14 games under Matt Eberflus, 15 if you throw Thomas Brown’s interim tenure on there. Ben Johnson has a chance to win 12 regular-season games in his first 17 games as coach. He’s already won 73 percent of the games won by the prior regime.

And Caleb Williams is on the cusp of setting Bears records of his own. He’s finishing off consecutive seasons starting every game for the Bears since the 1970s.

One thing is clear, though. Johnson and Williams don’t care about records. They want wins. And seeding.

They must beat the Lions to achieve that.

Detroit Lions

SB Nation site:Pride of Detroit

Record: 8-8

Last week: 23-1 loss to the Vikings

Game day, time, TV: Sunday, 3:25 p.m. CT, FOX

Spread: Bears -3

Bears all-time record against: 105-81-5

Historical meetings: In week 17 of the 2012 season, the 9-6 Bears were looking to get into the postseason in Detroit against the Lions.

Chicago took a 20-3 lead with a 60-yard pass from Jay Cutler to Earl Bennett, a 1-yard rush from Matt Forte and two Olindo Mare field goals.

Detroit made it 20-10 in the closing seconds of the first half as Matthew Stafford hit Kris Durham for a 25-yard score.

Mare added two field goals in the second half, while Stafford threw touchdowns to Will Heller and Brian Robiske. But it wasn’t enough and the Bears finished 10-6, but out of the postseason with a 26-24 win.

Lovie Smith was fired the next day.

Last meeting: Back in week two, the Lions took out their frustrations on a Bears team still finding their way under their new head coach.

Amon-Ra St. Brown caught three touchdowns, and Jameson Williams caught one. Both went over 100-yards. Jared Goff threw five touchdowns and had 334 yards.

The Lions throttled Chicago 52-21, at one point leading 45-14.

Injury report: The Lions held three players from Thursday’s practice and had seven others limited

Did not participate

• OL Trystan Colon (wrist)
• DL Alim McNeill (abdomen)
• OT Penai Sewell (ankle)

Limited participation

• T Taylor Decker (shoulder/illness)
• OL Giovanni Manu (knee)
• Amon-Ra St. Brown (knee/ankle)
• LB Alex Anzalone (concussion)
• G Kayode Awosika (illness)
• S Thomas Harper (concussion)
• OL Christian Mahogany (illness)

Offense: The Lions come in ranked third in points and sixth in yards.

Detroit’s passing offense ranks fifth and their rushing offense ranks 15th.

Jared Goff (68.3 pct cmp/4,233 yds/33 TD/7 INT) has played well for most of the season, but is coming off a game with two interceptions and three fumbles.

The Lions’ weapons remain plentiful with Amon-Ra St. Brown (106 rec/1,262 yds./11 TD), Jameson Williams (59/1,043/7) Isaac TeSlaa (15/221/6) and Kalif Raymond (21/237/1).

Keep in mind Jahmyr Gibbs (74/583/4) is second on the team in receptions. He’s also the lead back (224 att./1,143 yds./13 TD). David Montgomery (150/674/8) remains the Knuckles to Gibbs’ Sonic.

Defense: On defense, the Lions rank 23rd in points and 18th in yards allowed.

Their passing defense ranks 19th, while their rushing defense ranks 16th.

Unfortunately for Detroit, they did not have injury luck much different than last year. But several leaders are healthy, like DE Aiden Hutchinson (13.5 sk/13 TFL/33 QB hits/4 FF/3 PD/1 INT), LB Alex Anzalone (95 tkl/2.5 sk/9 PD/1 INT/6 QB hits) and LB Jack Campbell (165 tkl/9 TFL/5 sk/3 PD/2 FR) and Amik Robertson (51 tkl/2 TFL/12 PD/1 INT). 

Former Bear Al-Quadin Muhammad (11 sk/9 TFL/20 QB hits) is much more productive with an All-Pro caliber player opposite him. Derrick Barnes (75 tkl/4 sk/1 INT/2 PD/6 TFL) and D.J. Reed (34 tkl/2 INT/7 PD/1 FR) are also playing good football for Detroit.

Key matchups: It’s clearly going to be a different matchup than the first meeting. Both teams way different than they were in week two.

While Detroit is coming off their worse loss of the season, they are still very dangerous. The defense will have to play way better than last week to avoid another performance allowing scoring at will. Getting pressure on Jared Goff is key, which will have to come from blitzes.

Chicago’s DBs have to hold Jameson Williams and Amon-Ra St. Brown in check way better than they did in week two.

On offense, it’s just like last week: go all gas, no brakes. Establish the run and get in rhythm early. They lost last week (and in week two) because the offense took too long to get going. 

If the Bears go on sustained drives they can keep the Lions’ offense on the sidelines.

Key stats

• Jared Goff was sacked zero times by the Bears in week two.
• The first matchup led to season highs in touchdown passes and QB rating for Goff.
• The Lions are 7-1 when scoring more than 30 points. The one loss was a 41-34 defeat at the hands of the Rams.
• Detroit’s three-game losing streak is their longest since a five-game losing streak during Campbell’s second season as Lions coach.
• Opposing QBs have a 92.9 rating against Detroit this year, averaging 218.1 yards per game. 
• The Lions have allowed four 300-yard games this season.
• The Lions are the only division opponent Ben Johnson has yet to beat.

Can the Bears avenge their week two loss and beat the Lions to get to 12 wins? Will Caleb Williams reach the coveted 4,000 passing yards mark?