Why the Bears are treating the Lions like a playoff game

Bears head coach Ben Johnson quickly ended any talk about how the team would approach Week 18 in his Monday news conference.

“Yeah, we’re playing to win this week,” he said.

A few weeks ago, it looked like the Bears and Detroit Lions were on a collision course for a Week 18, winner-take-all game for the NFC’s final wild-card spot. Instead, it’s an NFC North champion Bears team hosting a Lions team that isn’t going to the playoffs.

“Good opponent coming to town — another division opponent,” Johnson said Wednesday at Halas Hall. “Hope to finish the regular season the right way. Coming off a loss like that, I know our guys will be hungry to do that.”

Anyone who has followed Johnson shouldn’t be surprised by his approach to the finale. With the Philadelphia Eagles reportedly planning to rest some starters, could his strategy change after halftime? Maybe. But Johnson certainly values what a win in Week 18 at home against a division foe means.

What’s at stake?

A Bears win or an Eagles loss means the Bears are locked into the No. 2 seed in the NFC, and a home playoff game next weekend against the seventh-seeded Packers.

A loss paired with an Eagles win drops the Bears to the No. 3 seed.

While we can overanalyze how the Bears match up with the Green Bay Packers versus the potential No. 6 seeds (Los Angeles Rams or San Francisco 49ers), what truly matters is the opportunity to host as many playoff games as possible.

Let’s say the Bears get the No. 2 seed, and they and the Eagles win their wild-card games. What’s more appealing, hosting the Eagles at Soldier Field in the divisional round or returning to Lincoln Financial Field? The equation is that simple.

And what if the Bears get to the NFC Championship and the No. 1 seed gets toppled? The No. 2 seed would guarantee the opportunity to host that as well.

No ordinary last-place opponent

The Lions are 8-8, well below expectations. Injuries hurt their defense and they had consistency issues on offense.

But they’re also eighth in the league in offensive EPA (expected points added). Jared Goff has the third-best passer rating in football. He’s thrown 33 touchdowns and seven interceptions, and has to like his chances against a Bears defense that gave up 42 points last week.

“Offensively, their skill positions are absolutely loaded,” said Johnson, the former Detroit play caller. “Receiver-wise they’re fast. The quarterback is playing at a super high level. He’s so accurate. You give him a clean pocket he can just pick you apart and then these runners are dangerous, both of them.”

Like the Bears, the Lions are giving up 24.8 points per game. They’re 22nd in yards per carry allowed.

“Their defense, I get it, they’ve given up some points over the last few games, but they’re still a very stout front,” Johnson said. “These guys are flying to the football, they create pressure and you see some explosive plays, but they’re all contested. It’s tight coverage on the back end.”

We’ll see who from the Lions is available, as players who might be healthy enough to compete in a playoff game could sit out. But Johnson knows as well as anyone the type of fight the Lions will show.

In the 2022 season finale, the Lions knew by kickoff in Lambeau Field that they had been eliminated from playoff contention. They went out and defeated the Packers 20-16, eliminating Green Bay from the postseason.

“Coming from that place, I just know when you drop the ball down, they’re gonna come out and they’re gonna play,” Johnson said. “That’s really how we approach it here as well. I fully expect a great game on Sunday afternoon. We’re coming off a loss that none of us are very happy about. Really, our emphasis is on getting ourselves fixed, getting our corrections made and we don’t want to have that feeling again this week.”

Said Caleb Williams, “They’re going to come out and fight, and we’ve got to hold our own and come out and fight and match that energy or more.”

The revenge factor

The 52-21 embarrassment in Detroit in Week 2 is well in the rearview mirror. No one could have predicted then that the Bears would be the division champs and the Lions the ones staying home for the postseason.

Still, that left a bad taste.

“Being in that locker room after that 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,” Johnson said. “I know our players do too.

“ … It’s never a good taste when you get beat so handily. The fourth quarter wasn’t even close. So yeah, I’ll leave it at that.”

Much was made over Johnson’s return to Detroit, and the Bears suffered one of their worst losses.

That’s not the only loss that the Bears want to get over. They don’t feel good about the 42-38 loss to the 49ers on Sunday night, which took them out of contention for the top overall seed.

That thrashing in Detroit is the last time the Bears lost back-to-back games. They’ve done a nice job of bouncing back.

The approach that has worked for the Bears all season is what Johnson wants to see Sunday at Soldier Field. He wants to go into the postseason coming off a home, division win.

“We’re going to stay true to our process throughout this thing,” he said. “This is the next one. Certainly coming off a loss like that, too, you don’t want to go into the postseason with two losses in a row. You want to have a little momentum behind you to get you going. That’s part of the thought process.”

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