The key to beating Detroit on Thanksgiving is really simple.
There’s only one team playing on Thursday that can beat the Chicago Bears and it certainly isn’t the Detroit Lions.
It’s the Chicago Bears.
If the Bears show up and play their game, there is zero chance the Lions can beat them.
It’s fair to preface this that if Mitch Trubisky doesn’t play, the door does open for Detroit because it’s impossible to know how Chase Daniel will play. The Bears signed Daniel for this very reason, if Trubisky misses a game or two that the season doesn’t go down the tubes, but with only seeing him play in the preseason, it’s not reasonable to say you know exactly how he would play if he’s called to duty.
Despite Mitchell Trubisky suffering a shoulder injury in fourth quarter against Vikings, Bears are optimistic their QB will be able to play Thanksgiving Day vs. Lions, per source.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) November 20, 2018
If Trubisky plays and he’s mostly effective, there’s nothing the Lions can do to stop the Bears. The Bears are better defensively, they are better offensively, and they are better coached. The Bears have more talent at critical positions, and while, at this point, Matthew Stafford is almost certainly better than Trubisky, the difference in how the Bears will be able to pressure and cover against Stafford vs how the Lions will do it against Trubisky is night and day.
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The issue with this game is the “classic trap” game. The Bears have a historically quick turnaround. They are going to be flying high after a huge win against the Minnesota Vikings and they just beat the Lions a week prior and beat them pretty handily.
Matt Nagy has to make sure his team is focused on the task at hand. The Bears could very easily feel good about this game and think just showing up will be enough to beat the Lions, but it certainly won’t be.
As bad as the Lions are, this is a 4-6 team, not a 1-9 team. This is a team that defeated the New England Patriots, Green Bay Packers and Miami Dolphins, coincidentally, the three teams that hung losses on Chicago.
Winning on the road is always more difficult in the NFL. Between the fact that this is a road game, that Trubisky is banged up, that the Bears just beat Detroit and have a very quick turnaround, the Bears need to make sure they show up, play their game and take care of business.
If they do what they need to do, they’ll move their record to 8-3, but if they aren’t properly prepared and the effort isn’t there, the Lions could hang an embarrassing loss on Chicago on national television.