Detroit Lions see some of themselves in Chicago Bears: 'We're not sleeping on them'

They built a three-touchdown lead in one game, only to lose on a late field goal after a series of turnovers.

They lost another game by six points after their starting quarterback dislocated the thumb on his throwing hand, then another by a touchdown a few weeks later when his backup had three turnovers in the fourth quarter.

The Chicago Bears have one of the worst records in the NFL and seem destined for a top-five pick for the second straight year, but they’ve caught the Detroit Lions’ attention with a style of play that seems familiar to people in the Lions locker room.

“It’s kind of like a situation we were in a few years ago,” linebacker Alex Anzalone said. “We were better than our record, it’s just we couldn’t get the ball to bounce our way and then we eventually did, so we’re not sleeping on them.”

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The Lions (7-2) host the Bears (3-7) at Ford Field on Sunday in a battle of teams on the opposite end of the NFC North standings.

The Lions have won six straight division games dating back to last season and can inch closer to hosting their first playoff game in 30 years with a win, while the Bears are extreme postseason longshots.

Still, Lions coach Dan Campbell insisted this week the Bears are better than their record, and even warned players Wednesday they were about to face a team more talented than the Los Angeles Chargers team that took them to the wire last week.

The Lions beat the Chargers, 41-38, on a field goal as time expired.

“They’re trying to build their program over there,” Campbell said. “They’re kind of going from the ground up. They’ve drafted well, they’ve made some big free agency acquisitions, good players. They’ve got their system in, this is Year 2 and — but their foundation is built off playing hard. Sound football, play hard, finish, and it always has to start there. It doesn’t matter what you do, what the pieces are, if you don’t play a certain way, you’ll always be inconsistent. So they’re close and we can’t let them, man, find their footing versus us. We can’t do it. But we know this is going to be a test. This is a big test for us.”

Coaches on good teams do their best to guard against letdowns, and coming off an emotional victory, facing an inferior opponent, Campbell’s words could easily be construed as coach speak.

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But the Bears did take the Lions to the wire in one of their two meetings last year — the Lions won at Soldier Field on a late touchdown, after Chicago missed an extra point — and they are suddenly getting healthy.

Starting quarterback Justin Fields, who had 279 yards rushing in two games against the Lions last season, is back from his thumb injury and will play Sunday for the first time in more than a month. Top running back Khalil Herbert is expected back from injured reserve. And new defensive end Montez Sweat will play his third game with the Bears after coming over from the Washington Commanders at the trade deadline.

“They just got a lot of elements to their game and Fields is coming back and their defense isn’t bad, they’re just missing pieces or missing plays here and there,” Lions cornerback Chase Lucas said. “But collectively, I feel like they’re very talented players or very talented group and I just feel like — I feel like they got what we had a couple years ago. They got the players, they got the schemes, they got everything they need but it’s just, can they win? Can they push themselves to that winning category, and I feel like we’ve done that. We’ve learned how to win.”

The Lions are tied for the second-best record in the NFL two years after finishing with the second-worst record in the league. They currently own the two seed in the NFC, and if they win Sunday, they’ll be 8-2 for the first time since 1962 and the fourth time in franchise history.

The Bears, coming off a 16-13 victory over the Carolina Panthers, are looking for back-to-back wins for the first time since late in the 2021 season.

“This ain’t a takeoff week at all, by any means,” Lions receiver Josh Reynolds said. “Just cause their record, it don’t show what they got over there. We got to come and be prepared for a dogfight because that’s what it’s going to be. Divisional game and they’re going to come in and try to shock the world, so we just got to not let that happen.”

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.

Next up: Bears

Matchup: Lions (7-2) vs. Chicago (3-7).

Kickoff: 1 p.m. Sunday; Ford Field, Detroit.

TV/radio: Fox; WXYT-FM (97.1).

Line: Lions by 10.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions see their old selves in bottom-feeding Chicago Bears