CHICAGO – The Detroit Lions stayed on track for the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs with a win over the Chicago Bears.
The Lions went on the road and completed the sweep of the Bears with a 34-17 victory. They reached 13 regular-season wins for the first time in franchise history.
Perhaps even more importantly, Detroit appeared to avoid any serious injuries for the first time in weeks.
Lions jump out to early lead
The Bears did Bears things early in the game and allowed the Lions to build an early lead.
After the defense forced a three-and-out, the Lions drove down the field and settled for a Jake Bates kick to go up 3-0.
On their second possession, the Bears fumbled an exchange to give the ball back to the Lions, who drove 36 yards in seven plays for a touchdown. Jahmyr Gibbs punched it in after three tries from the 1-yard line.
Chicago coughed it up again on the next drive, as Rome Odunze fumbled after a 19-yard gain took his team into Lions territory.
Detroit responded with another nice drive, but it stalled out in the red zone and Bates hit another short field goal to make it 13-0.
The Bears weren’t done shooting themselves in the foot, as their next drive started with a 21-yard gain but then got derailed by a holding penalty. Two incomplete passes and a short screen pass later, they punted the ball back.
Goff hits Jamo
The Lions were already in firm control of the game when Jared Goff and Jameson Williams delivered an early knockout punch.
Chicago pinned the Lions at the 7-yard line to start the drive, but Gibbs created some breathing room with an 11-yard run on the first play.
That was all the room the Lions needed, as Goff stepped into a deep ball on the next play and hit Williams in stride for an 82-yard touchdown. The ball went 56 yards in the air, and Williams did the rest.
Just 17:11 in, the Lions led 20-0. And they didn’t even get the opening kickoff.
Bears make late charge before half
The Bears didn’t completely go down without a fight.
After the Lions took their 20-point lead, Chicago responded with a 14-play, 70-yard touchdown drive that chewed up more than six minutes of clock.
The Lions answered with an 11-play touchdown drive of their own, capped by an Amon-Ra St. Brown screen that went for an 8-yard score.
But they left 58 seconds on the clock, and that was enough for the Bears.
Way more than enough, actually.
Chicago needed just three plays and 19 seconds to go 70 yards for a score. Caleb Williams completed passes of 25 and 45 yards.
That score made it 27-14 heading into the break.
Fake fumble for touchdown
The Lions came out of halftime with some tricks up their sleeve.
After they had no problem moving down to the Chicago 21-yard line, Ben Johnson dialed up a fake fumble that worked to perfection.
Goff “stumbled” backward after taking the snap, and Gibbs dove on the ground as if he was jumping on top of a loose ball.
Suddenly, Goff straightened up and launched a dime to Sam LaPorta, who was streaking wide open into the end zone.
Uneventful finish
Chicago put together back-to-back 10-play drives but only got a total of three points out of them. The Bears settled for a field goal on the first of those two drives to pull within 17 points, and punted on fourth and 25 the next time around.
The Lions turned the ball over on downs at the end of an 11-play drive to the 13-yard line, but they burned more than six minutes off the clock.
They didn’t punt until there was 5:36 left in the fourth quarter.
Chicago tried to make the score more respectable with a late drive, but it stalled out in the red zone and the Lions took over just before the two-minute warning.
The Lions picked up a first down to run out the clock.
Race for top seed
There are only two more games standing between the Lions and the No. 1 seed in the NFC: next week’s road trip to San Francisco and the Week 18 battle with Minnesota.
If the Lions win those games, they get the No. 1 seed no matter what else happens around the NFL.
They might also need that Week 18 game to hold off the Vikings for the NFC North crown.
