DETROIT (Michigan News Source) – There are two weeks left of the NFL regular season and the Detroit Lions hopes of the playoffs are still alive but needs to be taken one week at a time. At 7-8 in the NFC North, the Lions need to start with defeating Chicago in week in 17.
“I’m going to have them ready this week. And so, it’s all about how we respond, and that’s the beauty of it. Everything, it’s in our hands how we want to handle this. And so, we’ll be ready for this one,” says head coach Dan Campbell.
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Detroit will need to correct their run-game defense after giving up over 300 yards rushing against Carolina. They will face a rush-oriented quarterback in Justin Fields for the Bears who had 147 yards the last time they played as Chicago finished with 258 yards rushing. “We’re going to make sure we’re ready, 100 percent ready. When our guys come in Wednesday, they’ll be ready to go. We’ll prepare for every look Chicago has. We know what they’re going to do with Fields. We know these two running backs,” adds Campbell.
The last time these two teams met on November 13, Detroit came away with the 31-30 win moving to 4-6 on the year. Jamaal Williams ran in the go-ahead touchdown with 2:21 left in the game from one-yard out to seal the win. The defense came through with two sacks and two incompletions for the Bears final drive to get the ball back over on downs and win their second straight game. The defense, though, still gave up 408 yards of total offense.
Along with trying to correct stopping the run, the Lions need to figure out how to run the ball. This area has been an issue all season as they had just 95 yards rushing the last time they faced the Bears and just 45 yards vs. Carolina last week.
“Look, it goes back to fundamentals. We got to finish better across the board,” says Campbell. “We just got to finish. And that’s just one of those things, that us, as coaches, we have to put an emphasis on – more of an emphasis than we have. And we really got to hone in on it, and there again, the run game – the first thing everybody looks at is the o-line. Because they have, you know, there are five of them and they’re always going to have a big hand in it. But it’s also your tight ends. It’s your receivers. And it’s the way your backs run, so everybody’s got a hand in this run game. Everybody.”
Jamaal Williams has been strong for the first half of the season but the last month and a half not so much. He has 14 rushing touchdowns which is the best in the NFL but in the past four games has only 116 yards and one score.
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The playoff hopes of Detroit now rely on the run – both offense and defense. The key to the playoffs come down to this week hosting Chicago. A win keeps the hopes alive. A loss and that Detroit magic created in the past few weeks will be gone.
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