The Detroit Lions fell out of postseason contention on December 25 following a loss to the Minnesota Vikings, but after that game, there was still football to be played. On Sunday, January 4, the Lions set out to prove the word wrong and silence the naysays saying their window had closed and pulled off a win over the Chicago Bears with a 19-16 final score on the road.
Heading into that game, the Lions were already out of the playoffs, and the Bears were already in. But, Chicago was playing for the second seed in the NFC, so they certainly had a reason to play their best. With that in mind, the Chicago Bears had their starters on the field, led by franchise quarterback Caleb Williams.
But, it wasn’t enough, and the Bears lost. “We came out a little flat, and I think we’ve got to work on having urgency from the jump and get that going,” Williams told reporters after the loss.
“We’ve got to get better both sides of the ball,” Williams added. “Speaking of offense, whatever happens on the other side of the ball, it’s not something we can control. We have to control what we can. We’ve got to come out starting fast, being better, and we’ll do that here coming up.”
The Impact of Detroit Lions’ Win Over the Chicago Bears in Seeding
So, the Lions won, which is great news for Detroit. But, what was the impact on the Chicago Bears’ seeding and road to the playoffs?
The win actually did absolutely nothing to the Chicago Bears’ seeding and future in this season’s playoffs. Insert sad violin sound here, Lions followers.
The Bears’ loss to the Lions on January 4 didn’t hurt Chicago’s playoff seeding, according to NFL research, and they still got the second seed in the NFC playoffs because the Philadelphia Eagles lost to the Washington Commanders in their showdown.
So, the No. 2 seed Chicago Bears will take on their NFC North rivals, the No. 7 seed Green Bay Packers at home in the wild-card round of the NFL playoffs. The game will take place on Saturday, January 10 at 8 p.m. Eastern time. It’s the exact same scenario that would have happened if they had beaten the Lions.
Detroit Lions Win Still Comes With Bragging Rights
Of course, it still feels good to beat the Bears from the Lions’ perspective. Now, the Detroit Lions have claimed two out of two victories over Johnson and the Bears during his time coaching them.
“Need to win the game,” Williams said. “Didn’t want to leave it up to another team to put us in the seeding that we want to be in. I don’t know what the case happened with that game, but we didn’t execute the way we needed to. That number is the number and so be it.”
Looking beyond the Chicago Bears, some of the other results from Week 18 include the Seattle Seahawks‘ position in the NFC, securing the No. 1 seed on Saturday, January 3, with their win over the San Francisco 49ers in the regular season finale. In the AFC, the Denver Broncos secured the top seed.
What Lions’ Win Over Bears Did to Chicago’s Playoff Run