Kimberly P. Mitchell / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images Going up against the Bears, the Lions defensive line must have a breakout game in order to keep their divisional and top seed hopes alive. With their backs against the wall, the Detroit Lions have much to prove for the rest of the season. Even with a 12-2 record, this team has to showcase that they are bigger than the injuries they have dealt with this season. With over 20(!!!) players on the injured reserve list as of December 18, the team is not the same unit they were back in September. Even before the season started, multiple players were on IR, which changed a few things for this team overall. Now with three games left in the regular season, and a tiebreaker keeping them atop the NFC, the Lions can’t make any more mistakes. That starts with their matchup against the Chicago Bears on Sunday. After squeaking by the Bears on Thanksgiving due to poor coaching by their former head coach, Matt Eberflus, the Lions can’t overlook Chicago. The Bears took on a banged-up Lions team and almost pulled off the upset. Now, while some players have returned for the Lions since that game, more have been knocked out. Out of all of the positions, the defensive line is the one that has faced the most adversity this season for Detroit. They lost both starting defensive ends by Week 6, which forced the front office to make a trade to get some help. Now they’re down a starting defensive tackle, leaving them with just one starter from the beginning of the season. Thankfully for them, they are taking on the Bears offensive line—which is also banged up—and frankly one of the worst in the league. Let me explain how this unit must perform against the Bears if they want to remain the top team in the conference. Bears offensive line is down bad When talking about how good the Bears can be, the biggest place people start with when fixing them is on the offensive line. They are tied with the Cleveland Browns for the most sacks allowed at 56, and if quarterback Caleb Williams wasn’t as athletic, the numbers might be worse. Williams was known for keeping plays alive in college and buying time to throw down the field. So far in the NFL, he hasn’t been able to do that as often, or even stay calm in the pocket because of the men blocking for him. Despite getting a 74.6 total grade for pass blocking from PFF, it’s weighed heavily by non-offensive linemen and players who are on IR right now. The best pass blocker is left tackle Braxton Jones with an 80 grade, but he missed last week with a concussion and didn’t practice on Wednesday, so his status for this week isn’t looking well. Another one of their best linemen is left guard Teven Jenkins (75.4), but he didn’t practice on Wednesday with a calf injury, so there is a chance another starter could miss the game. Finally, center Ryan Bates (48.8) is still dealing with a concussion, he missed the game against Detroit on Thanksgiving and with another practice missed on Wednesday, things aren’t looking good either. So two of the top three starting linemen for the Bears might not suit up, leaving the unit begging for help elsewhere. The good news for Chicago is the team still has right guard Matt Pryor (79.9) and right tackle Darnell Wright (74.3), but even with those players having higher grades, their stats aren’t impressive. They’re combined for 41 pressures, 26 hurries, and 12 sacks allowed. Who could replace the three players if they were to miss this week? Left tackle Kiran Amegadjie, center Coleman Shelton, and left guard Nate Davis are the players who could take over for the three injured players, and they haven’t done well this season. They are combined for 35 pressures, 28 hurries, and five sacks allowed. Chicago can’t seem to get their unit healthy and perform well enough to give their offense a chance to move down the field. Lions’ pass rush must wake up Over a third of the Lions’ 22 IR players are defensive linemen, the unit affected the most by injuries this season. The last time these two teams played, the Lions were missing more linemen. Even with the barebones unit, the Lions were able to snag five sacks against the Bears, and that was with the Bears only down one starting offensive lineman in Bates. Detroit was without defensive Alim McNeill in the last matchup and will be again, so that isn’t new. Fellow tackle DJ Reader has his best game of the season against the Bears, getting four tackles, three pressures, and two sacks. Defensive end Za’Darius Smith also had his best game with three tackles, three pressures, and one and a half sacks. Those two players will be asked to do a lot once again, but thankfully those two will have some better support this time around. 4- Smith unleashed some nasty spin moves throughout, and played a part in two Sacks in the final 2 minutes. His perfectly timed get-off with :40 sec left led to a massive Sack, setting up the Eberflus/Williams debacle on the game's final snap.#Lions #DetroitLions pic.twitter.com/nVhWnEIWYR— All 22 Films (@All_22_NFL_Cuts) November 30, 2024 Defensive end Josh Paschal and defensive lineman Levi Onwuzurike will bring some pressure on this offensive line and can be a big help in getting to Williams. Potentially facing three backup offensive linemen, the Lions have a chance to one-up what they did. If Detroit’s banged-up defensive line can take advantage of the Bears banged-up offensive line, there’s no reason why they shouldn’t win on the road in Week 16.