The Detroit Lions won’t have anything but pride to play when they traipse into Soldier Field on Sunday, but that doesn’t mean the Chicago Bears will overlook them. “Yeah, I don’t think that’s a challenge,” defensive coordinator Dennis Allen said. “Each and every week in this league you r next opponent it’s enough energy and enough time and enough mental process just to focus on that thing that’s right in front of you.” Besides, the Bears are looking to lock down the No. 2 seed with a win over the Lions and not leave their playoff seeding to the outcomes of other games. “We don’t worry about that,” linebacker Tremaine Edmunds said. “All we worry about is ourselves. We know we’ve got to go out and win the game. “Everything else happening on the outside, we worry about that afterward. But all our focus is on going out there and winning versus Detroit.” Here are five things we learned Thursday. 1. How badly do the Bears want to beat the Lions? Most players and coaches in most sports typically will downplay the “revenge game” narrative, because trading wins and losses with an opponent is just the nature of the game. But then you have a game that feels less like a loss and more like an obliteration, and the Bears’ 52-21 defeat to the Lions in Week 2 would fall into the latter category. “It’s never a good taste when you get beat by that (much) so handily,” coach Ben Johnson said Wednesday. “The fourth quarter wasn’t even close. So yeah, I’ll leave it at that.” Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs jumps over Bears defensive end Dayo Odeyingbo in the second quarter at Ford Field on Sept. 14, 2025, in Detroit. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune) On Thursday, defensive end Austin Booker didn’t mince words either: “We definitely want our lick back for sure, and that’s what we’re going to go do Sunday.” Edmunds added: “We all feel that still. And obviously it left a nasty taste in our mouth.” Still, the game was back in Week 2, and the Bears can’t do anything about it except focus on their weekly process, he said. “We can’t jump to Sunday right now,” Edmunds said. The process involves “showing up every day, putting the work in, understanding what we’re doing, so we can go out there and execute. And then (if we) believe in that process, everything will take care of itself.” Rookie receiver Luther Burden III said he hasn’t heard a lot of discussion this week after that 31-point loss on Sept. 14. “I mean, we’re a totally different team than what we were then,” he said. 2. Bad day for the defense? Nothing to see here. Allen didn’t want to delve into the particulars of the Niners game, in which his unit yielded six touchdowns, 496 yards and a season-high 32 first downs. “We’re moving on to Detroit,” Allen said. “I’ll say this — I don’t think I coached well enough last week, I don’t think we played well enough last week. “So, you learn your lessons, you make the corrections that you need to make.” Column: Chicago Bears are ‘moving on to Detroit’ — but they won’t go far in playoffs if defense doesn’t improve As bad as the defense showed at Levi’s Stadium, the Lions put up seven touchdowns and 511 yards in Week 2 — season highs for the Bears defense. However, one glaring flaw stood out against the Niners: They averaged 3.24 seconds to throw, a season high for a Bears opponent (the Lions had the third-highest). The Bears defense also had its fifth lowest pressure rate (23.7%) of the season. “Winning the line of scrimmage is going to be a big part of trying to win this game,” Allen said. “When you look at the quarterback (Jared Goff) and being able to affect him in a lot of max protection stuff, play-actions, things designed to help protect him and keep that pocket clean for him. “When they’re able to do that, they execute at a very high level.” It’s no coincidence that Goff threw his most passing touchdowns in a game (five) and yards per attempt (11.9) while receiving his longest average time to throw (3.11 seconds) and facing his lowest pressure rate (20.7%). To disrupt the Lions offense, “I think we just need to strike blocks,” Austin Booker said. “It’s all about us. … We’ve got to stay square at the line of scrimmage, and then we’ve got to get to get off blocks and make plays.” And the Bears can help their pass rush by putting the Lions in longer down-and-distance. That’s a lesson the Bears took from the loss to the 49ers. “The bottom line is stop the run,” Booker said. “I think everybody saw that (against the 49ers), so that’s what we’ve got to do next week — stop the run — and then on third down, get the quarterback.” 3. Is it Jahdae Walker or “PJ” Moore? After practice Thursday, Walker got dressed in the locker room like players usually do. Only he looked like he was getting dressed for bed. Walker donned some red-striped pajamas before putting on his street shoes. “This is what I woke up in today, so I just wore it,” he told the Tribune. “I had to be here real early so I didn’t want to rush in. This is actually my first time wearing it. They haven’t seen me in this yet.” Chicago Bears by the numbers: Breaking down their potential 1st-round playoff scenarios A couple of stalls over in the locker room, receiver Rome Odunze looked up with a stunned expression and a crooked smile and interjected, “Liar!” The rookie fessed up: “I wear new pajamas every day. People are starting to get used to it. I wore pajamas all the way up to Christmas and now I’m just doing it for fun.” 4. Injury updates Bears wide receiver Rome Odunze, center, watches a video replay in the second quarter against the 49ers at Levi's Stadium on Dec. 28, 2025, in Santa Clara. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune) Odunze (foot) was still a nonparticipant in practice Thursday. He has missed the last four games and last played Nov. 28 in Philadelphia. Guard Jonah Jackson also didn’t practice, popping up on the report with an illness. A bug ran through the locker room last week and still has been affecting players. Defensive back Nick McCloud and wide receiver Olamide Zaccheaus are both listed as having an illness, with McCloud limited and Zaccheaus participating in the full practice. Defensive end Joe Tryon-Shoyinka (concussion) was the only other Bear to miss practice. Left tackle Ozzy Trapilo remained limited with knee and quad injuries. He has started the last six games. Wide receiver Luther Burden III (quad) and defensive back/special teamer Josh Blackwell (shoulder) were upgraded from limited to full participants. “Body is getting better each and every day,” Burden said. 5. Odds and ends Booker has been anxious for a final resolution regarding the two $5,000 fines he received after he was flagged twice for roughing the passer against the Green Bay Packers on Dec. 20, the second of which knocked quarterback Jordan Love out of the game with a concussion. “We’re still in the appeal process,” he told the Tribune. “I feel like the NFL is not the best with staying on top (of things). I mean, they just don’t work around our schedules very well to get the appeals (processed) and so (we) just had to push that back.” Special teams coordinator Richard Hightower wouldn’t be surprised if the Lions have a trick play up their sleeves: “Yeah, always thinking about fakes, especially with that group. That group has done a number of fakes. Five over the last two years, 15 over the last four or five years, 15-plus. They did one this year against Philadelphia. We are always alert, antennas up for that.” The Bears are tied with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the second-most plays (49) while trailing with less than two minutes to go in the game, so that gives them a lot of data. “Harry Freid runs our research and analytics,” offensive coordinator Declan Doyle said. “He does a really good job of preparing a meeting every week that we kind of sit and go through situations throughout the league, situations that may have come up in our games where we could’ve been better and we could’ve changed. A lot of times, it’s really communication between him and (coach) Ben (Johnson) because those are the two really managing us on game days.” On third-and-10 and 1:09 left during the Bears’ final drive against the 49ers, Burden caught the ball about 5 yards or so short of the sticks and put the shimmy on cornerback Chase Lucas — twice — to pick up not only the first down but a 14-yard gain. “I was a running back, my first position ever playing football, so I know how to not get tackled,” Burden said. “When I get the ball, man, I’m trying to score.” ...read more read less