The Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears are each coming off different, but equally disappointing losses to open the season. Detroit got dismantled by the Green Bay Packers, while the Bears collapsed in depressing fashion at home versus the Minnesota Vikings.
The bad losses to open the season put even more pressure on each club for Sunday’s showdown in Detroit, as the Lions welcome former offensive coordinator Ben Johnson to town as a foe.
"Ben's my friend. He's always going to be my friend. But nothing about that's going to change," Lions coach Dan Campbell said this week, via the Detroit News. "We're going in, getting ready to play Chicago. We're going to win this game. We have to."
Both clubs enter the week with that same mentality.
"No one's going to feel sorry for us. This is going to be a quick turnaround here to get going for Sunday in Detroit, our first road game," Johnson said after Monday's loss. "We gotta turn the page here quickly."
Per NFL Research, Johnson becomes the first coach to "return home" in the first two career games as a head coach since Sean McDermott in 2017 (McDermott's Bills played at Ron Rivera's Panthers in Week 2, 2017; Carolina won 9-3).
Neither the Lions nor Johnson looked great without one another in Week 1.
The Lions had a top-five total and scoring offense each season with Johnson as OC. In Week 1, the club averaged 3.8 yards per play in Green Bay, the fewest yards/play for Detroit in a game since Week 6, 2021, versus Cincinnati (3.7), prior to Johnson's tenure as play-caller
Meanwhile, Chicago flopped at home, allowing an 11-point fourth-quarter lead to slip away in Johnson's first game in the big chair. The coach had some game-management issues, starting with a wasted challenge and ending with a kickoff that failed to keep the Vikings from burning the two-minute warning. The first-time head coach found out there is more than just calling a good game when you've got the head gig.
Johnson is fully aware of the type of reception he'll receive in Detroit on Sunday, where Lions fans are sure to make it as difficult as possible for his offense to operate.
"Maybe (a silent cadence) will help this week. We're going to need to do that, and we're going to need to be really good at that because this is going to be a loud environment that we're going to," Johnson said during a media call on Tuesday, via MLive. "This is going to be a playoff-like atmosphere. Ford Field has been something else over the last couple of years, so we're going to have to be at our best."
The winner of Sunday's tilt can feel better about their standing. Since 1990, clubs that start 1-1 have made the playoffs 41.6 percent of the time. The club that loses will have a steep hill to climb. Teams that start 0-2 have made the postseason at a rate of 12.2%.
