Bears vs. Lions: 3 things you need to know
The Chicago Bears and Detroit Lions will kickoff the Thanksgiving festivities Thursday in an important NFC North battle.
Here's what you need to know:
Lions struggling on offense
For whatever reason, the normally explosive Lions offense has been grounded for much of the season thus far, but things have taken a turn for the worse as of late.
Detroit hasn't managed a touchdown in two straight weeks, bringing their points per game down to 17.9 and a ranking of 28th in the league. The Lions have scored more than 30 points just once all year and have failed to hit 20 on six different occasions.
Granted, the team has been without Calvin Johnson and Reggie Bush for large stretches of the season, but Matthew Stafford and company need to pull it together fast if they hope to make the playoffs.
Can Jay Cutler protect the football?
Chicago will likely need to win out if they have any playoff aspirations in 2014.
Part of the reason they are slated to miss postseason play for the seventh time in eight years is due to turnovers. Quarterback Jay Cutler has given the football away 10 times himself in the last five games alone. The Bears defense simply isn't good enough to overcome those kinds of mistakes, as they've conceded more than 50 points in two of the last four outings.
The Bears don't need to do a struggling Lions offense any favors by providing them good field position and extra possessions. If that happens on Thursday, it's going to be another long day for Chicago.
Detroit needs to generate a pass rush
The Lions defense has done an excellent job all season, but a once vaunted pass rush has disappeared recently.
Detroit hasn't recorded a sack in their last two games and are clearly missing Nick Fairley, who has been sidelined since late October because of a knee injury. It's not so much Fairley's ability to pressure the quarterback, but rather the blockers he occupies that frees up Ndamukong Suh and company.
This might be the week where they get things turned around. Along with the aforementioned turnovers Cutler has handed out recently, he's been taken down 10 times in the last four games.