Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell guaranteed his team will come out on top against the Chicago Bears in Week 2.
"We're going in and getting ready to play Chicago. We're going to win this game. We have to," Campbell said, according to 97.1 The Ticket. "We have to find a way to clean things up and do what we gotta do. And they're going to try to do the same thing, just like every week."
The Lions will face an old friend in Ben Johnson, who took over as the Bears' head coach after a three-year run as Detroit's offensive coordinator. Johnson's offense ranked third in EPA/play from 2022 to 2024, according to Ben Baldwin's database.
Led by new offensive coordinator John Morton and quarterback Jared Goff, Detroit got off to a slow start to the 2025 campaign. The Lions dropped their season opener 27-13 to the Green Bay Packers, marking the first time since 2023 that they failed to score a touchdown through the first three quarters of a game. The offense also averaged only 3.8 yards per play, the second-fewest in a contest since Dan Campbell took over as head coach in 2021.
Kelvin Sheppard's debut as the Lions' new defensive coordinator also didn't impress. Stepping in for Aaron Glenn, who accepted the New York Jets' head coaching job, Sheppard's unit struggled as Packers quarterback Jordan Love posted a 128.6 passer rating and ranked second among all quarterbacks in EPA/play in Week 1.
Campbell partly attributed Detroit's missed assignments to the youth and inexperience on the roster.
"We had some young guys that struggled yesterday. I certainly didn't think it would be the best performance they would have all year, but it wasn't good enough," Campbell said of the loss. "Good news is, there's nowhere to go but up, and up they will go."
The Bears kick off their 2025 season against the Minnesota Vikings on Monday Night Football. Detroit won both games against Chicago last year and has won five of the previous six matchups dating back to 2022.
