MNF: Lions vs. Bears
One of the long-standing NFL rivalries will be on display on Monday Night Football tonight as the Detroit Lions head into hostile territory at the new Soldier Field to the Chicago Bears. The rivalry’s fire has been rekindled in recent years as the Lions have become a competitive, even playoff bound team in 2011, but this year’s Lions are off to a rough start. Will Detroit get back on track and get back into the NFC North race, or will the Bears continue to soldier on and stay a game and a half up on the surging Green Bay Packers. We will certainly find out tonight.
Stafford got more than a taste of the rivalry last season
Although the Bears have won seven of the last eight meetings between the clubs, the rivalry has stayed hot. The teams almost got in a sideline-clearing scrum during a November game last season  that was started with Matthew Stafford ripped off the helmet of Chicago’s D.J. Moore during a Tim Jennings interception return.
“There’s always going to be bad blood,” Jennings told the team’s website via ESPN.com. Just the fact that we’re Chicago and they’re Detroit, and they’re in our division and we know we have to go through one another to get to that championship that we need to get to, there’s always going to be bad blood with them.”
The 2-3 Lions are coming off a much-needed 26-23 win last week against Philadelphia Eagles and will look to get back in the hunt tonight with a chance to pick up a full game on Chicago in the North standings. Stafford is leading the second ranked passing attack, in terms of yardage, as the Lions are putting up 320 yards per game through the air. However Stafford has made his share of mistakes, five big ones in fact. His TD to INT ratio is currently in the red at 4-5. The Lions have also lacked a consistent run game to compliment Stafford and the defense has struggled, allowing more than 27 points per game (ouch).
The Lions should get a heavy dose of Forte tonight
Meanwhile, the Bears are coming off a rout of Jacksonville, 41-3 and are now 4-1 on the season. Chicago will be aiming for its fourth win in a row and the ninth total on Monday Night under coach Lovie Smith. The recent success has been largely due to the running game with Matt Forte, which is currently ranked ninth in the league and the run defense which is tops in the NFL, allows opponents just 65.8 yards on the ground per contest.
Since the Bears are fielding an improved offense overall from a season ago and the Lions are underachieving with the young talent they have on the defensive side of the ball, expect the Bears to continue their dominance in this rivalry by covering the -7 point spread in a home win. The Lions are simply the more inconsistent squad and when wagering, that’s certainly a red flag. Detroit should rebound at some point this season, but not this week. Go Bears.
