In a rather meaningless Week 18 game, the Detroit Lions went on the road to play the Chicago Bears. Detroit didn’t care if the game didn’t matter to them, and they played to win. They dominated early on, and despite a late collapse by the defense, the offense saved the day to win the game, 19-16.
While it’s now officially the offseason, we can still discuss this game. Here are my four takeaways from the Lions’ Week 18 victory.
Detroit’s 2026 schedule fate was decided before kickoff
While this isn’t related to the game, we now know who the Lions play in 2026 after being locked in at the bottom of the NFC North in 2025. While we won’t know the order of the games played, the Lions’ schedule is very favorable in 2026. Of their 17 games, nine are against teams that finished 2025 with a record below .500, which is a great thing for them.
Home: Bears, Packers, Vikings, Patriots, Buccaneers, Giants, Saints, Jets, Titans
Away: Bears, Packers, Vikings, Bills, Falcons, Panthers, Dolphins, Cardinals
Every team will be different next season, but just looking at these games, there’s no reason why, at the very least, Detroit finishes with fewer than 10 wins. Detroit is the best fourth-place team in the NFL, as the next team closest to them is the New Orleans Saints, who finished 6-11. Detroit’s schedule being easier will give them a big boost in returning to the postseason in 2026 and fighting for the NFC North crown.
Red zone falls flat despite strong offensive showing
After two weeks of the Lions’ offense struggling and contributing to the losses, the offense finally had a good game. Quarterback Jared Goff threw for over 300 yards, and the running game finished with 122 yards. It left me wondering where this was when the games still mattered in December. The one spot where the offense struggled was in the red zone.
With the Lions moving down the field with ease, facing 20 yards or fewer to score became more difficult. Detroit finished one-for-four in the red zone, with kicker Jake Bates seeing lots of action. Thankfully, the defense was strong against Chicago in the first half—if they had struggled for all four quarters instead of one, this game could’ve been one the Lions offense cost them again.
Despite worthless game, Lions still fight hard
Week 18 2025 was a different feeling compared to the Week 18 game back in 2022. Back then, the Lions were improving and had a chance to eliminate the Green Bay Packers from the playoffs. They went out, pulled off the win, and gave fans confidence in what was to come. They made the playoffs in 2023 and 2024, winning back-to-back NFC North titles, winning two playoff games, and clinching the one seed once.
This year, coming off the best year in franchise history, the Lions fell to 9-8. The Bears had already clinched a playoff spot, but Detroit played to push the Bears down a spot in the seeding and wanted to finish the year with an above .500 record. With the Philadelphia Eagles losing, the Bears still finish the year as the two seed, so overall, the game didn’t matter to them.
This game showed that under Dan Campbell, the Lions will always try their best to win every game. We knew that already, especially in 2021 when the team was at its worst under Campbell, and in 2022 with the strong finish. What makes this year different is that the team has the pieces; they just underperformed and suffered too many injuries. A win today hurts the team’s draft pick, playing starters increased the chance for injury to happen, and ultimately, this didn’t move the needle in the playoff race. Campbell didn’t care; he wanted to end strong like his teams always have.
Amon-Ra St. Brown saves his best for last
This season has been a rough year for Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra. St. Brown. While he had the second-most yards and touchdowns, he also had a career-high 10 drops. His drops came at the worst times as well, increasing the frustration towards them. In this game, St. Brown had a drop early on in a tough situation, but after that, he blew up.
St. Brown finished with 11 catches for 139 yards, the third-most yards this season and second-most catches. St. Brown was a huge problem for the Bears’ secondary as he made them suffer on short, medium, and deep routes. He ended the year on a positive note, and if he can have a strong offseason, he could easily bounce back with maybe his best year ever in 2026.
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