Bears could follow Lions’ road to contention

Jamie Sabau, Getty

In their never-ending search for sustained success, the Bears have loosely followed templates set by the Rams and Chiefs in recent years — replacing John Fox with Matt Nagy to develop Mitch Trubisky as the Rams did with Jeff Fisher/Sean McVay with Jared Goff; having Justin Fields serve an apprenticeship behind Andy Dalton, as the Chiefs did with Patrick Mahomes and Alex Smith. 

Now they’re trying to become the Lions. 

That seems a little dubious on the face of it. The Rams and Chiefs templates panned out. The Rams have been to two Super Bowls under McVay — winning in Super Bowl LVI after the 2021 season. The Chiefs are the current gold standard of the NFL — playing in three Super Bowls in the last four seasons, with championships after the 2019 and 2022 seasons. 

The Lions? They’re 7-2 and leading the NFC North, but still have a long way to go to reach the top. And they’re the Lions — a franchise with a history of failure that makes the Bears look good. The Lions haven’t won an NFL championship since 1957. They’ve made 12 playoff appearances in the NFL’s 57-year Super Bowl era. They’ve won one playoff game in the Super Bowl era — every other team has at least four. 

But after going 18-54-2 in four-plus seasons since firing Jim Caldwell — the only Lions coach with a winning record (36-28) since Joe Schmidt in 1967-72 — the Lions have turned it around under general manager Brad Holmes and Campbell, winning 15 of their last 19 games. 

And while they have a long way to go to not only win something but sustain their current success, the Lions’ path to contention might be the best template to follow — focus on the offensive and defensive line and give your good-but-not-great quarterback a chance to max out. 

That plan is particularly working on offense, where an offensive line anchored by right tackle Penei Sewell — the No. 7 pick of the 2021 draft — has paved the way for Goff to make the most of modest or inexperienced weapons. The Lions are second in the NFL in total offense and sixth in points with Goff, running backs David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs, receivers Amon-Ra St. Brown, Josh Reynolds, Kalif Raymond and rookie tight end Sam LaPorta. 

Goff was the first overall pick of the 2016 draft. Gibbs was the 12th pick and LaPorta the 34th pick this year. But St. Brown, a fourth-round pick in 201 and the younger brother of Bears wide receiver Equanimeous St. Brown, is becoming the biggest star, with 65 receptions for 821 yards and four touchdowns. He has six games of 100 or more yards, including the last four in a row. 

After a shaky start under general manager Ryan Poles, the Bears finally seem to have the makings of following the Lions’ path. Rookie right tackle Darnell Wright, the 10th pick of the draft, looks like a keeper on a Sewell trajectory. The makings of a solid offensive line are there with second-year left tackle Braxton Jones, left guard Teven Jenkins and right guard Nate Davis returning after missing four games with an ankle injury. 

The defensive line, a mess last season and at the start of training camp this season, has been fortified with the addition of defensive ends Montez Sweat and Yannick Ngakoue and defensive tackle Andrew Billings. The Bears have a long way to go with their pass rush, but being second in run defense through 10 weeks is a good start.

The x-factor is the quarterback. Justin Fields looks closer to Jared Goff than Joe Burrow on the NFL’s quarterback spectrum. But at this point, the Bears have a better chance of building an offense that will max out the quarterback than finding a quarterback who can put the offense on his back.