Must-Win For Lions In Chicago? Depends Who You Ask.
By: Will Burchfield
@burchie_kid
The Lions will take on the Chicago Bears on Sunday at Soldier Field, looking to avoid a three-game losing streak and an early deficit in the NFC North division.
"It's a big one, no question, it's a division game on the road," said Matthew Stafford. "We say division games count for two – we get a win and they get a loss. It's a big one if you can get it done. Chicago is a tough place to go play, but it's a big one on the schedule for sure."
Just how big?
"Must-win to me," said coach Jim Caldwell.
"Every single opportunity that we go out and get, we've got to take advantage of it. There's no question about that. We only have 16 of them and they're all important. They all carry the exact same weight, so yeah, they're absolutely important. It's the biggest one that we have because it's the next one. You don't ever want to get into a situation where you are so far down you can't dig yourself out of a hole," he added.
A must-win game? In Week 4? Does such a thing even exist?
"Nah, man," said Glover Quin. "I mean all games you want to win and you never know which one comes back and haunts you in the end, but if you lose and then you still have a chance then it's technically not a must-win."
Still, Quin allowed, it's a pretty crucial clash.
"Definitely don't want to be on a three-game losing streak. It's a division game, you definitely don't want to lose division games. So it's definitely one of those games that you want to go out and win, get the bad taste out of your mouth and try to get a good win on the road before we come back home for a nice little stretch," he said.
The Lions are looking to rebound after a disappointing 34-27 loss to the Packers in Week 3. After Sunday's tilt in Chicago, they'll open up a three-game homestand versus the Eagles (Oct. 9), Rams (Oct. 16) and Redskins (Oct. 23).
But first they must take care of business against the 0-3 Bears, something they've done with regularity over the last three seasons. Detroit is 6-0 versus Chicago since 2013.
It remains to be seen if that will have any bearing on the upcoming matchup.
"Every game is different, especially every year, year-to-year. In order to win on the road or even at home, you have to go out there and execute and play well. We've done that the last few times we've played these guys," Stafford said.
It's been a while since the Lions have visited the Bears this early in the season. The last time they played at Solider Field before the month of the November was in the 2012 season.
"It's nice, I guess," Stafford said. "I enjoy playing in those cold-weather games every once in a while. Getting to Lambeau and Chicago late in the year doesn't bother me too much, but I'm not on the receiving end of catches and things like that, which I'm sure are not as fun. Hopefully it's a nice day, just go out there and play some ball."