The Cheat Sheet: Previewing the battle of underachievers

The Detroit Lions are going to be hard pressed to find something to be thankful for this season. It certainly hasn’t gone as they would have hoped. But if there is one team that can relate, it’s the Chicago Bears.

Prior to the season, the Bears were projected Super Bowl contenders. Mitchell Trubisky was an MVP favorite. And their defense was supposed to continue to dominate opposing teams.

Well, a lot can change in three months.

And that leaves us with a Thanksgiving Day game between two underachieving franchises.

Both the Lions and Bears have well-known flaws and little excitement surrounding them. This game, like last week’s against Washington, has the makings for long, extended slug fest.

At least we have good food to look forward to, right?

Photo by Nuccio DiNuzzo/Getty Images

Opponent snapshot

The Bears have, by far, been one of the most underwhelming and underperforming teams in the entire NFL. At 5-6, the Bears are nowhere close to where they want to be.

They’ll most likely be competing with the Lions to stay out of the NFC North basement.

Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images

Bears’ biggest threat

Khalil Mack

Mack hasn’t been as dominant as he was a year ago, but he could have a great game against whatever quarterback the Lions trot out David Blough on Thanksgiving day. He could be in for a long day against Mack in his first NFL action.

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Bears’ weak link

Offense

It’s hard to believe this is the same Bears coaching staff and personnel from last season. It’s even harder to believe that they didn’t do much to advance the offense this past offseason. Standing still is falling behind in the NFL and the Bears are living that reality this season.

Matt Nagy can no longer rest on the Coach of the Year title he won after the job he did last season. Of course, a lot of that rests on the arm of the quarterback that he’s tied himself to.

Mitchell Trubisky has been downright awful season. Although one of his best games this season came against the Lions only a few weeks ago. So, this should fun.

Bottom line

My biggest concern for the Lions has to do with the quarterback. I don’t see an injured Driskel or healthy Blough being able to do much to excite Lions fans on Sunday as they sputter toward their fifth straight loss.

Prediction

Lions 13 Bears 23