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Bears' Kevin Byard talks about playing the Lions on Thanksgiving
Lou Canellis and Kevin Byard talk Sunday's loss against the Vikings and looking ahead to Thanksgiving Day.
The Chicago Bears and Detroit Lions meet again on Thanksgiving.
The two will play their 20th Turkey Day game on Thursday, and the Bears have an 11-8 record against the Lions on the holiday game.
Here are three storylines to watch as the Bears take on the Lions on Thanksgiving.
D'Andre Swift revenge game?
The Chicago Bears are used to former running backs performing well against them.
Former Bear and current Lion David Montgomery had 76 rushing yards and a touchdown against the Bears last year. In 2019, ex-Bear Jordan Howard had 82 rushing yards and a touchdown in a Week 9 win over Chicago.
No performance was bigger than former fourth-overall pick Cedric Benson's 189 rushing yards and a score in his first game against the Bears in 2009.
Now, the shoe is on the other foot. Former Lions running back D'Andre Swift will face his former team for the first time on Thursday.
There's no extra added motivation. He made that clear earlier this year during minicamp.
"Another team. That's how I'm going to look at it," Swift said of the Lions on May 31. "I ain't going to say too much about it. It's just another team, that's all."
However, a big game from Swift might be what the Bears need if they want to pull off the upset.
In the Bears' three-game winning streak earlier this year, Swift scored in each of those games and had over 90 rushing yards in the wins over the Rams and Jaguars.
So far in 2024, Swift has 665 rushing yards, five touchdowns and a four-yard-per-carry average.
The Bears have stressed complimentary football for the last five weeks. Getting the run game going is a part of that effort. It complements the passing game and gets the play-action game going.
A Swift revenge game would also go down in Bears lore if it helped kick-start a second-half resurgence.
Caleb Williams' first Thursday game
In a season of firsts for the Bears' star quarterback, Caleb Williams is seeing another on Thursday.
It's his first-ever NFL game on Thursday.
With that came a disjointed and sped-up schedule. That means he'll have to cut out a few things that have become mainstays in his routine. But, that's part of being a quarterback in the NFL.
"I would say I had a few mess ups today with some of the new plays and things like that because you don’t have the day and a half to go through all the small details that mean a lot and I always talk about," Williams said on Tuesday. "Definitely something that after this week and after this game – I know we have another one this year and I know we’ll have a bunch more in the years to come."
Williams might not have as much "me-time" to mentally prepare himself, but he's aware of the physical things he needs to do.
With his second game in four games, Williams said he's focusing on three things: his sleep, hydration and eating.
"Those three things are the most important," Williams said."Having those three things and doing those three thing well prepares you for this game and being able to go out there and perform."
Final Word: What's more heartbreaking than the Chicago Bears' OT loss? The difference in the game
That comeback was encouraging to many – as it should be – but it also highlights the most heartbreaking aspect of Sunday's loss.
Can the special teams continue its readjustment?
The Bears had their first field goal against Minnesota blocked. That, plus the turnover on the muffed punt led to a sense that, maybe, there's a special teams issue in Chicago.
Those worries were quelled by a massive fourth quarter.
A 50-yard kick off return to set up a touchdown and a recovered onside kick to set up a game-tying 48-yard field goal helped erase any outstanding worries.
"They made adjustments, they were able to take the adjustments," special teams coordinator Richard Hightower said. "We made all our kicks from there, including a huge kick to send us into overtime at the end of the game with three seconds left."
The adjustments Hightower made on the field goal protection team is the most notable.
The Bears were getting pushed up front and moved starting right tackle Darnell Wright from the left side of the line to the right. The Bears took the adjustments and made two successful field goals after that.
Hightower was proud of that response.
"I was really proud of the guys resolve and resilience, especially in that moment," Hightower said. "That was another 48-yarder for those guys and they got it done and it's a credit to them and that, it doesn't surprise me because I know what type of resilience and what type of resolve and what type of men that we have in our locker room."
Now, can the Bears have a clean day against one of the best teams in the NFL?