Bears vs. Lions: 4 Players Who Will Keep the Detroit Lions Undefeated

The Detroit Lions and their fans have been pining for relevancy for over a decade. Tonight, Ford Field will be the center of the NFL universe when the Lions host the Chicago Bears on Monday Night Football.

With all day to tailgate and the chance to watch the Detroit Tigers play the Texas Rangers in the ALCS prior to kickoff, the fans inside the stadium will provide an incredible home-field advantage and make calling audibles incredibly difficult.

The entire team will need to submit a solid performance tonight for the Lions to notch an important division win. However, certain players will be particularly instrumental in determining the outcome of this game.

The following slides will showcase the players who will be key contributors to the Lions remaining undefeated. 

4. Ndamukong Suh

This may seem to be the obvious pick, but there should be plenty of opportunities for Ndamukong Suh to make his presence felt. 

The Chicago Bears lack any continuity on their offensive line and will be without right starting tackle Gabe Carimi. To make matters worse, the man who will be lining up against Suh, guard Chris Spencer, will be playing with a broken hand.

Ndamukong was forced to play an incredible number of snaps last year, but the Lions should be able to keep him fresh tonight as rumors continue to fly regarding the possible debut of rookie defensive tackle Nick Fairley.

Chicago would be wise to continue to pound Matt Forte as they did last week against the Carolina Panthers for 205 yards on the ground. Suh has to be able to exploit the inconsistent and injury-depleted Chicago offensive line and disrupt the flow of the offense.

3. Matthew Stafford

Matthew Stafford is another obvious choice since the NFL is currently being dominated by quarterback play due to the rules changes that have been implemented over the last few years.

Last year, Chicago was able to keep Stafford in check during the first half of their season-opening victory over the Lions by forcing him to continually dump off to his check-down options. Some people have opined that they were merely setting up the Bears secondary for the second half, but Julius Peppers knocked Stafford out of the game before he was able to find any field-stretching opportunities.

Stafford brings in an 11:3 touchdown to interception ratio and will look to be aggressive from the outset. Detroit can ill afford to allow the pass-rushing defensive line to pin their ears back if Chicago gets a lead.

2. Stephen Tulloch

Stephen Tulloch was signed this offseason to provide the tackling that the Detroit Lions' linebackers have lacked since the days of Chris Spielman. His numbers so far have not reflected the same pace that resulted in him being the second-leading tackler in the league last year, but his presence has been felt by opposing running backs nonetheless.

Tulloch is crucial to this Monday night matchup as his task is help contain the explosive Matt Forte. Forte's numbers have not been as impressive this year, but it appears that Mike Martz finally realized what he has last week and will feed Forte the ball often to keep the attacking defensive line off balance.

Tulloch's play in this game will be invaluable, and his solid tackling will be a major factor for Detroit remaining undefeated.

1. Jeff Backus

Nobody has had to endure more unwarranted criticism over the last decade than Jeff Backus. Despite his impressive consecutive starts streak, Detroit Lions' fans have never taken to the ever-present left tackle.

This would appear to be primarily because nobody notices offensive linemen unless something goes wrong. Julius Peppers treated Backus as a turnstile in last year's season-opener, and one particular missed block resulted in Peppers injuring Matthew Stafford.

However, Backus has had to hear about that singular incident all year, and nobody will be more motivated to shine in the prime time.

With Backus doing enough to keep Matthew Stafford upright, the Lions will continue to match the Green Bay Packers in victories by beating the Chicago Bears 31-17.