Predicting the Stats from Tonight's Detroit Lions-Chicago Bears Showdown

Growing up as a Packers fan, I inherently hate the Chicago Bears with all my might. This is why I, like the majority for you reading this, will thoroughly enjoy the thrashing that the Detroit Lions will put on them tonight. There are plenty of articles about why and how the Lions will do this, so here we're going to take a shot and guess some specific numbers for those playing tonight. If any of these end up being right, I'm officially a genius.

Detroit Offense

Top Passer- Matthew Stafford  30/42 314 yards 4 TD 1 INT

Top Rusher- Jahvid Best         15 carries 71 yards 0 TD

Top Receiver- Calvin Johnson 9 catches 111 yards 2 TD

No real surprises here, even though I did consider putting  Brandon Pettigrew in as the top receiver over Johnson, I think Megatron will barely eek him out in yardage. Also, why not give #81 two more touchdowns; he's done it every game so far.

Jahvid Best has been a disappointment so far this year, and I don't expect that to change tonight. He should have a decent yards per carry average, but he won't get enough opportunities to do a lot of damage as the Lions should be airing it out all over this pathetic Chicago secondary.

Stafford will continue his stellar season and put on another good display tonight. His completion percentage might be a little too high, but I expect Chicago to be so worried about giving up the deep ball that they will concede the shorter throws, allowing his percentage to be close to the best he's had all year

Chicago Offense

Top Passer- Jay Cutler 20/38 252 yards 1 TD 3 INT

Top Rusher- Matt Forte 11 carries 33 yards 0 TD

Top Receiver- Matt Forte 9 catches 77 yards 0 TD

Once again Forte will be the focal point of this Bears offense, and once again it will let them down. I expect him to get a solid amount of receptions as Cutler will be under fire the majority of the night and should be looking for his check down man, Forte. Getting your back the ball in space that many times will result in at least one break out play which will account for the majority of his yards.

When it comes to rushing however, I'm not convinced by Forte's performance last week against the Panthers. Remember that in the two games before that, he had nine carries for two yards, and 10 carries for 49 yards (With one of those rushes accounting for 42 of those yards). Also keep in mind that Chicago will be behind the majority of this game, not leaving Matt many chances to get anything going.

Once again, Jay Cutler will be reminded he's the third best quarterback in the division. When he gets under pressure—which there is no doubt he will—it seems like an all out panic. Cutler doesn't know whether to try to force a throw he couldn't normally make or take the sack. Tonight the mixture of sacks and incompletions will put Cutler on his back while he watched the boys in blue run the other way.

Detroit Defense

Top Defensive Lineman- Kyle Vanden Bosch  5 Tackles 2 Sacks 1 Forced Fumble

Top Linebacker-              Stephen Tulloch     8 Tackles 0 Sacks 1 Interception

Top Corner/Safety-          Chris Houston        6 Tackles 3 Pass Deflections 2 Interceptions

Chris Houston has been the standout thus far for the Lions secondary, racking up three interceptions to this point. He'll be the beneficiary of the pressure this fierce defensive line will put on Jay Cutler and should have a few passes float right into his arms

Stephen Tulloch has been a tackling machine for as long as I can remember. He's on pace for slightly under 100 tackles so far this year, but against the Bears I expect him to pick up his numbers. Once again it'll be thanks to this defensive line who should be eating up blocks and letting Tulloch be the main guy to shut down Forte's running game.

I've been a fan of Kyle Vanden Bosch's for quite some time now; he has a great motor and just knows how to get after the QB. Everyone knows how terrible this offensive line is for the Bears and he should have no problem getting into the backfield to disrupt some plays. Ndamukong Suh should also have a very good game, but with Vanden Bosch's sack/fumble I had to put him in the top spot.

Chicago Defense

Top Defensive Lineman- Julius Peppers 4 Tackles 1 Sack 0 Forced Fumbles

Top Linebacker-              Lance Briggs   7 Tackles 0 Sacks 1 Fumble Recovery

Top Corner/Safety-          Charles Tillman 6 Tackles 1 Pass Deflections 0 Interceptions

Since I technically had to pick a best secondary player, I'll go with who will probably be guarding Calvin Johnson most of the day. Yes, he'll give up a lot of yards/catches, but that also means he'll get the majority of the tackles. That's got to mean something, I guess...

As much as I hate to say it, I'm a fan of Lance Briggs. He holds that whole linebacker group together with his great athleticism and football intuition. I expect him to show up in front of Jahvid Best fairly often tonight, whether it be a run to the outside or Best trying to catch a ball in the flat. I threw in a fumble recovery just because it seems like the Lions can't go a game without at least trying to shoot themselves in the foot at some point (obvious exception of KC).

I don't expect the Bears D-Line to have a monstrous effect on this game, but Peppers will still make his presence known. He should be able to spend a decent amount of time in the backfield, but the lack of coverage behind him will lead to only one sack, as Stafford will be able to get rid of the ball quick enough.

Quick Recap

Matthew Stafford will continue to roll as he puts up another four TD's on his way to a Pro Bowl season.

Jahvid Best's struggles manifest themselves once again, but luckily for Detroit, they still don't need him to actually show up for these games quite yet.

Calvin Johnson will catch another two touchdowns because hey, why not?

The Bears offense will, in general, be hard to watch. Unless you like watching Cutler getting destroyed which, quite frankly, I love.

Detroit's defensive line will dominate this game, recording six sacks, forcing two fumbles and causing Cutler to make decisions so bad that dumping Kristin Cavallari will seem like a genius move.

Chicago's defense, on the other hand, might as well stay in Chicago. They won't be able to get significant pressure on Stafford, and their only real "success" will come from keeping Best under 75 yards. Yipee!

Conclusion

Final Score- Lions 31 Bears 10

Yes the Lions are really good. No the Bears aren't even close.

Thanks for reading! Feel free to wait until tomorrow and tear apart my predictions in the comments!