If you didn’t wait up for the ending of “Sunday Night Football” in Santa Clara, California, it’s official: The Detroit Lions close the season at 4:25 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 4, against the Chicago Bears. Here’s what’s at stake for both teams in the game.
Detroit Lions (8-8)
The Lions have been eliminated from playoff contention, but as coach Dan Campbell said, after last week’s Christmas Day loss to the Minnesota Vikings, he expects “everybody to be locked in one more time” for this week’s game against the Bears.
“We got one game to go, man, and I expect everybody to be ready to go when we get back in, in a couple of days,” Campbell said. “That’s what I expect, and then we’ll go from there.”
The Lions should be motivated to avoid their first losing season since 2021, beat their old offensive coordinator Ben Johnson for the second time and perhaps spoil the Bears’ chances of hosting multiple home playoff games.
Beyond that, draft positioning and a portion of next year’s schedule are at stake for the Lions.
The Lions enter Week 18 at No. 15 in the 2026 NFL Draft, according to Tankathon.com, because their strength of schedule is weakest among the league’s five 8-8 teams. If the Lions lose, they could pick as high as 12th – that would require the Atlanta Falcons to win their final two games, including Monday night against the Los Angeles Rams, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to beat the Carolina Panthers (for the NFC South title) and the Dallas Cowboys (who have the lone tie among non-playoff teams) to beat the New York Giants.
If the Lions win to improve 9-8, they could pick as low as 18th, depending on the results of other games.
If the Lions lose – or if the Vikings beat the playoff-bound Green Bay Packers (who are pondering resting their starters) – the Lions will have a fourth-place schedule next year, because the Vikings have the tiebreaker by virtue of their sweep of the season series.
That means more favorable crossover matchups against the NFC East (the Giants instead of the Washington Commanders and a potentially healthy Jayden Daniels), the AFC South (the Tennessee Titans instead of the Indianapolis Colts) and the NFC West (the Arizona Cardinals instead of one of the Rams, Seattle Seahawks or San Francisco 49ers).
If the Lions win or tie and the Vikings lose at home against the Packers, the Lions will finish third in the NFC North.
Chicago Bears (11-5)
The Bears lost a chance at the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs when they came up just short on their final drive in Sunday night’s loss to the 49ers. But Johnson’s team still has playoff positioning on the line.
If the Bears win – or the Philadelphia Eagles lose at home to the Commanders – they will be the No. 2 seed in the NFC playoffs and be guaranteed home playoff games in the wild-card round (and the divisional round, with a win). If the Bears lose and the Eagles win, the Bears will be the 3-seed in the NFC and would head to Philadelphia if both teams win their playoff opener.
The Bears also will be out to avenge their 52-21 loss to the Lions in Week 2. In that game, Johnson’s second as coach, they allowed their most points and suffered their largest margin of defeat this season.
Dave Birkett covers the Lions for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Bluesky, X and Instagram at @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions vs. Chicago Bears: What’s at stake in 2025 season finale
Reporting by Dave Birkett, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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