THE UNANIMOUS DECISION: BEARS WILL WIN
Melissa Isaacson 24-9
Terry Bannon 30-13
Mike Downey 50-42
David Haugh 31-13
John Mullin 40-3
Vaughn McClure 28-10
Fred Mitchell 27-13
Rick Morrissey 35-14
Dan Pompei 33-23
MELISSA ISAACSON FOR THE MAJORITY
Forte eyes a return to form
It’s hard not to look at this week as a real setup, given that the Bears so rarely do what we expect them to do.
That said, it’s also hard to conceive of any way the Lions win their first game of the season and the second in their last 16, though they do seem to be edging closer to at least that possibility. Quarterback Dan Orlovsky, who replaced the injured Jon Kitna against the Bears on Oct. 5, is improving, and Detroit, which led the Redskins at halftime last week, has lost its last three games by an average of just 5.7 points.
For the Bears, this game screams for Matt Forte to get back into the groove against the league’s 31st-ranked defense, hard as it might be to stop the Orton locomotive, which continues to gain steam each game. And considering that Detroit is also 31st in the league in pass defense, the Bears can mix it up. Remember that as steadily as Orton has been improving, his best game of the season came against the Lions, when he threw for a career-high 334 yards and two touchdowns.
He is averaging 301 passing yards per game in his last three starts and is 11-2 at home in his career.
Defensively, this is an opportune time for a presumably rested Bears unit to get back a little of that lost mojo against one of the worst offensive teams in the NFL, now minus the traded Roy Williams. Perhaps playing the Lions will jog their memories as to how they’re supposed to look after holding Detroit to a season-low 185 yards in their last meeting.
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