On Detroit’s next possession, Goff’s 26-yard pass to St. Brown set up Jake Bates’ game-winning 42-yard field goal as time expired, giving Detroit a 19-16 victory.
About 10 minutes later, the Commanders held on for a win over the Eagles, giving the Bears the No. 2 seed and setting up a wild card matchup with the Packers.
The longtime rivals met twice in a 13-day span last month, with the Packers winning 28-21 Dec. 7 in Green Bay and the Bears rallying for a 22-16 overtime victory Dec. 20 in Chicago.
“Good opponent,” said coach Ben Johnson. “I think that we’re fairly evenly matched. Got a lot of respect for how well they’re coached. I have a lot of respect for the talent level that they have in that building and I would expect it to be another exciting game.”
The Lions scored on their first three possessions of Sunday’s game, taking a 13-0 lead on Bates’ field goals of 34 and 30 yards and Goff’s 15-yard touchdown pass to Jahmyr Gibbs. In the first half, Detroit held decisive advantages over the Bears in yards (237-69), first downs (15-4) and time of possession (19:12-10:48).
“We can’t dig ourselves in a hole like that,” Johnson said. “[I] was disappointed with the offense as a whole; I let the guys know that and we’ll be better for it. We’ll address it, we’ll get those things cleaned up and we’ll be better for it.”
Trailing 13-0, the Bears reached the Lions’ 30 late in the second quarter. But on fourth-and-3, Williams’ pass intended for Loveland was broken up by linebacker Derrick Barnes, turning the ball over on downs.
“I think we came out a little flat maybe energy-wise,” Williams said. “We’ve got to do a better job of having urgency from the jump and getting that going.”
Williams said the offense’s performance was “not good enough. Not good enough to win this game. Not good enough to win the upcoming game. We’ve got to get better.”
The Bears were shut out through the first three quarters for the first time this year and recorded a season-low 270 yards, 106 yards below their average.
Asked what was responsible for the offense’s outing, Johnson said: “That’s a great question and that’s one that we’ll have to look at the tape and figure out why that was. I didn’t feel like it was one of our more elaborate plans. I thought it was one of our simpler plans, and so we need to do a better job executing it and coaching it up.”
On the Bears’ second possession of the second half, they advanced to the Detroit 43. But after a false start, Williams’ deep pass intended for DJ Moore was intercepted by cornerback Avonte Maddox in the end zone.
Bates’ 25-yard field goal late in the third quarter extended the Lions’ lead to 16-0 before the Bears rallied to tie the score.
Williams completed 20 of 33 passes for 212 yards with 2 TDs, one interception and an 86.9 passer rating. Loveland had a career-high 10 receptions for 91 yards and one TD.