Dan Campbell of the Detroit Lions.
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The Detroit Lions may have it a bit easier in the 2026-27 season against one pesky rival who just won't go away.
The Detroit Lions are concentrating on their roster for the 2026-27 season, but it’s impossible not to look around and see what others in the NFC North are doing with their upcoming lineups. As the NFL draft approaches, franchises are laser-focused on what holes remain in their lineups and how to fill those spots.
So, the Lions finished dead last in the NFC North for the 2025-26 season. That was worse that expected, to say the least, since the team was No. 1 in the division just one year earlier. So, where do the team’s rivals in the NFC North stand?
One NFL voice truly believes the Chicago Bears, now led by former Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, will be easier to beat in 2026. Let’s hope so, because the Bears were a force last season and finished No. 1 in the NFC North.
Detroit Lions May It Easier Against the Chicago Bears and Ben Johnson for the 2026-27 Season
In a Monday, April 6 feature for Detroit Jock City, Jovan Alford lays out why the Chicago Bears have problems on the team’s secondary. “The Bears saw a mass exodus in their secondary as Kevin Byard III, Jaquan Brisker, C.J. Gardner-Johnson, Nahshon Wright, and Jonathan Owens all signed one-year contracts with new teams,” he notes in the piece.
It was a significant exit of a handful of talented players, and that may come back to bite them. “The Lions, who swept the two-game season series from the Bears in 2025, were specifically happy to see Byard and Wright playing elsewhere,” he adds.
To replace some of these players, the Chicago Bears signed free-agent safety Coby Bryant in a three-year, $40 million deal, according to ESPN research. They also signed defensive back Cam Lewis on a two-year, $6 million contract. That’s a heap of bag, and time will tell if it’s worth it.
“As for the cornerback position in Chicago, the Bears will have to lean on Tyrique Stevenson as their CB2 with no Wright,” Alford adds. So, he says that’s really a “concerning proposition, as Stevenson’s play has been up and down over his first three years in the league.”
So, the next time Jared Goff and company come up against the Bears, Alford warns that “it could be a long day for those defenders in the secondary.”
One Former Detroit Lions Player Doesn’t Want to Play for the Chicago Bears
Ex-Detroit Lions left tackle Taylor Decker has been in NFL free agency since the team allowed for his release request in March. Rogers appeared on the Thursday, April 2 episode of the Lions Collective podcast, and talked about his interview with Decker, in which the player talked about his annoyance with the poor communication from the franchise. Speaking on the podcast, he talked about the teams Decker wants to avoid.
“He wants to play for a winner (but) he’s kind of thinking about, ‘Is it cheap to win somewhere else after you’ve invested all your energy emotionally and physically into one franchise?'” Rogers said on the show.
Rogers added, “I will tell you that he’s pretty anti-playing for the Bears and Packers. That’s the Lions background. I know Ben Johnson did it, and that was the right situation for him, but Taylor feels kind of dirty about the idea. It just isn’t interesting to him.”