Winless on the road under Dan Campbell, Detroit Lions can snap streak Sunday vs. Bears

Detroit Free Press

The Detroit Lions snapped a five-game losing streak last week against the Green Bay Packers. When they hit the road for their second division game in as many weeks Sunday, they will be trying to break a longer streak of a different kind.

The Lions are 0-11-1 on the road under second-year coach Dan Campbell and have not won away from Ford Field in their last 13 tries, since a Dec. 6, 2020, game against the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field under then interim head coach Darrell Bevell.

The Lions (2-6) visit the Bears (3-6) on Sunday. If they win, they will not have at least a share of last place in the NFC North for the first time since Week 9 of the 2020 season.

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“It’d be big,” quarterback Jared Goff said. “It’d be really big. It would be important for our second (division win), second one on the road kind of get us on a little bit of a roll. And that’s the hope. We’ve got to come out and play well and do a lot of good things. But I feel like if we play our best we should come out victorious.”

The Lions have suffered their two most lopsided losses on the road this season, 29-0, to the New England Patriots in Week 5 and, 24-6, two weeks later, to the Dallas Cowboys coming off their bye.

In both games, they committed multiple turnovers and were shut out in the second half.

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Campbell said having discipline and composure is key to stopping the franchise’s longest road losing skid since it dropped a record 26 consecutive road games in 2007-10.

“When you go on the road you know it’s going to be loud, there’ll be things that are going to happen, momentum will shift and not to buckle under that pressure is big,” Campbell said. “And then I think from a coaching standpoint, we’ve got to keep it — we’ve got to have enough ammo, but we’ve got to keep it simple enough to where we don’t put ourselves in a bind.”

Firing squad

Lions cornerback Jeff Okudah knocked two of his teammates out of last week’s win over the Packers with inadvertent hits to the head. Linebacker Julian Okwara returned after a brief absence, while safety Kerby Joseph remains in concussion protocol.

Both injuries came while Okudah was trying to make a tackle, first on a scrambling Aaron Rodgers and second on tight end Robert Tonyan. Linebacker Malcolm Rodriguez also left the game with an elbow injury he suffered on a hit by Joseph.

New defensive backs coach Brian Duker said he has no plans to rein in his secondary’s aggressive play.

“Friendly fire’s going to happen on defense,” he said. “No, we’re not taking the dial back at all on that one.”

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.

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