ALLEN PARK — The Detroit Lions have avoided playing in the elements this season, with their previous four outdoor road games featuring calm and mostly warm weather.
They opened the campaign in Kansas City, then got lucky with a September date in Green Bay before back-to-back road trips to Baltimore, then Tampa Bay. But that changes with this weekend’s trip to face the Chicago Bears, with this game circled as the one potential bad-weather game on the team’s schedule.
“Look, weather’s going to play a factor in this one, but it’s also, that’s a great equalizer, I love that,” Lions head coach Dan Campbell said. “Turnovers and weather is a great equalizer. It puts you on a little bit more even playing ground, and I feel like that works for us too. I’m sure they feel like it works for them, it works for us too. So, this is going to be good, this is going to be a good battle.”
And let’s clarify: it will not be a blizzard or a monsoon down in Chicago. But the wind, temperature, and potential precipitation are simply things this team hasn’t faced this season.
The National Weather Service projects rain before 7 a.m. Sunday, with mostly cloudy skies and a high temperature of 40 degrees in Chicago. It’s supposed to rain from Friday night until Sunday morning, too Oh, and watch out for those patented gusts, with wind speeds forecasted between 12 and 14 mph.
Jared Goff has spent most of his career in the friendly-weather confines of California or the dome in Detroit. And while a recent uptick in turnovers ahead of this challenge is concerning, no doubt, the Lions and Goff himself sound more than confident in the veteran quarterback handling that task.
Goff pointed to a bad-weather game against the New York Giants back in 2017 as one of his most memorable showings in the conditions. It was a rainy, windy day in New Jersey, with the Rams beating the Giants 51-17 as Goff threw for 311 yards and four touchdowns with no turnovers.
The veteran quarterback added that he’s played with a glove on his throwing hand before. But he saves that for especially cold ones, so we’ll see if Goff goes that route in Chicago.
“Whatever it may be, we’ll be ready and I’ll be ready,” Goff said. “I’ve played in cold games and windy games and all sorts of games. Yeah, we’ll see what it is and I’ll be ready to go.
“You’d like it to be 70 and sunny every time. But you can’t always have that. Anything that’s not that would be something unfavorable. But you play in it every week. We’ve been lucky to be in a dome a lot this year. But you play outside in a little weather, you deal with it. I’ve played some of my best games in the weather, so yeah, we’ll see.”
Lions quarterbacks coach Mark Brunell said wind used to worry him ahead of games back in his playing days, but that’s not the case with Goff. Brunell added that the plan is to spend most of the week of practice outside and that they’ll be ready for whatever Soldier Field and the Windy City throws at them.
“I think, if I’m just speaking about Jared — He’s played in these games before and is he used to these conditions? He’s got enough experience to where I’m not concerned about it,” Brunell said. “I think he’ll be just fine. But you have to be smart. If it’s really windy, which it looks like it’s going to be, you have to call the game accordingly, understanding the conditions.
“I feel pretty confident that our team has enough experience in these elements. Will it affect us? Maybe a little bit. But I think we’ll be just fine and able to execute the offense. That’s our expectation. We don’t care what it’s like out there. When we call a play, when Ben (Johnson) calls a play, you know, his expectation is that it’s executed properly. And that’s certainly how Jared approaches it.”
