The way the question is phrased (“who do the Bears play if they lose to the Lions”) is something fans usually ask in an NFL playoff or late‑season context, but there is no single fixed answer that always applies.

Why there’s no one set opponent

  • NFL schedules and playoff matchups depend on the specific season (year), week, and standings at that moment.
  • A loss to the Lions could affect:
    • The Bears’ seed (or whether they make the playoffs at all).
* Which opponent they draw in the Wild Card round, or whether they fall from a higher seed to a lower one and face a different team.

Because of this, “who they play if they lose” can change year to year and even day to day as other teams’ results come in.

What you’d need to know

To answer that question precisely for this season, you would need:

  1. The exact season and week (for example, “Week 18 of the 2025 season”).
  1. The NFC standings before the Bears–Lions game.
  1. The official tiebreaker and playoff‑clinch scenarios released for that week.

Those details determine whether a Bears loss means:

  • Dropping to a different seed and playing a specific higher‑seeded NFC team.
  • Missing the playoffs entirely and therefore not “playing anyone next” in the postseason.

How fans on forums usually mean it

In forum and social‑media talk, this question is often shorthand for:

“If the Bears lose to the Lions in Week 18, what does that do to their playoff seed and who would they face in the first round?”

People then plug the game into live playoff simulators or look at ESPN/NFL clinching‑scenario graphics to see the exact matchup.

TL;DR: There isn’t a universal, fixed opponent the Bears always play if they lose to the Lions; it completely depends on the specific year’s standings and tiebreaker scenarios. To know the exact team, you’d have to look at that season’s Week‑of‑game playoff picture and clinching scenarios.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.