Lions' Penei Sewell likely out vs Bears, St. Brown trending to play

Penei Sewell is unlikely to play in the Detroit Lions' season finale Sunday, Jan. 4, against the Chicago Bears, but that won't impact Jared Goff's availability for the game.

Sewell missed his third straight practice Friday, Jan. 2, with an ankle injury he suffered in last week's loss to the Minnesota Vikings. Sewell missed six snaps with the injury and returned to finish the game but has not practiced this week.

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The Lions are out of playoff contention at 8-8, but coach Dan Campbell has said he intends to play all of his available starters against a Bears team that has wrapped up the NFC North but still is playing for playoff seeding.

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Asked if Sewell's potential absence might cause him to sit Goff, Campbell said, "No."

"I don’t feel great about Sewell right now but I’m always going to hold out hope," Campbell said. "But as far as, does it affect you not having [him]? Yeah, it does. He’s a phenomenal player. He’s a phenomenal football player, yet we got guys who are going to step in and do a good job for us, man. They got a job to do, they’ll have a role and we expect them to hold up their end of the bargain."

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Campbell said the Lions likely will not activate Gio Manu off injured reserve to play against the Bears, which would leave Dan Skipper or practice squad tackle Devin Cochran to start at right tackle.

Defensive tackle Alim McNeill is expected to miss the Bears game with an oblique injury, while Campbell said wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown is trending towards playing after leaving the Vikings game with knee and ankle injuries.

"He's trending the right way right now," Campbell said of St. Brown. "He's going to try to go out there a little bit today and run around and we'll see."

Dave Birkett covers the Lions for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Bluesky, X and Instagram at @davebirkett.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Penei Sewell likely out for Lions vs Bears, Amon-Ra St. Brown better