The Bears will host Jaxon Dart and the 2-7 New York Giants this week. With a massive cold front coming in, temperatures (which sit around 60 degrees on Friday) are expected to plummet to the mid-to-upper 30s by gametime, with a chance of snow.
The Giants come in losers of three straight, with an 0-5 record on the road this season. Rookie quarterback Jaxon Dart and running back Cam Skattebo brought lively energy to the team for a few weeks, but Skattebo’s season ending injury has fanned some of the flames. Still, Dart is vastly outperforming expectations and should be able to do some damage against Chicago’s damaged defense, which suffered yet another major blow to its personnel with linebacker T.J. Edwards undergoing hand surgery this week. The Bears sit at 5-3 and will look for their offense to build off of a 500+ yard explosion last week in Cincinnati.
Keys to the Game
Bears
- Dominate on the Ground
The key to the offense’s domination last week was its success found in the run game. The offensive line, headlined by Darnell Wright, put up an insane performance and rookie RB Kyle Monangai was able to take significant advantage of it. All together, Chicago put up 283 rushing yards, in comparison to Cincinnati’s 46. All of a sudden, the Bears find themselves 5th in yards per carry on the year.
If the Bears can crush on the ground again, it would be the easiest path to victory. Passing the ball is volatile; running is consistent. New York is arguably the worst team against the run this year up to this point, allowing the most yards per carry, and the 2nd-most rushing touchdowns in total. The Bears should be able to hammer this weakness and salt the game away without QB Caleb Williams needing to do much work.
Giants
- Exploit Weak and Injured Bears Secondary
For the Giants to win, they’ll need to score a lot of points. Luckily for them, Chicago’s defense is weak and dealing with many injuries. It is the 2nd-worst defense in the league at net yards allowed per pass attempt, and has allowed the 3rd-most passing touchdowns. QB Jaxon Dart has led New York to an average passing attack this season, and should be able to put up some numbers at Soldier Field. Especially with the run game a massive question mark after Skatt’s injury (Dart led the team in rushing yards last week), the Giants will need to get their work done through the air.
- Win Turnover Battle
Chicago has won 5 of its last 6 games. Its singular loss in that span was the only game where it did not have the advantage in the turnover battle. In the five wins, the Bears forced 18 takeaways combined, compared to only one turnover on offense (18-2 turnover ratio). In the loss, they lost the turnover battle, 0-1.
It’s a tall task against the team with the most takeaways in the NFL, but if New York can win the turnover battle they will put themselves in fantastic position to leave Chicago with a win.