The reeling Chicago Bears face a must-win game against a hapless New England Patriots team. If they lose their third straight game, the season could be over and chaos could reign.
If the 2023 version of the Chicago Bears was 4-4 at this point of the season many people would be happy. They would be thrilled to see what the second half of the season would bring. This is not 2023, however.
After all of the improvements Chicago Bears General Manager Ryan Poles made to the offense, many people had high expectations for this team. Already having a strong defense, a strong offense would make the team very difficult to beat.
Well, things have not worked out as planned. The offense is struggling the same way we have seen it struggle for decades. Quarterback Caleb Williams has not been on the same page with star wide receiver (and owner of the biggest contract in Chicago Bears history) D.J. Moore.
Even the defense has had some ups and downs. As a result, there is disarray surrounding the team. Last year’s team was 2-6. A 4-4 record is a nice improvement. That is not good enough for Chicago Bears Nation, who expected a playoff appearance.
To be fair, the Bears are the eighth-seed in the NFC. That is one spot away from the last playoff seed. They are 1.5 games away from the Green Bay Packers for that final playoff spot.
The Chicago Bears are reeling, though. They are in the middle of a two-game losing streak. The offensive struggles have frustrated fans. The recent struggles of the defense is discouraging. Finally, their injuries are starting to pile up as key players go down.
Many are unsure if the Bears will be able to register another victory this season, let alone string enough of them to make it to the playoffs.
That is what makes this week’s game so critical. The Patriots are 2-7 this season. They rank near the bottom in both offense (ranking 21st) and defense (ranking 30th). After winning their first game of the season, they have now lost 7 of their last 8 games. They are in competition for the number one pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
The Patriots are still playing hard, however. They had a tough overtime loss to the Tennessee Titans last week. The Chicago Bears will have to try to pull things together and play hard to win. With all of the pressure and noise surrounding them, that could be a hard task.
What makes this a bigger game is that the Chicago Bears start to face their NFC North rivals afterward. They face their division foes in six of their final eight games. In addition to that, they also have games against the defending NFC Champions, the San Francisco 49ers, and the Seattle Seahawks.
It will certainly be an interesting game to watch. Will the Chicago Bears find a way to get a victory, or will they continue to reel?
Here is what to watch for in the Chicago Bears vs. New England Patriots Week 10 matchup:
The Bears defense returns key starters
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In their Week 9 game against the Arizona Cardinals the Chicago Bears defense had multiple starters who did not play. Defensive end Montez Sweat, cornerback Kyler Gordon, and safety Jaquan Brisker were all out due to injuries.
Then, during the game, they lost defensive tackle Andrew Billings and cornerback Terell Smith, who started for the benched Tyrique Stevenson after his boneheaded play at the end of the Washington Commanders game cost the Bears a victory.
We saw how much of an impact missing five players was to the defense. The Cardinals ran all over the Bears defensive front to the tune of 217 rushing yards. THroughout the game, we saw missed tackles by players who were not used to playing so much in key situations.
The Billings loss is a huge gut punch. He has a pectoral injury that needs surgery. He is likely out for the rest of the season. Now the Chicago Bears have to find someone who can take up double teams and help stop the run. Billings was able to help free up space for the other defensive linemen.
It will be interesting to see how much the Chicago Bears pass rush is affected without Billings helping free up space.
The good news is that Sweat and Gordon return this week. Sweat suffered from a shin injury while Gordon missed the last two games due to a hamstring problem. Having them return strengthens the defense.
However, Brisker will miss yet another game with a concussion. This week will be the fourth straight game he missed. He is a hard thumper who can help against the run and rush the passer. The defense has felt his absence.
Hopefully Stevenson put his antics behind him and will continue to play good, hard-nosed football. It will be great to see Gordon, Stevenson, and Jaylon Johnson back together. They formed one of the toughest cornerback units in the league. Johnson was not seeing very many targets because of the backups playing. Now he may see more and will make some big plays.
Can the offensive line do enough to help the offense?
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After a good three-game stretch, the Chicago Bears offensive line regressed and played as badly as it did not only early in the season but also the better part of the last decade. The Cardinals came into the game without having a lot of sacks. They were near the bottom with just 15.
Despite rushing just four throughout the game, Arizona got to Caleb Williams six times. Rushing just four and still getting to Williams just shut the Bears’ offense down. They had seven players back so Williams could not find open receivers. Then he had to run for his life many times. It was ugly.
Now the offensive line has to deal with injuries as well. Both starting tackles, Braxton Jones and Darnell Wright, are already ruled out for this week’s game. We saw how the unit struggled without them last week. Both are dealing with knee problems. Jones missed last week’s game as well. Wright was knocked out of the Arizona game.
The backup left tackle, Kiran Amegadjie, was also ruled out for the game so there is a lot of shuffling that will happen.
The next men up are Larry Borom, who recently came off injured reserve himself, and Jake Curhan. Curhan struggled mightily when he came in last week. The Bears could use Matt Pryor, who has been in at right guard. He has played well wherever he has played.
Ryan Bates, who has not played since Week 1 due to a shoulder injury, came off injured reserve and is on pace to start. He could go in at right guard so Pryor could move over to right tackle.
The Patiots rank 25th in interceptions and 28th in passing yards per attempt. That means they give up big chunks of yards and don’t create turnovers. Additionally, they rank 29th in sacks so they do not pressure the quarterback.
The Patriots could be what the ailing Chicago Bears offense need. Chicago has feasted on teams at home and they have feasted on struggling teams. However, we have to see how the offensive line holds up. While New England has struggled all season, the Chicago Bears are struggling at the moment as well.
If the offensive line can somehow find a way to have a nice game it will bode well for the offense as a whole. With a struggling line, Williams does not have the time he needs to find receivers. Furthermore, the running game cannot get going. That means we see an offense that scores 24 points in two games.
Can Williams get back on track?
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We have talked about how the offensive line struggles have hurt WIlliams. However, Williams has some responsibility as well. He has missed his receivers a lot, especially deep downfield.
With Williams leading the passing game, the Chicago Bears rank dead last with a 25.4 percent bad throw percentage. Additionally, they rank 29th in on-target throwing percentage (68.9 percent).
Yes, the Bears rank ninth in pressure percentage (24.1 percent of his dropbacks were pressured), however, how Williams reacts to that pressure has left something to be desired. One of the knocks against him coming out of college was how he sometimes tries to play hero ball. That is what he is doing with the Chicago Bears.
Williams has had the tendency to hold onto the ball too long while looking for the big play. That has resulted in bad sacks that killed drives and/or knocked the offense out of field goal range. On a lot of those plays, he had open receivers underneath he could have hit.
Williams has to learn to take what the defense gives him. Against the Cardinals, there were a few times that tight end Cole Kmet or running back D’Andre Swift were wide open but Williams was busy looking for the deep hit. We already saw a few times how Swift has taken a short pass and took it for a big gain.
Sometimes it is best to just take the smaller gain and not get into long situations. Perhaps that short pass can turn out to be a huge gain.
We also saw a play in which Williams decided to go for a fade to Keenan Allen in the end zone. It was a difficult pass and Allen was well covered. While Williams concentrated on that, he had D.J. Moore all by himself. Moore could have walked into the end zone easily.
Speaking of Moore, he and Williams have not been on the same page. Both players admitted to the obvious. When asked about the reason for the disconnect, Moore brought up last year’s starting quarterback, Justin Fields. Moore and Fields had great chemistry that resulted in Moore’s career year.
I couldn’t tell you. I mean, just reps? You can say Justin had more reps when I got here than me and Caleb have, just him being a rookie quarterback and Justin wasn’t a rookie quarterback last year.
In order for the Chicago Bears’ offense to succeed, Moore has to be more involved. He hasn’t, and we see the result. Somehow, some way, Williams and Moore have to start cooking. That will be difficult, though, because after this game, the Bears have the toughest schedule in the league.
Have the coaches found Kmet?
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One especially frustrating aspect of the Chicago Bears’ offensive struggles is the usage of Kmet. He has been one of the top tight ends in the league, yet he is not involved in the offense for some reason. Last week, he did not have any targets against the Cardinals.
The tight end could serve as a young quarterback’s security blanket. If you have a good tight end who has good hands and is athletic, he has to be involved to help the quarterback. We see how great Patrick Mahomes is with the Kansas City Chiefs even when the team struggles with their wide receivers. He has Travis Kelce and goes to him as much as possible.
Kmet may not be as good as Kelce. However, he is one of the top tight ends. Williams needs to have that tight end he could go to when all else fails. He does not have that. Perhaps seeing that the coaching staff does not trust to involve Kmet much, Williams has not had the trust in him either.
Yes, the Chicago Bears have some very good wide receivers. However, adding Kmet would help them play even better. That has not happened, though. He had a couple of games in which he was targeted and he came through. So far this season, he has a catch percentage of 90 percent (27 catches on 30 targets).
If he is doing so well when he is targeted, why not target him some more?
This is why many want offensive coordinator Shane Waldron axed. He has a potentially great offense with great pieces yet we see the same struggles that we saw for several decades. Kmet is an integral part of the offense and not using him is paramount to coaching malpractice.
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