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Giants (2-8) Bears (4-6)
The Bears are coming off a Sunday night 17-7
loss to the Rams. They have lost 5 of their last 6 games.
The Giants were
on a bye week following their 34-27 loss to the Jets. They have lost 6 straight
games. Chicago Bears
In his first year as head coach, Matt Nagy
guided his team to the NFC North division title, and was named the 2018 Coach
of the Year. The Bears lost in the wildcard game by just one point to the Philadelphia
Eagles when a 43 yard field goal attempt bounced off the uprights. Now at 4-6,
the Bears record is a far cry from the 12-4 they finished with last year. In the
division, they are trailing the Green Bay Packers (8-2) and Minnesota Vikings
(8-3).
Nagy calls the plays for the offense, and has come under some criticism
for that. In a loss to the New Orleans Saints, 7 rushes were the fewest carries
in a game in Chicago's franchise history. A week later, in a game with the Los
Angeles Chargers, the team had a first down with 43 seconds left. With an opportunity
to do so, Nagy didn't run any plays to advance the ball. A 41-yard field goal
attempt was wide left, and Chicago took a 17-16 loss. Bears
Offense
When Matt Nagy first took over as
head coach the offense improved in most all areas. The Bears were scoring an average
26 points a game, about 10 points more than the year before. Now things have fallen
back to where they used to be, and their rushing numbers are even worse. Mitchell
Trubisky, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2017 draft, is the starting quarterback.
In his first year, Trubisky finished with a 4-8 record, with 7 touchdowns and
7 interceptions.
Trubisky last year threw for 3223 yards with 24 touchdowns
and 12 interceptions, with his best games coming at the end of the season. Trubisky
also ran the ball 68 times for 421 yards, averaging over 6 yards a carry. This
year the Bears seem to have toned down on that aspect of his gameplay. So far
Trubisky has run the ball just 15 times for 68 yards.
Allen Robinson is the
top receiver on the team with 57 catches and 3 touchdowns. He's targeted heavily,
catching on average 2 out of 3 passes that come his way. David Montgomery is the
lead rusher with 143 carries for 497 yards and 5 touchdowns. Tarik Cohen has carried
the ball 38 times for 116 yards, and he has the second most receptions on the
team with 43. Bears
Defense
The defense is the strength of this
team. Same as last year, allowing less than 18 points a game, they are one of
the best in that area. They were near the top in the league then also with 50
sacks, but are off that mark this year. Lineman Nick Williams leads the team with
6 sacks, and linebacker Khalil Mack is a close second with 5.5. They both came
on strong, combining in the first four games for 8.5 of those 11.5 sacks, and
opposing teams realized they had to step up with even more protection. Sacks don't
tell the whole story though, as sometimes Mack is tripple-teamed to keep him at
bay.
Mack leads the team with his 42 quarterback pressures, and he has forced
4 fumbles. The Bears best players in the secondary are cornerback Kyle Fuller
and safety Eddie Jackson. The way things went last week, Rams quarterback Jared
Goff completed only 11 of 18 passes for 173 yards (0 TDs, 1 INT), and they ran
the ball 34 times. Todd Gurley had 25 carries and 2 touchdowns. That and a field
goal gave them 17 points, enough to beat the Bears, whose struggling offense was
able to come up with only 7. Giants
Offense
The offense is trying to get on
track, but you can't do that by committing turnovers. Daniel Jones in his 8 starts,
has turned the ball over 17 times, including the one where he came in for five
plays. Unlike the last time Jones played, where starters Jon Halapio and Mike
Remmers were both unavailable, and Nate Solder left the game early due to a concussion,
Jones will have his full offensive line back. With tight
ends Evan Engram and Rhett Ellison out, Scott Simonson and rookie Kaden Smith
will be called on to lend a hand blocking against the Bears' tough front seven.
Sterling
Shepard cleared the concussion protocol on Friday, so the team will be able to
field him and Golden Tate together, something Jones hasn't seen in many games.
Jones has been connecting well with Darius Slayton, and just before the bye, Slayton
caught 10 passes for 121 yards and 2 touchdowns. As for the running game, Jones
led the Giants in rushing in each of the last two games, with 54 yards vs. Dallas,
and 20 against the Jets. Hopefully Saquon Barkley will be at full strength for
this game. The Giants saw how Todd Gurley was effectively used against the Bears
last week. Giants Defense
The
Giants know they are up against a weak offense that ranks 28th in scoring and
30th in total yardage. Quarterback Mitchell Trubisky is not having a stellar year,
and is not the threat that he can be running the ball. Considering he was pulled
at the end of the game last week with a hip injury, that's not likely to be a
factor the Giants have to be concerned with. The focus should be on making Trubisky
ineffective with his passing, but the Giants pass rush has been inconsistent.
Linebacker Markus Golden leads the team with 6.5 sacks, and no one else is even
close.
Defensive lineman Leonard Williams was acquired recently in a trade
with the Jets, has played in just two games, and they have yet to have a chance
to mix in his skill factor. The lack of up front pressure combined with broken
coverages in the secondary, has led to teams scoring 27 or more points in every
Giants game this season, with the exception of Washington, a 1-9 team. The Giants
have had a bye week break to look things over, and maybe they'll improve on allowing
teams a third-down conversion rate of 40.8 percent. Overall
The Giants are averaging roughly 20 points
a game and Chicago 17. The Chicago Bears are favored to win this game, and aside
from the fact that the game is being played in Chicago, there's a flip side to
those numbers. The Giants are giving up roughly 29 points a game compared to Chicago's
17. If defense wins football games, the Giants will need a lot more of it.If offense
is your measuring stick, well the way things have been going for the Giants, it
wouldn't hurt to have more of that too in this game with the Bears. NFC
East Games
Sunday at 1:00pm Giants (2-8)
at Chicago (4-6).
Sunday at 1:00pm Seahawks (8-2) at Eagles (5-5).
Sunday
at 1:00pm Lions (3-6-1) at Redskins (1-9).
Sunday at 4:25pm Cowboys (6-4) at
Patriots (9-1).
The Eagles are the only NFC East team favored to win in these
games.
Check out.
Giants
On The Air. Listen to the Radio Broadcasts.
TeamGiants on Twitter.
Notes.
Giants
Daniel Jones currently leads all the rookie quarterbacks with 15 touchdown passes. Giants
Darius Slayton is tied for the NFL rookie lead with his 5 touchdown receptions. Giants
have recorded at least two sacks in every game this year except for the ones with
the Cowboys.
Next Games
Dec 1 Green Bay at Giants.
Giants Tickets - Buy
or Sell
DEC 9 Giants at Philadelphia.
Giants Tickets
- Buy
or Sell
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