Bears Travel to NYC to Face Giants

The Chicago Bears (2-7) will fly to New York City this week to play the New York Giants (6-3) on Sunday at Noon central time in MetLife Stadium. The Giants are hot, winning four in a row. Their latest victims were the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday Night Football 21-20. Before that, the Giants beat the Ravens, Rams, and Eagles to get to the Bengals victory, which put them at 6-3, trailing only the Dallas Cowboys (8-1) in the NFC East division. New York has already equaled their total wins from 2015 with 6. So you could say they’re as hot as Death Valley, CA in the Summer! We’re talking 120 degree heat. But it’s a “dry heat”, right? Hot baby hot, like Buffalo Wild Wings hot wings! Like Hooters “3 Mile Island” hot wings! The Bears…..not so hot, getting crushed at Tampa against a poor Buccaneers team that won at home for just the 4th time in their last 21 home games. The Bears are more like Hooters “mild sauce” wings. You can’t really taste or get excited about those wings. They’re just bland and rather “blah”. That’s kind of how Bears fans view their team right now. Could it get much worse for Chicago?

• WR #17 Alshon Jeffery was suspended on Monday for the next 4 games for a PED violation.
• RG #75 Kyle Long was declared out for the season with an ankle injury
• QB #6 Jay Cutler played one of his worst games in a Bears career that is now in its 8th season
• RB #24 Jordan Howard was reportedly injured late in the game at Tampa. Is it just an “owie” or is it serious?

Bears fans are becoming apathetic with another lousy season. This team will finish this 2016 season with between 2 and 9 wins, more likely closer to 2 than 9. Funny thing is….fans will start cheering for losses to improve their 2017 NFL Draft position. Only the Browns (zero) and the 49ers (one) have less wins up to now. Could the Bears really “earn” the 3rd overall pick?

Keep An Eye On : #81 Cameron Meredith

Now that Jeffery is likely done or close to being done in a Bears uniform, does Chicago have his likely replacement as a lead, number one receiver already on the roster in Meredith or #13 Kevin White? Or will GM Ryan Pace be looking for another WR on Draft Day? Meredith has shown flashes. Last week he caught the Hail Mary pass at the end of the 1st half for a 50 yard TD. That’s the good news. The bad news is it was the ONLY pass he caught all day. Without Jeffery on the field, look for Meredith to try to assert himself. Will Cutler trust him? Also look for #19 Eddie Royal and TE #86 Zach Miller to step up their games. If and when White, as well as #10 Marquess Wilson, come back from injuries, look for all of them to try earning Cutler’s confidence. For this week, White is still out (on the PUP list) and Royal and Wilson are questionable.

Aikman Efficiency Ratings

• Chicago : 27th Offense, 14th Defense, 27th Overall
• New York : 28th Offense, 8th Defense, 23rd Overall

Surprisingly, New York’s numbers look very similar to Chicago’s. Could the Bears upset the Giants? Oh geez, let’s not go there. Don’t get our hopes up……again.

Predictions:

• Giants superstar WR Odell Beckham will catch AT LEAST one touchdown on Sunday.
• Bears pass rushers #94 Leonard Floyd, #92 Pernell McPhee, and #97 Willie Young will pressure Eli Manning into some bad throws and sacks. If the secondary can cover their WR’s, Chicago might actually have a chance at some interceptions and sacks, you know, GAME CHANGING PLAYS that have been too few and far between. Manning and the Giants as a team have only been sacked 13 times this season in 9 games (1.44 per game, 4th best in the NFL) which surprises me because Manning has virtually no mobility. Despite that statistic, I think the strength of the Bears team lately has been the pass rush (Bears have the 8th most sacks in the NFL with 24.0). I’ll predict a minimum of 3 sacks by the Bears. Watch for Floyd to make a big “WOW” play vs Manning.
• The Bears are 2-7. I’m 3-6 with my Bears picks (winning on the Dallas, Detroit, and Green Bay games). Once again, I’d like to pick the Bears but I can’t. They just haven’t earned it. New York is on a roll and favored by 7 points while Chicago is only rolling closer to the worst record in the NFL. I’ll take the New York football Giants to cover the spread:

New York Giants 23 Chicago Bears 13