Chicago Bears vs New York Giants Preview
Today the Chicago Bears (5-10) play their final home game of the 2021 season at Soldier Field against the New York Giants (4-11). Neither team has anything to play for anymore other than personal pride and not quitting on their team and the fans. This game represents one of the easiest games, on paper, of the season for the Bears.
It will be the last home game in a Bears uniform for many players, and coaches, for Chicago. Next year we could see an entirely new regime take over. The GM and coaching staff will likely change schemes and bring in their own players. Therefore, take a look while you still can at Coach Nagy and players like Akiem Hicks, Allen Robinson, Eddie Goldman, Alec Ogletree, Eddie Jackson, Jason Peters, Germain Ifedi, etc. They might all be gone by 2022.
As bad as Chicago’s season has gone, New York’s has been even worse. The Giants have quarterback problems, possibly even worse than the Bears. Starter Daniel Jones played in only 11 games before being shut down for the season at the end of November. He threw 10 TD’s and 7 INT’s with a 84.8 QB rating in his 3rd season out of Duke. Is he the future in New York? For now they are claiming he is. Another young building block is RB Saquon Barkley, who tore his ACL at Chicago in 2020. Will he ever be the same guy as he was pre-injury? In 11 games this year, he has only 130 carries for 461 yards and 2 TD’s with a 3.5 ypc. That’s not very good.
The Giants went out and signed Kenny Golladay in free agency last offseason. He has 34 catches for 499 yards and zero scores. That’s right, he hasn’t scored yet after signing for 4 years for $72 million, $40 million guaranteed. And the funny thing is, it might not be his fault. You can only do so much by yourself in football. There are ten other guys around you and receivers rely on blocking and passes being thrown their way.
Obviously the Giants are not getting it done on offense. New York is 30th in offensive yards (Chicago is tied for 26th) and is 30th in points at 16.5 ppg (Chicago is 28th at 17.7 ppg). If you thought the Bears were bad on offense, wait ’til you see the Giants.
Troy Aikman’s AER
- New York Giants (4-11) : 30th offense, 18th defense
- Chicago Bears (5-10) : 29th offense, 23rd defense
- New York Giants : 27th overall, 30th offense, 20th defense, 13th special teams
- Chicago Bears : 24th overall, 26th offense, 23rd defense, 10th special teams
- New York Giants: 26th overall
- Chicago Bears: 27th overall
Sports Betting Dime
SportsBettingDime.com’s formula has the Bears winning by a score of 15.7-11.9.
Prediction
The Bears are favored by 6 points over the Giants. After studying the numbers, I’m not so convinced the Bears should be such big favorites. However, when you look at recent trends, at seems as if the Giants have given up on their season while the Bears are at least fighting as of late. New York has lost four in a row by scores of 34-10, 21-6, 37-21, and 20-9. At least the Bears beat the Seahawks at Seattle last week 25-24. Of course, Nick Foles quarterbacked that victory.
Since Justin Fields is still nursing an ankle injury, amongst many bruises incurred during a brutal rookie season, Chicago will be starting Andy Dalton at QB this week. The idea is to rest Fields and not get him more seriously injured going into the offseason which will be headed by a new regime. As long as Dalton and/or Foles can finish out this year, that’s probably for the best for the Bears moving forward.
New York sounds like they’ll be rotating two quarterbacks, Jake Fromm and former Bears castoff Mike Glennon. I’m not overly confident in Chicago winning (can anyone be?) but I guess when you look at the Giants, they don’t inspire much confidence either. The biggest factor might be HC Matt Nagy’s motivation to finish out his last game at Soldier Field with a victory. Plus, the Bears just have a few more healthy pieces than the Giants do at this point. PICK: Chicago Bears
Chicago Bears 21, New York Giants 13
Last week’s Prediction: Seattle Seahawks 27, Chicago Bears 14
Last week’s Result: Chicago Bears 25, Seattle Seahawks 24
2021 Season: Chicago Bears 5-10, Dutch Lion 13-2 (our two losses were Las Vegas and Seattle)
Dutch Lion Sports 
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