the Philadelphia Eagles are on the road to face Chicago Bears at Soldier Field on Sunday afternoon. In order to preview their week 15 match, I reached out to our haters at Windy City Grid. the pleasant Patti Buckle took the time to answer my questions about this upcoming battle. Let’s take a look at the answers. [For my answers to Patti’s questions about the Eagles, stay tuned to WCG.]
Our friends at DraftKings Sportsbook have all the odds for this week’s matches.
1 – Justin Fields has been getting a lot of credit lately despite the Bears being on a big losing streak. What improvements have you noticed? What is the level of confidence in him at the moment?
It’s honestly a little weird how much the national media has changed Justin Fields over the past two months. I believe he deserves the credit because he’s had some real development and some impressive moments, but he’s not a different player than he was at the start of the season. What’s most promising for me is that he’s definitely benefited from being more comfortable with his new offense and figuring out what he can do at the NFL level. Specifically, he got better at processing the pitch and pulling the trigger on early reads, he got better at avoiding the pass rush, and he started to feel more comfortable with the tight window. and anticipated throws. Ironically, the interception that turned things around last week Packers the play was on such an early pitch where the catcher fell short of expectations. He’s also learned what he can get away with running the ball, and it happens to be plenty of early conversions and half-court touchdown scammers with record frequency. Confidence is as high as it has been for a Bears quarterback since Cutler peak, whenever you think it was. Imagine what he could be like if he ever started eating meat. Imagine a faster Jalen Hurts with a better deep ball and smoother dance moves.
2 – To what extent are you encouraged by the evolution of the front office of Matt Eberflus and the Bears?
There was plenty to be applauded despite the Bears’ record, especially with the front office. Back in the days of Ryan Pace, Bears fans soured on his strategy of frequently trading the draft and giving up future resources for mediocre results. Ryan Poles has a much more sensible approach to resource management, and I agree with his assessment that the best way to overcome the Bears listing situation was a year of minimal spending to keep his sites competitive at over the next two years. In his first draft, he didn’t force picks as needed and he traded multiple times (albeit with late picks). The big test will be what he does this offseason, with high-cap space in the league and a high draft pick.
Matt Eberflus brought a culture to the Bears that appears to be substantially different and more effective than Nagy’s. The team is more disciplined in terms of penalties, and its HITS philosophy of high effort has intermittently seemed to translate into results. It would be nice to see him win some of those close games, but for now, I guess he’s learning some important lessons at the right time in a non-playoff season.
3 – What is the greatest strength of the Bears at the moment? How should they attack the Eagles?
The Bears’ greatest strength is undoubtedly the running game. It starts with Justin Fields, but the offensive line and skill positions in the running game are also their strengths, and Luke Getsy has done a good job of being creative and productive with the running scheme, even against teams that generally defend it well. The defense hasn’t been good at much lately, although its relative strength is in pass defense. The Bears’ best chance of winning the game is if Justin Fields has magic moments leading to a lot of runs and then gets lucky in the turnovers.
4 – What is the Bears’ biggest weakness right now? How should eagles attack them?
Can I just say the trenches? The Eagles should and will bully the Bears on both sides of the line and that will almost certainly lead to a win. The Bears offensive line can work well in running play and in game action or fast passing, but they won’t be able to hold the Eagles back in “true passing sets.” On offense, the Eagles should have an easy flight through the park if they run frequently and pass when their star receivers get good plays, which should be often. Right now it’s like asking “what’s the best strategy for playing Madden in rookie mode”? Just do what feels fun and watch it work.
5- Who wins this game and why? With DraftKings sport bets listing the Eagles as 9-point favourites, what’s your score prediction?
If you’ve read this far or watched this season, you’re probably thinking I’m going to say the Eagles win. But no one called me out for messing up one of them, so I’ll continue to predict the Bears win, this time 42-35. Justin Fields leads the Bears offense to score every practice thanks to his willpower and ursine vigor, and UDFA rookie linebacker Jack Sanborn seals the game with a late pick 6 on the Eagles’ only drive that doesn’t reach the end zone.
BONUS PODCAST
BGN’s John Stolnis interviewed WCG’s EJ Snyder for this week’s edition of Look at the enemy for BGN Radio.
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