The Chicago Bears (3-5) have an important divisional game against the Detroit Lions (3-4-1) in Week 10, where both teams are desperate for a win.
Chicago has lost its last four games and have fallen to last place in the NFC North.
If there was ever a time for the Bears to pull out a win, it’s against a struggling Lions team. While Chicago swept Detroit last season, this Bears team is a far cry from the 2018 squad.
Here are four bold predictions for the Bears’ Week 10 contest versus the Lions.
1. Mitchell Trubisky will outplay Matthew Stafford
If you’re going to go bold, why not go as bold as one could possibly get. Especially considering that Matthew Stafford, if not for being on a bad team, would in the MVP conversation right now.
While Mitchell Trubisky has done nothing to garner this extreme confidence, if Matt Nagy puts him in a good situation — caters the offense to fit his needs — then he could have his best game of the season against a Lions defense that’s just awful.
Let’s not forget that Trubisky had one of his best games against the Lions last season, where he completed 23 of 30 passes for 355 yards and 3 touchdowns for a 148.6 passer rating.
But that was then, and this is now. Maybe the Bears defense can pressure Stafford enough for this bold prediction to actually come true.
2. David Montgomery eclipses 100 rushing yards
The Bears would do well to attack all facets of a struggling Lions defense, particularly the run defense, which is allowing the sixth-most rushing yards in the NFL at over 135 per game, as well as the eight-most rushing touchdowns with 9.
Chicago needs to feed the ball to rookie running back David Montgomery 20-plus times and take advantage of a run defense that has allowed 100-yard rushing games to Green Bay’s Jamal Williams, Minnesota’s Dalvin Cook and Oakland’s Josh Jacobs.
If the Bears can’t run the ball on the Lions — and successfully — then there’s no hope for the run game.
3. Bears defense forces 3 turnovers
There was always going to be regression with this Bears defense if only because they were so good last season. But it’s hard to ignore one glaring statistical category that Chicago has fallen off: Takeaways (21 in 2018 vs. 11 in 2019).
Chicago’s defense will face a test against the Matthew Stafford-led Lions passing attack, which has been red-hot this season. Stafford has thrown just five interceptions to 19 touchdowns this season.
The Bears defense needs to have a big showing, and what better game to do that than against the divisional Lions. Fumble recoveries, interceptions, it doesn’t matter. They just need to force turnovers.
4. Bears beat the Lions by double-digits
Right now, a Bears victory would be a bold prediction in itself. But a victory by double-digits? Go big, or go home.
Again, there’s no reason for this Bears team to inspire confidence that it’ll happen, but this might be Chicago’s best shot for some of these bold predictions to actually come true.
