The Chicago Bears (4-6) are coming off a deflating 17-7 loss to the Los Angeles Rams (6-4), a loss that essentially ended any playoff hopes in a stacked NFC.
The Bears will be looking to get back on track against the struggling New York Giants (2-8), who have lost six straight games.
While this is definitely a game that the Bears should win, that hasn’t been the case this season. Chicago will need to reduce the missed opportunities and self-inflicted mistakes that doomed them against the Rams if they’re going to beat the Giants.
Here are four bold predictions for the Bears’ Week 12 matchup:
1. Bears defense holds Saquon Barkley under 70 yards rushing
Despite losing defensive tackle Akiem Hicks to injured reserve, the Bears run defense has remained solid this season. But they’ll face a familiar challenge this week when they go up against New York Giants running back Saturn Barkley.
Last season, Barkley rushed for 125 yards on a Bears defense that included Hicks. But it won’t be a cakewalk for Chicago’s defense, who nearly gave up 100 yards on the ground to Los Angeles Rams running back Todd Gurley last week.
After starting the season with back-to-back 100-yard performances, Barkley hasn’t been able to surpass 72 yards since returning from an ankle injury. And the trend will continue as the Bears will hold him to under 70 yards on Sunday.
2. Mitchell Trubisky throws for 3 touchdowns
Assuming Mitchell Trubisky is cleared to play against the Giants, the struggling quarterback had put together two solid games against the Detroit Lions and Los Angeles Rams prior to his hip pointer injury.
That’s a trend I see continuing against a bad Giants defense, where Trubisky should be able to replicate his three-touchdown performance against the Lions.
While the Bears’ offense has struggled — and gotten off to slow starts — they’ll face a Giants defense that’s allowing 361 yards per game, which is sixth worst in the NFL. There will be opportunities to attack this defense, and this might be one of the last weeks for this offense to find something in the tank.
3. Bears’ defense will force three Daniel Jones turnovers
The Bears defense hasn’t been able to replicate its 36-takeaway performance from a season ago, but the unit is coming off a multi-takeaway performance against the Rams, and they’ll be looking to continue that output against a rookie quarterback prone to turnovers.
Giants quarterback Daniel Jones leads the league in turnovers with 21, which should have Bears defenders licking their chops. More so, 13 of those turnovers are fumbles, which is something Jones has struggled mightily with this season.
This is the game for the Bears pass rush to make a statement and get after the rookie and force into costly mistakes that he’s known for.
4. Eddy Piniero will make every field goal attempt
The Bears have replaced on kicker problem with another. After a solid start, where he connected on 8-of-9 field goals, Eddy Pineiro has been missing valuable kicks almost on a weekly basis.
Last week against the Rams, Piniero missed two field goals in the first quarter of a game where points came at a premium. Matt Nagy also elected for his struggling offense to go for it on fourth-and-9 rather than kick a 49-yard field goal after the first miss.
While at first glance this might not seem bold, this might be my boldest prediction, as Pineiro hasn’t been perfect on kicks from Soldier Field since the weather turned into that chilly and windy element. Still, after Nagy decided to stick with Pineiro rather than look elsewhere, you’d hope that bodes well for Sunday.
