The New York Giants are coming off their bye week and will face a 4-6 Chicago Bears team that suffered a sinking defeat last Sunday night against the Los Angeles Rams.
After capturing the NFC North title in 2018, things have not gone as expected for Matt Nagy, Mitch Trubisky and the Bears this season. While the Bears playoff hopes look bleak, the Giants have not won a game since the end of September as they currently ride a six-game losing streak.
Something has to give in this matchup and although the Giants have had their struggles, the Bear are a mess right now and Big Blue has a chance to officially put their season to bed with a win.
Here are five reasons why the Giants could come out on top in week 12.
Coaching adjustments
If the Giants want to turn their season around, it starts with the coaching staff. Pat Shurmur’s offense has regressed big time in 2019 ranking 23rd in the league scoring only 20.3 points and 322 total yards per game. The offense has seen a major scoring drop off from the 27.7 ppg in the final eight contests of 2018.
Shurmur’s tenure as head coach of the Giants has not started off as planned, going 7-19 in a little under two seasons thus far. If Shurmur hopes to flip the script, he will have had to make the necessary adjustments during the bye week to put his offense in the best position to succeed.
While the Giants have shown the ability to move the ball up-and-down the field, they have struggled in the red zone (14-27, 51%) and on third down conversions (40%). The offense needs to find some consistency and finish drives in the red zone. If Shurmur developed some creative plays designs in Big Blue’s time off, we could see a different offense coming out of the bye.
With the Giants struggles in pass protection this season (13.1 pressures per game, 34 sacks, 81 hits allowed), the team will hopefully be well prepared for the Bears defense, specifically Khalil Mack and Roquan Smith. If they want to keep Jones clean this week, Shurmur will opt to have a tight end/running back chip the edges on passing downs, as well as utilize Wayne Gallman in these situations, as Barkley has struggled. If the tight ends and running backs chip, this could open the door for some delayed routes resulting in a free option in open space.
Cleanup mistakes
We have heard time and time again from the coaching staff about “executing” or “cleaning up mistakes.” Now it is time to see some action as talk is cheap.
From missed assignments, to the fumbling issues of Daniel Jones (13), to lack of separation from receivers, we have seen a sloppy product on the field throughout the first 10 games of the Giants season. While they were not necessarily expected to contend this year, on paper the team should be better than their record shows. The problem is, they have played like their putrid record by consistently making the same mistakes every week from the coaches, down to the players.
While Shurmur has received a vote of confidence from Giants brass, it does not mean they will stick with him if his team continues to regress. Lack of execution and constant mistakes reflect poor coaching and if things don’t get cleaned up soon, John Mara will find a staff capable of fixing these areas.
Daniel Jones
Jones has had a very impressive start to his NFL career with 1,984 passing yards, 15 touchdowns to 8 interceptions, a 63% completion percentage and 208 rushing yards running in two scores. That being said, he needs to improve on his pocket awareness and fumbling issue.
After Jamal Adams ripped the ball out of his hands and ran it back for a touchdown in Week 10, the hope is Jones will tuck the football away this week when star studded edge rusher Khalil Mack is breathing down his neck.
The Bears have the eighth-ranked passing defense only allowing 227 yards per game, which is right around the per week average of Jones (228). They only have 25 sacks as a group, but that could change against a struggling Giants pass protection.
On a brighter note, Jones and Lamar Jackson are the only quarterbacks in this era to throw for four touchdowns and zero interceptions. Even more impressively, Jones has accomplished this feat in only eight starts. The sky is the limit for this kid and if he protects himself and the football, he could finish strong in the final six games of his rookie campaign.
Saquon Barkley
Since returning from a high ankle sprain in Week 7, Saquon has not looked like himself averaging only 41.2 rushing yards per game. He also had a career worst 13 rushes for 1 yard against the Jets prior to the bye week.
Some have speculated that he is still not quite 100%, as he doesn’t seem to be hitting the hole as hard. Barkley looks like a back who is playing carefully due to an injury when that is the exact opposite of what makes him a great player. When asked if Shurmur would consider shutting him down for the rest of the season, both he and Barkley threw cold water on the notion.
Now with two weeks of rest, it is time to see whether or not Barkley is truly healthy and if he can get back to being a difference maker in year two. The run blocking has also been a major problem as Barkley was hit at the line of scrimmage on 11 out of 13 carries against the Jets. The Bears give up 95 rushing yards per game and the Giants only average 94 on their own side.
The hope is, Barkley will be used more in space as he is still capable of the explosive play if you look back at his 65-yard catch and run against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 9. The Giants need to take a page out of the 49ers’ (game-winning dump off to running back Jeff Wilson) and Chargers’ (8 catches, 108 yards and a touchdown on Monday night) playbooks when utilizing Barkley in space in the passing game. Barkley is clearly a matchup nightmare and if his route tree is expanded this week (wheel, flare, seam, angle) there won’t be many who can stop him on the Bears defense.
James Bettcher
As Bart Scott discussed on WFAN, James Bettcher needs to scheme to his personnel’s strengths, not make them adjust to his defense. Scott also suggested they switch back to a 4-3 in order to have three athletes at the second level in space with Deon Buchanan, Alec Ogeltree, and Lorenzo Carter. In front of them, Dexter Lawrence and Dalvin Tomlinson would plug up the middle, while Markus Golden and Leonard Williams could rush with their hands on the ground at the end position.
In the secondary, Janoris Jenkins and struggling rookie corner DeAndre Baker play better when lining up closer to the line of scrimmage as opposed to Bettcher’s 8-10 yards off the ball scheme. Sam Beal will also see his snaps increase on the outside and could replace Baker if he continues to struggle. Corey Ballentine has taken over for Grant Haley as the starting slot corner. The hope is, he will continue to progress as the season winds down.
From a safety standpoint, Jabrill Peppers has shown he is better suited when roaming around the line of scrimmage in a similar role as Landon Collins previously played. Grant Haley has also shown the ability to thrive in this position, as well.
As for the center fielders, Antoine Bethea has looked to have lost a step despite recording an interception and fumble recovery in his last two games. Bettcher mentioned rookie Julian Love is very close to seeing his snaps increase at free safety and it will be interesting to see if he steals away playing time from Bethea. Keep in mind, Love was also up for the Jim Thorpe award with Baker last year and is no slouch. Love led the NCAA in pass breakups over the final two years of his college career.
The Bears have the 30th-ranked passing offense averaging 182 yards in the air per game. Mitchell Trubisky has struggled mightily (9 TD, 4 INT, 1,580 yards). Their rush offense hasn’t been much better coming in at 29th with only 79.9 yards on the ground each week. The ball is now in James Bettcher’s court to take advantage of a struggling group.
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