The Chicago Bears are coming off a much-needed bye week. They’re 3-10 and have been eliminated from playoff contention. After two weeks of injury-riddled football, the Bears are hoping to change things and flip the script on their six-game losing streak.
But it won’t be easy as they face off against the 12-1 Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday. Chicago last played against the Eagles in a losing effort in 2019. With a rested team, this is the perfect time to play the best team in the NFL.
Here’s where the Bears rank in the power rankings going into Week 15.
USA Today
Current Ranking: 25th
Last Week’s Ranking: 25th
Author: Nate Davis
Author’s Take:
Coming out of the weekend, Chicago was the only NFC team eliminated from playoff contention. And not going to be easy finding win No. 4 with the final month of the schedule serving up three division leaders (Philadelphia, Buffalo and Minnesota) and a hot pride of Lions.
Our Take:
The Bears have a really tough finish to the 2022 season. Three of the four teams they are playing against are playoff teams, and the other is in the hunt for a spot. At least Justin Fields will be getting more reps. We’ll see how well he does compared to some of the other young studs in the league against Josh Allen and Jalen Hurts.
NFL.com
Current Ranking: 28th
Last Week’s Ranking: 28th
Author: Dan Hanzus
Author’s Take:
The rebuilding Bears entered the season with more rookies on their Week 1 roster than any team in football. The biggest surprise of the bunch through the bye week? Chicago-area native Jack Sanborn, an undrafted linebacker who has thrived since replacing Roquan Smith as the starting middle linebacker. Over the past month, Sanborn has largely equaled the production of Smith, who has thrived in his own right since his trade to the Ravens. “Sometimes good football players are overlooked because their arms aren’t 32 (inches) or their hands aren’t 10 (inches) and you’re not running 4.4 and all those things,” defensive coordinator Alan Williams said last month. “That doesn’t mean you’re not gonna be a really good football player. And so (Sanborn) transcends that.”
Our Take:
This is the worst defense since the Marc Trestman era. John Fox rebuilt it, Matt Nagy managed it, and it’s now been torn to the ground to be rebuilt yet again. With the Roquan Smith trade, the fear was they’d be lost at middle linebacker. Credit to Jack Sanborn, a Chicago-native who has stepped up big time, playing out of his mind this season.
Bleacher Report
Current Ranking: 30th
Last Week’s Ranking: 28th
Author: BR NFL Staff
Author’s Take:
It’s not that often that fans of a three-win team are excited about the future. But while the Chicago Bears aren’t winning games, they appear to have found their quarterback.
Now they just need to keep him in one piece.
If Justin Fields can log 95 rushing yards over the last month of the season (which would seem likely given that he’s averaging over 75 yards per game), the second-year pro out of Ohio State will become the third quarterback in NFL history to gain 1,000 yards on the ground in a season. However, running the ball means more hits taken, and as head coach Matt Eberflus told reporters, the key for the Bears is mitigating that additional punishment.
“I’ve said from the beginning for several weeks now, we want to be very protective of Justin to makes sure he is out of harm’s way,” Eberflus said. “That is either being smart by him working to the sideline, working out of bounds, sliding correctly. Or things like that, different designs that we might give our halfback.”
Getting Fields through the rest of the season is just Step 1 in Chicago’s rebuild plan. And even bigger one will be how the team handles the 2023 offseason. Fields needs better passing-game weapons around him. The Chicago defense needs help at all three levels.
There’s a lot of work to be done if this year’s excitement is to have any chance of meaning anything a year from now.
Our Take:
Keeping Fields healthy for the rest of the season is step one. Building around him this offseason is step two. Fields is a talented young quarterback who has all the potential in the world to be a franchise QB. It’s up to Ryan Poles this offseason to put the pieces around him, including a real offensive line and another wide receiver, to help Fields be successful. If they do that, there are no excuses in Year 3.
ESPN
Current Ranking: 30th
Last Week’s Ranking: 30th
Author: Courtney Cronin
Author’s Take:
The Bears have seen a considerable uptick in offensive efficiency since Week 7, averaging 25.3 points per game. Using Justin Fields’ dynamic rushing ability to its advantage has kept Chicago battling down the stretch of games despite sitting on a six-game losing streak. The defense owns a league-worst rank in sacks and pressures, which has hindered the Bears’ ability to stop opposing quarterbacks. Despite that, Chicago still ranks 11th in pass defense (allowing 204.2 yards per game). Kicker Cairo Santos has struggled lately, having missed three field goals since Week 11. The Bears have been at the top of the league on kickoff returns, but they rank in the bottom 10 on punt returns, having only one of 20-plus yards.
Our Take:
This Bears offense, since Week 7, is by far the most exciting offense they’ve had since 2018. The issue is, they haven’t won a single game. That’s not entirely on the offense, that’s also on the special teams and defense. Missed field goals and extra points and poor defense has caused more losses than there should be for this team.
CBS Sports
Current Ranking: 30th
Last Week’s Ranking: 30th
Author: Pete Prisco
Author’s Take:
They come off their bye with a tough game against the Eagles. It should be a good way for Justin Fields to get an idea of what might come next year by watching Jalen Hurts.
Our Take:
No matter the outcome, Bears fans can get a taste of what Year 3 could look like with Fields with what they see in Hurts. Hurts is a talented young player with a similar skill set to Fields. If the Bears can build an offense like the Eagles, who knows how well they’ll dop in 2023.
