The Chicago Bears (3-4) will travel to Philadelphia to take on the Eagles (4-4) on Sunday, where the Bears are in desperate need of a victory to salvage any hopes for playoff contention this season.
The Bears defense did enough, but it was the offense that ultimately needed to do more. While the Bears showed some progress on offense in the form of the run game, they struggled in the redzone, especially in goal-to-goal situations, which ultimately cost them a game against a bad Chargers team.
The Bears will face an Eagles team coming off an uplifting 31-13 victory over the Buffalo Bills, which is the kind of victory the Bears are looking for to get them out of their three-game losing streak.
Here are three causes for concern as the Bears prepare to face the Eagles in Week 9:
1. The Bears have lost four straight vs. Eagles
History isn’t exactly on the Bears’ side as they head into a critical Week 9 contest against the Eagles. Chicago has lost four straight games against the Eagles, including last season’s 17-16 loss in the Wild Card Playoffs.
The Bears’ last win over the Eagles came in Week 9 of the 2011 season, where they scored 13 unanswered points in a 30-24 victory at Lincoln Financial Field.
If the Bears have any chance of breaking their four-game losing streak vs. the Eagles — and their current three-game losing streak — they’re going to need to play mistake-free football on all sides of the ball.
2. Mitchell Trubisky continues to flash inconsistency
Matt Nagy has remained firm in his belief in quarterback Mitchell Trubisky even when the rest of the NFL world has lost it. I mean, he has to. At this point, Chase Daniel isn’t an upgrade over Trubisky. The Bears know what they have in Daniel. They don’t necessarily know, 100 percent, what they have in Trubisky.
But even as Trubisky looked good against the Chargers, it was his inconsistency that once again makes it difficult to put your faith in him. When he was setting his feet, he was delivering perfect balls. When he felt the pressure, he committed two critical fourth-quarter turnovers, including a fumble that led to the Chargers’ game-winning touchdown.
If the Bears are going to have any shot of beating the Eagles Sunday, they’re going to need the Mitchell Trubisky from the first half — the one that connected on his deep balls and brought a confidence to the passing game. If they get second-half Trubisky, it’s going to be a long afternoon for Bears fans.
3. Eagles have a stout run defense
The Bears finally found their run game last Sunday against the Chargers, where they had 38 rushes for 162 yards, including 135 yards from rookie running back David Montgomery. It felt like a positive step for this Bears offense in establishing an identity. Even if it’s an identity that Matt Nagy doesn’t necessarily like.
You’d figure that the Bears will continue to run the ball against the Eagles on Sunday, but it’ll be a bigger challenge against the NFL’s seventh-best run defense. The Eagles held the Buffalo Bills to 98 rushing yards on Sunday. Buffalo’s leading rusher? Quarterback Josh Allen, who amassed 45 yards on 8 carries. Aside from that, the Eagles continued running backs Frank Gore and Devin Singletary to just 53 combined yards.
The Bears had struggled establishing the run prior to last Sunday’s game against the Chargers, and if they hope to have another balanced game plan, they’re going to need to stick to what worked last week: Running plays from I-formation and bringing in extra blockers.
