Chicago Bears: Must avoid trap game against 49ers
While they’re on the roll, the Chicago Bears must avoid the classic “trap game” scenario on Sunday.
The Chicago Bears are on a quite a roll this season. Remember when the team was 3-3 coming off consecutive heartbreaking losses to the Miami Dolphins and New England Patriots. Since that time, the team has ripped off seven wins out of eight games, with their only loss coming without Mitch Trubisky to the New York Giants.
They are coming off back-to-back wins against the Los Angeles Rams and the Green Bay Packers. The former was an incredibly hard-fought victory in which the defense carried them to a 15-6 win.
There was no opportunity to rest, unfortunately, as Aaron Rodgers and the rival Green Bay Packers came to town. The game was an opportunity to avenge not only their crushing Week 1 loss but also years of futility in the NFC North, as a win gave them their first NFC North Division crown since 2010.
To say the team spent a ton of physical and emotional energy on these two games might be the understatement of the season. And now, they have to travel across the country to take on a 4-10 San Francisco 49ers team. This year has been a huge disappointment for Kyle Shanahan’s crew, as they lost starting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo for the year in just the third game of the season.
However, more recently, the team has gotten a spark from undrafted free agent quarterback Nick Mullens from Southern Mississippi. So while they might be a lowly 4-10, don’t let their record fool you. They are actually 4-3 at home and are coming off consecutive wins against the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks, both of whom were competing for a playoff spot and had much to play for.
In addition, Shanahan is one of the brightest offensive minds in the game, as evidenced by what he has still been able to accomplish with an undrafted quarterback under center.
As the Bears come to town, they must fight the fatigue that is no doubt plaguing them from their emotional victories over the Rams and Packers. However, they must also fight the literal fatigue they are naturally experiencing this season.
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To complicate things, they have to travel cross-country and take on a team who would like nothing more than to get the best of the Bears — especially since the narrative this week has been that maybe John Lynch didn’t fleece the Bears in the 2017 NFL Draft they way some had suggested.
The good news is that head coach Matt Nagy seems to have the Bears in a much different place this year than in years past. So while all the elements are there for a letdown, this team’s personality just doesn’t seem like it would allow that to happen. But as they say, “that’s why they play the games.”