How Patrick Mahomes’ injury affects the Chicago Bears
By Ryan Fedrau
Thursday night, Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs injured his knee. The next few weeks for the Chiefs are important, especially for the NFL North. Their next two games are against two NFC North rivals of the Chicago Bears.
Kansas City Chiefs‘ quarterback Patrick Mahomes dislocated his right patella during Thursday’s game against the Denver Broncos. He had an MRI Friday and for the time being, we don’t know the extent of the injury, but he will be out for at least three weeks. The next three weeks involve games against the Green Bay Packers, then the Minnesota Vikings, finishing off with a game against the Tennessee Titans (which won’t affect the Bears). Those next two games will play a huge role in the NFC North, most importantly will affect the Chicago Bears.
The Packers currently sit at 5-1 and are in first place of the NFC North/ They play the Oakland Raiders this week. The Raiders are a tricky team to predict, they did beat the Bears, but can they actually beat the Packers?
The Vikings are 4-2, but they haven’t had their bye week yet. The Bears beat them 16-6 earlier in the season, so before their Week 17 matchup, the Bears will have the tiebreaker against them. The Vikings will play the Detroit Lions this week, who again is a team that will be hard to predict. The Lions almost beat the Chiefs, some say they got robbed out of a win last Monday against the Packers. The Lions have made all of their games interesting, hopefully, this week against the Vikings will be the same.
The Vikings as of right now, aren’t a concern of the Bears. Both the Vikings and the Packers losing this week would be great for the Bears, but chances are both teams will win. If the Bears can beat the New Orleans Saints, it won’t change anything. If the Bears can beat the Saints with both the Vikings and Packers losing, it puts the Bears in second place again, being half a game out of first.
If Mahomes wasn’t hurt, there would have been a game against the Packers that would have been more competitive with it being Mahomes vs Aaron Rodgers, instead of Matt Moore vs Rodgers. The game in two weeks, against the Vikings, would have probably been a win for the Chiefs, helping the Bears down the stretch.
If Mahomes is out the whole year, which is doubtful, that means no Mahomes for Week 16. The Bears have one of the best pass-rushing defenses in the NFL, getting to Moore is a lot easier than getting to Mahomes. In confidence I’ll say it, the Chiefs will not beat the Bears without Mahomes. If you saw last night’s game, after Mahomes got hurt, the passing game declined. They’ll have to rely on their strong defense and a good running game.
Going down the stretch for the Bears, they have a winnable game against the Saints. The Los Angeles Chargers will come to Chicago next week, following by a road trip to Philadelphia to face off against the Eagles. With the Bears defense, all three of those games are very winnable.
If the offense starts to turn it around and look like last year’s offense, the Bears really could win at least eight of their last 11 games. They should be able to beat the Saints, Chargers, Eagles, Lions (both times), Giants, Cowboys, and Vikings again. The Packers, Rams, and Chiefs with Mahomes will be the Bears’ toughest games to finish out the season.
I’m not focused on Week 16, I am hoping Mahomes can return this season and play at a high level as he has done before the injury. I want the Bears to beat the Chiefs with Mahomes at quarterback, just to show how good the Bears can be. The offense needs to turn it around starting this Sunday against the Saints.
Next. Bears: Opportunity for Mitch to hit the reset button. dark
It’s not the Bears’ job to beat the whole NFC North in one week. If the Bears can stay on track and win games, they’ll be a playoff team. The NFC North will be very tough to win, but if the Packers fall off, it’s a huge possibility. Nothing is guaranteed in the NFL, it’s best to take it one week at a time. Trusting the plan Coach Nagy has for the Bears will bring them to the playoffs. It’s now up to Mitchell Trubisky and the Bears’ offense to follow the plan.