Chicago Bears: Bold Predictions for Monday Night Football
The Bears travel to Minnesota for their fourth nationally-televised game of 2024. Will they be joined on the trip by a quality game plan?
YESTERDAY, in a shocking turn of events, the Chicago Bears were officially eliminated from the 2024 NFL Playoffs.
I know, who’d have thought that come December, a team that hasn’t won a game since October wouldn’t see the postseason? Gasp.
Eliminated or not, NFL teams still have to play 17 regular season games, and the Bears are still an NFL team (of sorts), so 17 games it is. And over the summer — back when the football world at large believed Chicago would be, y’know, good — the league’s schedule-makers decided, “Hey, let’s put these dudes on national television twice in the final month of the season.”
So here we are.
Tonight, the Bears trek to Minnesota, where they’ll seek vengeance for their heartbreaking November 24th overtime loss to the Vikings, a game that will be remembered for the kind of weird-ass coaching decisions that helped bring about the merciful ouster of former head man, Matt Eberflus.
The Vikings hope to lock down a Wild Card spot, while the Bears hope to prove to the planet that they are, indeed, an NFL team. With one franchise eyeballing a Super Bowl run and another eyeballing a high draft pick — and with nary a Manningcast to be seen — boldness will be at a premium.
But not on Chicago Sports Stuff.
CSS has been bold since Week One, and that won’t end here, regardless of the Bears’ nonexistent postseason plans. Here are 10 boldies that will make Monday night’s NFC North clash worth a peek. Maybe.
1) CALEB WILLIAMS WILL NOT FINISH THE GAME…BUT NOT DUE TO INJURY
In-Studio Reporter: Let’s go live to the Chicago Bears’ practice facility at Halas Hall, where the line to the trainer’s room extends to the parking lot. Over to you, Not-In-Studio Reporter.
Not-In-Studio Reporter: Thanks, In-Studio Reporter. On Monday night, the Bears will be down four players, two of whom are starting offensive lineman, those being Braxton Jones and Ryan Bates. With Jones and Bates sidelined, the starting OL will look something like Darnell Wright, Matt Pryor, Teven Jenkins, Coleman Shelton, and Larry Borom. Rookie Kiran Amegadjie and former practice squadder Jake Curhan will also be very much in the mix — whether or not they start, they’ll see plenty of snaps.
In-Studio Reporter: How will this impact quarterback Caleb Williams?
Not-In-Studio Reporter: Not well. Williams is just 20 sacks away from breaking the NFL record for most taken in a single season. If he’s brought down behind the line an average of five or more times over Chicago’s remaining four games, he’ll either tie or break David Carr’s 2002 record of 76.
In-Studio Reporter: And Williams suffered his sacks behind a relatively healthy line.
Not-In-Studio Reporter: Yes, relatively.
In-Studio Reporter: Now Minnesota’s defense has 40 sacks to their name, tied for sixth-most in the league, which doesn’t bode well for Chicago.
Not-In-Studio Reporter: No, it doesn’t. I don’t think the Vikes will have any problem getting to Williams five times, but my guess is that it’ll be closer to seven — and that’ll be in the first three quarters. I don’t think Bears interim Head Coach Thomas Brown has any interest in Williams suffering a serious injury under his watch, so look for Tyson Bagent to duck behind center during extended garbage time.
In-Studio Reporter: Great information, Not-In-Studio Reporter. Now let’s send it back to Alan Goldsher at the Chicago Sports Stuff news desk. Alan?
2) GERALD EVERETT WILL CATCH A TOUCHDOWN PASS FROM TYSON BAGENT
If Williams is pulled, most of Chicago’s backup skill players will get reps galore, among them, tight end Gerald Everett.
Everett, who inked a two-year, $12 million contract over the summer, hasn’t earned his keep, managing just seven receptions on 11 targets. (If he finishes the season at this pace, that’ll shake out to approximately $380,000 per catch. Another fantastic investment by Bears GM Ryan Poles.)
That said, it’s not entirely Everett’s fault — he’s averaged a paltry 16.9 snaps per game, as opposed to starting tight end Cole Kmet’s 58.2. You can’t eat if you’re not getting food.
But come the fourth quarter tonight, if Everett and Bagent are both indeed on the field, and the Vikings keep sending the dogs, Bagent will need to check down, and what better place to check down than in land of tight ends? All of which means Everett will find pay dirt for the first time in a Chicago Bears uniform.
3) AN UNEXPECTED BEAR WILL SCORE A TOUCHDOWN
In his debut as a head coach last Sunday in San Francisco, Thomas Brown drew up a vanilla game plan. The plan wasn’t terrible, mind you — had somebody other than Caleb Williams, D.J. Moore, and Rome Odunze shown a pulse, it might’ve been semi-successful — but he’ll want to change both the stat sheet and the perception, so look for Brown to channel his inner Andy Reid and dial up a trick play or two that’ll lead to a touchdown from an O-lineman…or even a D-lineman.
4) CHICAGO WILL SUCCESSFULLY EXECUTE A FAKE PUNT
What with a playoff berth no longer a thing, the Bears coaching staff can dig deep into the bowels of their playbook and try, well, whatever the hell they want. And you know special teams coach Richard Hightower is itching to do something cool.
Brown will let Hightower get funky, and that funkiness will manifest itself in the form of a fake punt. Maybe punter Tory Taylor will throw a pass. Maybe it’ll be a direct snap to the poor sucker standing four yards in front of Taylor. But it’ll definitely be interesting.
And the 2024 Chicago Bears could use a whole heap of interesting.
5) AARON JONES WILL BREAK HIS SINGLE-GAME RUSHING HIGH
On September 20, 2020, while a member of the Green Bay Packers, Jones ran all over the Detroit Lions to the tune of 168 yards on the ground, his career best.
In that aforementioned November Bears/Vikes tilt, Jones dropped 106 yards — and that was when Chicago’s O-line was, as noted by In-Studio Reporter, relatively healthy.
With Chicago’s trenches compromised, Jones will post over 175 rushing yards, with at least one touchdown to boot.
6) THIS WILL BE THE JUSTIN JEFFERSON REVENGE GAME
In Chicago and Minnesota’s November meeting, Justin Jefferson his least productive game since December 10, 2023, managing just 27 yards on two catches.
For his career, the man they call Jets has averaged 87.4 receiving yards per game against Chicago, so back-to-back clinkers won’t be a thing. Jefferson will shred the Bears’ secondary — which is still without Jaquan Brisker — and rack up 120-plus yards and two-plus tuddies.
7) THE BEARS’ OFFENSIVE LINE WILL COMMIT FOUR-PLUS PRE-SNAP PENALTIES
To reiterate, Chicago’s O-line is injured af — they weren’t particularly impressive when they were healthy af — so taking into account both the lack of positional cohesion and the crowd noise bubbling under the U.S. Bank Stadium’s dome, look for a plethora of false starts with multiple flags for holding thrown in for good measure.
8) TRAVIS HOMER WILL HAVE THE GAME OF HIS NFL LIFE
The Bears’ running back room is kind of a mess. Roschon Johnson is still in concussion protocol, and D’Andre Swift is still mediocre, so the 26-year-old Homer should be allowed plenty of chances to strut his stuff.
On December 29, 2019, as a member of the Seahawks, the Florida native managed 92 total yards against the Niners (62 rushing, 30 receiving), a record that will be shattered tonight, as Homer totals over 125 yards from scrimmage.
While we’re on the running back tip, it’s worth mentioning that I miss the heck out of David Montgomery.
9) COLE KMET WILL AGAIN BE TARGET DEFICIENT
Cole Kmet isn’t a bad tight end. He’s not great. But he’s not bad.
At the very least, he’s good enough to merit inclusion into a game plan or two.
Last Sunday, the tight end wasn’t targeted once, the second time this season he’s been goose-egged. He’s also had two games in which he saw only one target, and a trio in which he saw three.
A quick peek at the CSS abacus tells us that means in those seven games, Kmet has been thrown the rock an average of 1.8 times.
This trend continues tonight, as Kmet will see two or less targets. A bonus boldie: He’ll also have a season-low in snaps, falling below his Week One total of 27.
10) MINNESOTA WILL WIN, AND IT WON’T BE PRETTY
The Vikes are playing for Super Bowl glory. The Bears are playing because the schedule says they have to. The scoreboard will very much mirror this.
Vikes 35 - Bears 17. And the final won’t reflect the severity of the beatdown.