Who to Start and Sit in Bears and Seahawks

Fantasy football doesn't care if the game has no meaning and for owners with Seahawks players it should be a bigger day playing at home against a 4-10 team.

USA Today

Anyone who expected the Minnesota Vikings to torch a makeshift Bears secondary last week and loaded up their fantasy team accordingly had a rude awakening.

Percentages don't always play out and this time they didn't.

There's every reason to think the Bears secondary will look worse this week even with starters back at many positions and a newly discovered defensive back in Thomas Graham Jr.

Last week's game needs to be discounted by fantasy owners because this week's challenge for the Bears secondary is far more severe.

Russell Wilson has had several good games since returning from injury and the Seahawks have played in a better division, facing better competition week-in and week-out, than have the Bears.

Besides, it's easy to completely discount what happened last week for the Bears in that game because they faced Minnesota, a team that's usually difficult to gauge for anyone. They get involved in shootouts against strong defensive teams and in low-scoring games with weaker teams on a regular basis. Blame that one on Kirk Cousins.

Here's who to start and who to sit for fantasy owners from Sunday's Bears game against the Seattle Seahawks

Start 'Em

Seahawks QB Russell Wilson

Don't blame this year's Seattle record on Wilson. His injury was a factor in Seattle's decline but his play has been good at a 99.0 rating and a very healthy 7.7 yards per attempt. The running game hasn't always complemented him. His own mobility has been limited somewhat. A quarterback can't elevate a struggling defense all of the time, and Seattle has had this issue most of the year -- though it's improved. The main problem has been too much competition in the NFC West. The Bears aren't going to offer as much competition as the other three divisional opponents.

Seahawks WR Tyler Lockett

He has come up with bigger gains over the past six weeks and had three 100-yard efforts, including two 142-yard games. Battling against the defense's left side, he'll most likely be facing Thomas Graham Jr. or Kindle Vildor. Graham has one game of experience although he was very good in it, and Vildor has been ineffective. This one is an open invitation for the Seahawks.

Seahawks WR DK Metcalf

Metcalf's catch percentage is below .500 for the last six games and facing Jaylon Johnson is no easy task. What's more likely to happen here for Metcalf is a few bigger gains but not a consistently strong day. He hasn't had more than six receptions in a game this year. The opportunity to get gains against the Bears secondary is too great to ignore Metcalf and he is overdue for a touchdown after going without one for six straight games.

Bears WR Darnell Mooney

Mooney made 13 catches for 220 yards for 2 1/2 games when Andy Dalton was at quarterback and the ball came out on time with purpose within the offense. When the Bears got Justin Fields back in there the first game Mooney had one catch for 19 yards. Mooney is well acquainted with Nick Foles, who got the ball out on time last year but usually checked it down more than Dalton has. Count on Mooney for a lot of catches, though not necessarily big yardage because Foles usually doesn't get above 6.5 yards a pass attempt.

Seahawks WR Rashaad Penny

The Bears haven't stopped many teams on the ground without Akiem Hicks and he is now on the reserve/COVID-19 list. This should mean Penny comes up between 70 and 90 yards and a touchdown as they also will get yardage from other backs.

Seahawks TE Gerald Everett

Everett last week got himself out of a two-game funk when he had six catches for only 19 yards by making four for 60 yards against his old team, the Rams. He's been two good of a performer to be down for very long. The Bears have done a decent job of late against tight ends. Last year with the Rams, Everett made four catches for 28 yards and a touchdown against them.

Sit 'Em

Bears TE Cole Kmet

Unless catches for lower yardage against soft zone coverage when opponents hold a good lead is your thing, you don't need Kmet in your fantasy lineup. He is not helping in the red zone. He has no TD catches and Seattle is one of the league's better red-zone defenses, so he's unlikely to see the end zone this week.

Bears RB David Montgomery

The Bears never figured out how to blend the shotgun offense with their running attack last year when Nick Foles played quarterback. They're back to Foles again and that outside zone blocking scheme probably isn't going to look good. They'll go more to RPO style runs, and after the first half of 2018 the Bears have experienced great difficulty adapting their inside zone run-blocking scheme to their RPO attack. Montgomery's running hasn't been the issue. It's inconsistency of run blocking on early downs putting the Bears in long down-and-distance, and then they get taken out of the running game. And it will probably happen again.

Cole Kmet

Kmet is good for catches and yardage underneath soft coverage when the Bears trail. He hasn't been much for impact plays downfield or even in tight games or situations. Still, the fantasy owner doesn't care when the receptions come as much as they occur. Kmet is not going to produce in the red zone.

Defense

Seattle's defense has had its share of problems and ranks next to last in the league but has had to face too many high-powered offenses in the NFC West. They are a good pick for a strong game this week. They held Washington to 17 points four weeks ago, Houston to 13 two weeks ago, the Jaguars to a touchdown and even limited Green Bay to 17 when Aaron Rodgers returned to the lineup after injury. Facing Nick Foles and this Bears offense will be more like when they shut down Houston and Jacksonville than like when they gave up 30 to Minnesota or 33 to Tennessee.

In IDP leagues, don't count on as much from Robert Quinn this week in terms of big plays as he has a more difficult matchup against a wise-old veteran tackle Duane Brown, who has faced him in the past.

Look instead for Roquan Smith to have a strong day as he tries to make a statement about being snubbed for the Pro Bowl when he is facing a team that has Bobby Wagner, a linebacker who has kept him out of the Pro Bowl the last two years when his overall play was elevated enough to put him on the NFC team.

Jamal Adams would be a nice Seattle choice for big plays as he has begun to fit in better within their scheme, and has averaged two more tackles per game in the last five games than in the first seven he played. The Bears offense always has problems with "joker" players, a wild card who disrupts Nagy's shorter pass routes with physical plays or gets into the zone run-blocking scheme as an extra tackler within the box. 

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