Gameday Glance: Week 16 Bears at Seahawks

Chicago Bears (4-10) at Seattle Seahawks (5-9)

Kickoff: 3 p.m., Lumen Field, Seattle, Wash.

TV: Fox (Aaron Goldsmith, Aqib Talib, Megan Olivi)

Streaming: Fox on fuboTV, free trial.

Radio: WBBM AM-780, FM-105.9 (Jeff Joniak, Tom Thayer, Mark Grote).

National Radio: Sirius/XM Channel 380.

Spanish Radio: TUDN AM-1200, FM-93.5 (Omar Ramos, Miguel Esparza).

The line: Seahawks by 6 1/2 (over/under 41 1/2). Betting information at SI.com

BearDigest.com Pick: Seahawks 24, Bears 13.

BearDigest Record to Date: 13-1, 10-4 vs. the spread.

The Series: This is the 19th game. Seattle leads the series 11-7. The Bears won the last game 24-17 in Chicago in 2018.

The Coaches: Bears coach Matt Nagy is 32-30 in his fourth seasons, including 1-0 against Seattle.

Seahawks coach Pete Carroll is 117-72-1 in his 12th season with Seattle and 150-103-1 in the NFL overall in 16 seasons. He owns an 11-10 playoff record and is 5-2 against the Bears, 0-1 against Nagy.

Last Week: Using backup and practice squad players entirely in the secondary due to COVID-19 and injuries, the Bears held Minnesota to 61 net passing yards and sacked Kirk Cousins four times but still lost 17-9 to Minnesota.

The Seahawks were held to 214 net yards, 80 rushing and lost 20-10 to the Los Angeles Rams.

Injuries: For the Bears, QB Andy Dalton (groin), CB Xavier Crawford (concussion), WR Jakeem Grant (concussion) and T Jason Peters (ankle) are out. QB Justin Fields (ankle), WR Marquise Goodwin (foot) and NT Eddie Goldman (finger) are questionable. The Bears still have nine players on the reserve/COVID-19 list including starting WR Allen Robinson, DE Akiem Hicks, S Tashaun Gipson and CB Jaylon Johnson.

For the Seahawks, LB Jon Rhattigan (knee) is out and CB Bless Austin (hip) is questionable.

What to watch: The Bears are starting third-string quarterback Nick Foles, his first start since week 10 last season, because of injuries to Fields and Dalton. ... Seattle still hasn't been mathematically eliminated and has less than a 1% chance at making the postseason. By the start of the game they could find they are eliminated. ... The Bears will be looking at young players at many positions, including CB Thomas Graham Jr. and LT Teven Jenkins.

Matching Up: The Bears are 29th on offense, 32nd (last) passing and seventh at rushing. They are ninth on defense, fourth against the pass and 23rd against the run.

The Seahawks are 30th on offense, 27th passing and 23rd rushing. hey are 31st on defense, 32nd (last) against the pass and 21st against the run.

Baby Mack 😍 ⁦@ChicagoBears⁩ pic.twitter.com/DX2GSb9u8O
— ChiSportsGal (@ChiTownTampa) December 25, 2021

Of Note: The Seahawks have had an odd statistical season. They have allowed the fourth fewest points but rank 31st in the NFL in yards allowed. However, they are fourth in red-zone offense and fifth in red-zone defense. Although they are 21st in run defense, they are second in yards allowed per carry at 3.8. ... Seattle is plus-3 in turnover ratio to minus-13 for the Bears. ... Bears TE Cole Kmet is one of five TEs in the NFC with five games of five or more catches this season. ... Bears LB Roquan Smith has a career-high 140 tackles for the season, fourth in the NFL. ... Seattle’s Bobby Wagner leads the league with 158 tackles. ... Seattle WR Tyler Lockett needs 35 receiving yards to set a career high. His current high is 1,057 yards in 2019.

Key Individual Matchups

Bears OLB Robert Quinn vs. Seahawks LT Duane Brown

Quinn is on a tear now as his assault on Richard Dent's Bears sack record continues, and he could even hit his own career high of 19 sacks. He needs three for that, and breaks Dent's record with two. His ability to twist and bend has allowed him to get around the corner for three strip-sacks this year, and has 31 forced fumbles for is career. One of the league's better tackles for years while in Houston, Brown is in his fourth full Seahawks season and hasn't been a Pro Bowl player since 2017. He has been graded the 37th-best tackle this year in the league by PFF but is having some difficulty as a pass blocker, having allowed eight sacks.

Bears WR Damiere Byrd vs. Seahawks CB Ugo Amadi

Marquise Goodwin has been out since Nov. 25 but appears ready for return after a foot injury. This might mean fewer snaps for Byrd, but perhaps not as he has been more consistent than Goodwin since he has played more. He has 14 catches for 216 yards his last four games after five in the first 10 games. Amadi took over at nickel after Marquise Blair suffered a torn ACL and has fought through injuries himself to improve greatly in the eyes of the Seahawks, although Pro Football Focus rates him next to last in the NFL among all cornerbacks, nickel or otherwise. Amadi has given up a 101.7 passer rating and 78.4% completions when targeted but has been tough in the red zone, allowing only one TD pass on the season.

Bears LT Teven Jenkins vs. Seahawks DE Carlos Dunlap

When Jenkins wasn't being pushed around by teammate and former Seahawk Germain Ifedi or trying to be the new Kyle Long by protecting his quarterback after the play, he did a pretty good job of protecting his quarterback last week. He also threw some hellacious run blocks, including a couple of pancakes. Dunlap is not necessarily a speed rusher at 6-foot-6, 285 pounds and is coming off his best game of the year. In fact, it was almost like he'd come out of a coma as he had 1 1/2 sacks on the year and then made three against the Rams in a loss. This could be a good, physical matchup.

Bears TE Cole Kmet vs. Seahawks SS Jamal Adams

Adams is starting to play his best ball since coming from the Jets in a trade, but it took a while as he learned the Seattle defensive system and they learned better how to use him. Matching up on Kmet should be easy for Adams, who is both fast enough to be a deep safety if needed but physical like a linebacker. Kmet has been having very little impact in recent games, although his catch total has remained steady. He had six receptions for 71 yards Monday night but they were largely the result of dump-offs underneath soft zone coverage after the Bears were behind or when they faced third-and-long situations. He needs more impact receptions and hasn't had a touchdown all season despite 49 receptions for 490 yards. The Bears need to get a tight end blocking on Adams when he is cheating up at the line in the box if they are going to get their running attack going better than they did last week.

Bears LB Alec Ogletree vs. Rams TE Gerald Everett

Everett has been somewhat of a disappointment to Seattle after he was expected to be a game-changer for them. His 40 receptions for only 8.9 yards a catch and three touchdowns have overshadowed the fact he is having his best season in terms of actually catching the ball with an 80% catch rate. He'd never been above 66.1% with the Rams. Ogletree last week showed how he could have been so much more effective this year if he merely had Akiem Hicks healthy all season in front of him. He made plays in the run game and against the pass that he hadn't made in weeks.

Bears LB Roquan Smith vs. Seahawks C Ethan Pocic

By and large, Pocic is having a decent enough year overall but his pass blocking has been atrocious, according to PFF, with a 35.2 rating. It's unusual to find a discrepancy of this type in the middle of the line. The Bears usually don't blitz Smith much and he has three sacks. With Wilson being so mobile, it's more likely the Bears would normally have Smith in the role of spying on the mobile Seahawks passer. But because of Pocic's perceived weakness blocking the pass and also because the Bears are irritated by Smith being left off the Pro Bowl roster yet again, expect them to have him come on A-gap blitzes regularly in this one. The fact Bobby Wagner, a Pro Bowl starter at inside linebacker, is on the other side is another reason the Bears would like to showcase Smith, who they feel is one of the two best inside linebackers in the league.

Bears CB Thomas Graham Jr. vs. Seahawks WR Tyler Lockett

Will a rookie practice squad player in only his second start get schooled by Wilson's crafty veteran target? Lockett had a 12-catch game earlier this year against Baltimore and you'd have to think the Seahawks will be looking for the same type of thing against a secondary which had plenty of issues until a bunch of subs shut down Kirk Cousins and Justin Jefferson on Monday night.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven