Bear Digest

Pretenders or contenders? Bears can get indication against Giants

The level of competition the Giants faced is intimidating compared to who the Bears have faced. Then again, they haven't exactly beaten up on all of those teams.
Gene Chamberlain|
Cole Kmet makes a reception in his rookie year of 2020 when the Giants came to Soldier Field.
Cole Kmet makes a reception in his rookie year of 2020 when the Giants came to Soldier Field. | Mike Dinovo-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

Both Bears coach Ben Johnson and quarterback Caleb Williams on Wednesday addressed the possibility the team could be looking past a 2-7 Giants team, without really putting it in those terms.

It seems an obvious and potentially disastrous situation awaiting them considering:

  • They're coming off the win of the year in the NFL, if not the millennium and a letdown would seem natural. How do you not dwell a little too long on Williams to Colston Loveland for 58 yards after blowing a 14-point lead in a few minutes?
  • The coming schedule for the Bears strengthens drastically and the proverbial trap game could await here if they're thinking past Week 10.
  • Finally, the Giants really are not a bad 2-7 team.

That's not all. There's plenty of fun and games going on at Halas Hall this week, like Colston Loveland being slimed by Nickelodeon as an "award" and winning NFC offensive player of the week, and Kyle Monangai winning the "Angry Runs" scepter. All the while, the Giants are left to stew in their 2-7 record.

“This is a good team coming on in here," Johnson insisted. "I know what their record says, and I know I've been saying that for, it feels like the past few weeks, but you talk about a really talented group."

Rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart seemed to kick-start their offense even if he lost two key assets to lean on in season-ending injuries to running back Cam Skattebo and wide receiver Malik Nabers.

"Since they made the quarterback change, you can tell he's really given them a spark," Johnson said.

Russell Wilson went to the bench after three games but the Giants have had problems protecting either QB with 27 sacks allowed. They're on pace to allow more than 50.

While the Giants have an intimidating defensive front with Dexter Lawrence and NFL sacks leader Brian Burns, they also allowed 105 points in the last three games.

"There's no slouch game, there's not any of that," Williams said. "We approach each game with the same mindset, and all these games build confidence. All the games that we've won, all the games that we've lost, just being able to find ways, especially in the losses, find solutions to the issues that helped us to lose. When we win, keeping those solutions and fine tuning them to keep going.”

While all of this may or may not be true to varying degrees, there is one thing that makes this game not only intriguing but possibly closer on paper than records suggest.

It's not necessarily how many you've won but who you beat, when you played them and who you lost to that can tip off a team's true talent level.

The Giants have fallen to 2-7 against a murderous schedule, the kind the Bears are going to be facing down the stretch. Meanwhile, the records say the Bears played several inept teams.

The Giants managed to beat the Eagles and the Chargers, two six-win teams. They've been tested by the Chiefs, the Broncos, the 49ers and twice by the Eagles. They have faced six teams with winning records, lost to Washington (3-6) before its injury issues with Jayden Daniels while still coming off last year's NFC championship game appearance and their opponents have a combined .551 winning percentage.

The Bears, on the other hand, have beaten no winning teams. The Lions were the only winning team they've played and they lost 52-21. They lost 27-24 to Minnesota, which is .500 Their opponents, on the season, have a .353 winning percentage and

the teams they beat have combined .284 winning percentage.

You'd almost look at the matchup based on those figures and say the Giants should be favored as a much more well-tested team.

Then again, the Giants lost to a Cowboys team the Bears drubbed, lost to a Saints team the Bears handled comfortably and lost by 15 to a Commanders team the Bears beat.

"Their offense can score some points, and they have playmakers," Johnson said. "Then defensively, you could argue this is the best defensive front that we've seen so far this year. Huge challenge at hand.

"We're going to have to be on our stuff here again this week and I know the guys are going to be ready for this challenge. The halfway point of the season was this last week. We're excited about what November and December have to hold. This is really where teams start to separate themselves, they know that. We're looking forward to this challenge."

A Bears team that has convinced very few with wins over weaker teams will need to beat yet another one, or possibly one a little better than some of the other teams with poor records..

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.