Three Keys to a Giants Week 10 Win vs. Chicago Bears

Here’s how the New York Giants can gain the edge and defeat the Chicago Bears on the road.

Nov 2, 2025; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Chicago Bears tight end Colston Loveland (84) celebrates with guard Joe Thuney (62), center Drew Dalman (52) and guard Jonah Jackson (73) after scoring a touchdown against the Cincinnati Bengals during the fourth quarter at Paycor Stadium. | Katie Stratman-Imagn Images

The New York Giants are back on the road in Week 10 and visiting the Windy City to square off with the Chicago Bears, who have been one of the NFL’s biggest surprises in the 2025 season.

The Bears are riding high off the arrival of their new head coaching regime under Ben Johnson and have their eyes on a playoff berth. Meanwhile, the Giants have picked up some heavy scars in their last couple of games amid a three-game losing streak and are desperate to reverse their fortunes for the third time this season. 

Playing on the road has continued to be a losing proposition for New York, but the Bears are still a team that some believe can be had in this matchup. The execution has to be crisper across all phases for the Giants to pull off the upset on Sunday, and these are our three keys to defeating Chicago and finally earning the elusive road win.

Toughen Up Against the Run

Chicago Bears running back Kyle Monangai (25) stiff arms Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Dax Hill (23) in the second quarter of the NFL football game between Chicago Bears and Cincinnati Bengals at Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati on Nov. 2, 2025. | Albert Cesare/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

If the Giants' defense thought the San Francisco 49ers' rushing attack was a tall order to deal with, they’ll have another thing coming if they don’t figure out how to clog the lanes against the Chicago Bears’ elite backfield. 

By restocking their offensive line to include some of the best run blockers in the league, the Bears boast the fourth-best run block win rate entering Week 10, and it’s carried into the success of their ball carriers. The Bears average 144.5 yards per game on the ground and have scored nine touchdowns, as they love to set the tone early.

Chicago’s run game features a two-headed monster in D’Andre Swift and rookie Kyle Monongai, who have combined for 826 yards and five of those rushing scores. Monongai has been the more impressive player in recent weeks, averaging 5.3 yards per carry and coming off a 176-yard performance against the Cincinnati Bengals last Sunday. 

Those two running backs could be licking their chops heading into a game with the Giants defense that has been bulldozed in the trenches over their losing streak. New York has allowed at least 142 yards to their opponents in that span, including 159 to a 49ers unit that was ranked 30th going into that game. 

However, there is one other huge stat that comes into play between these two teams, and it will rear its ugly head again if the Giants don’t toughen up at the line of scrimmage. That is the Bears’ strength of running the ball on the right side of their offensive line, which matches up poorly with the Giants’ weakness.

This season, the Bears have run 103 plays off the right side of their formation, with the majority going between the guard and the tackle, or between the tackle and the right edge, on zone rushes. In those plays, they’ve averaged between 4.0 and 7.1 yards per carry, both numbers in the range of the 5.5 yards the Giants have allowed through 10 games.

Those averages are all good for top-5 status in the NFL thus far, and the Giants' defense has struggled on that side. The Giants have faced as many as 40 attempts on the right side and allowed as many as 9.88 yards per attempt, which would put them dead last in stopping runs between the tackles. 

The Giants should expect the Bears to look to take advantage of their weakness and compile another massive ground effort, but they need to respond with stout pressure up front. They spent a lot of money to fortify the front seven to really shut down the run, only for those efforts to deteriorate down the stretch, as only one player has more than 10 stops.  

Without a good run response, the Giants will only find it harder to give their offense more cracks at the endzone and eventually wear their defensive unit down to the point where remaining in the game becomes impossible. 

It’s not to say the Bears can’t do damage in the air, but seeing how their foe has performed (31st in total rushing yards allowed), they can’t be blamed for wanting to copy the same game plan as the 49ers did last week until the Giants prove they can stop it.

Protect the Football

Nov 2, 2025; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart (6) turns the corner on San Francisco 49ers linebacker Tatum Bethune (48) during the second half at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-Imagn Images | Ed Mulholland-Imagn Images

This key is a carryover from last week’s game against the San Francisco 49ers, but it’s truer when taking on the Bears, whose defense isn’t the sharpest at getting opponents off the field unless it’s via a timely turnover.

While the Bears' offense has been much better than the Giants' in this season’s first 10-game stretch, the latest contest could come down to which team’s defense answers the bell and doesn’t allow the other side to paint with a broad brush on the scoreboard, as Chicago did last Sunday when it allowed 42 points to a woeful Bengals team. 

For the season, the Bears' defense has hung around the basement in both points (29th) and yards (26th allowed with their struggles coming more against the pass. In that realm, they have allowed an average of 237.6 yards per game and ranked second-to-last in both passing touchdowns (20) and yards per catch (7.4). 

With those awful metrics in their seasonal resume, the Giants offense, which ranks ninth in average yards per drive, could have a good afternoon moving the football and authoring several scoring possessions similar to the initial impressive drive they had against the 49ers before the rest of that contest sputtered out of control for them.

That is so long as the Giants don’t run into the Bears’ one secret weapon for halting their opponents’ possessions, which is forcing turnovers that come off careless mistakes, where they have been able to flip the script of select games in their favor. 

Entering Week 10, the Bears are sitting atop the league throne in the turnover department, and their treasure chest has been filled more so by their instincts against the opposing pass attack. They’ve tallied an NFL-high 19 total turnovers with another league-leading 13 coming from interceptions, which have helped them own a +13 turnover differential in that same span. 

The Bears also don’t give the other team a lot of footballs back, meaning they make the most of any extra possessions their defensive ballhawks steal. The Giants have to do another solid job of protecting the football if they want their shot to see whose offense can duke it out for the ultimate prize of a victory. 

The good news is that Jaxson Dart and company have only allowed one turnover in the past four weeks of the season, which is a good sign for a group that is led by a signal caller who loves to take off with the pigskin and try to make plays happen in space. 

It still wouldn’t be a good idea to test their fate with anything silly on Sunday and do whatever they can to not cough up the rock or chuck any ill-timed throws up into the air amidst pressure in the pocket. The Bears have shown they can capitalize on those errors, and it shows in their success scoring points off turnovers.

Win the Early Downs

Oct 19, 2025; Denver, Colorado, USA; The New York Giants huddle up before the game against the Denver Broncos at Empower Field at Mile High. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images | Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images

One of the Giants’ biggest issues this season has been getting ahead of the sticks, and the problem has come down to either a lack of efficiency within the offense or discipline that leads to back-breaking penalties that push the team backwards. 

Regarding the latter, the Giants have not done much to help themselves avoid giving up free yards to the opposing defense. With this Sunday’s game against the Bears on the horizon, they lead the league in pre-snap infractions (32) and are fourth for total yellow flags, with many being delay of game or false start miscues. 

The Giants' offense has shown many times this season that it typically functions better when it avoids unnecessary penalties and gets a good initial push via the run or the pass. We saw it play out in their first drive against San Francisco in Week 9 when Jaxson Dart orchestrated a flawless, up-tempo drive that went 10 plays and put the Giants on the board 7-0 early, 

On the other hand, the more they find ways to make mistakes and get off schedule, they start to feel the pressure bear down on them and tend to not come close to the yardage needed to earn those big conversions which is why the Giants rank in the bottom third of the league in that area on late down plays with distances beyond seven yards to gain. 

As the Giants get ready to face the Bears in what should be a noisy environment at Soldier Field, where the fans have been waiting patiently to watch a successful team again, it’ll be critical to avoid these habits and make the most of the early downs in each of their offensive possessions. 

While the Bears' defense is certainly hospitable to opponents moving the football on them, they are also good at locking down on third downs to stifle any momentum. They rank fifth overall in third-down conversion percentage allowed at 34.2% and only become a liability on fourth downs if opposing teams are bold enough to go for it (60.0% conversion rate). 

If the Giants do get into fourth-down situations, they may elect to gamble if it means putting some pressure on the scoreboard. Still, it would be better for them to keep the football moving with a solid rushing effort and attack the Bears over the middle to avoid those make-or-break scenarios that have marred them at times this season. 

There have certainly been noticeable improvements with Jaxson Dart under center, but the next step for the Giants is to win their drives for an entire 60 minutes.

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