I just don’t have a lot to say this time and I missed last week’s prediction, so first let’s go back a week. I thought the game would be a toss-up leaning toward a Bears loss. I wasn’t convinced the offense would put enough points on the board and Brady would pick apart the middle of the Bears field. Didn’t happen. Bears hung in there and pulled out a win. Good for them.
I think this week we’ll see an improved Bears offense. Might get back to a solid running game but overall we’ll see yet more incremental improvement from Foles and Nagy as they learn each other’s preferences and styles. As a result, I think the Bears finally put up a solid 20+ points with the arrow pointing up for the Bears’ offense as a whole.
On the defense side, I think its apparent that when the offense is struggling to score points, the defense becomes cautious and “safe”. They aren’t nearly as aggressive and just don’t look as good as they actually are. When the offense is firing on all cylinders (or at least some of them), then the defense becomes more confident and aggressive and really starts to shine. So today against the Panthers, the offense is productive and as a result the defense shuts down Carolina completely and looks like the dominant defense people have been expecting.
Final score
Bears: 20+
Panthers: <=10