A look at positional group matchups and key statistics with a final prediction on who wins and why between the Bears and Chargers on Sunday Night Football.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 [MUSIC]
00:09 Tyson Bajent tries to prove that last week was no fluke, but
00:12 he's up against the Sunday Night Football Jinx.
00:15 The Bears have lost six straight on Sunday nights, but
00:17 it's been a season when they've ended losing streaks.
00:20 14 straight losses, then 10 straight home losses.
00:23 It's the Bears at the chargers on Sunday Night Football,
00:27 because you've been waiting all day for Sunday night.
00:30 Here's who wins and why.
00:32 The Bears running attack is up to fifth in the league now,
00:34 even without Justin Fields and Khalil Herbert, which speaks for
00:37 their lineman Deonta Foreman and the play design of Luke Getzey.
00:42 But they'll have no big advantage here over the Chargers,
00:44 who allow only 3.9 yards a run and are 10th in the league against the run.
00:48 There's one other area where it's a push between these teams,
00:52 and that's the coaching.
00:53 Former Bears assistant Brandon Staley,
00:55 the Chargers coach, is catching a lot of heat and is second
00:59 on the list of odds for first coach to be fired, while Matt Eberflus is fourth.
01:04 The Bears will read an edge in special teams with the return and
01:07 coverage game somewhat similar, but the Bears owning a good edge in kicker
01:12 with Cairo Santos over Cameron Dicker.
01:14 Dicker the kicker, as he's known in LA.
01:17 Santos has not missed this year on field goals, and
01:20 he had a 54 yarder last week outdoors, not in a sterile indoor environment.
01:25 The Bears run defense also has an edge here over the Chargers running game.
01:29 It's hard to believe, but Andrew Billings, Justin Jones and
01:32 company have the Bears up to fifth in the league against the run.
01:36 And second in yards allowed for rush after they were next to last in 2022.
01:43 Boston Echler is healthier now after an injury and
01:45 Josh Kelly is averaging 4.4 yards a run, but
01:48 they haven't stuck with their running game long enough to develop it.
01:52 They've had three games of 61 yards rushing or less.
01:55 The Chargers own a distinct edge with their passing game and
01:58 against the Bears passing game.
01:59 Justin Herbert has had three straight games with a passer rating of 84 or less.
02:04 So yes, he's slumping.
02:06 He still had 25 touchdown passes or more in his first three seasons.
02:11 Well, they definitely don't have injured Mike Williams, the receiving ace, but
02:15 Keenan Allen's still there, Josh Palmer, Gerald Everett.
02:18 They give Herbert plenty of targets and
02:20 the Bears lack of a pass rush could leave their improved secondary vulnerable.
02:25 Also, you have to give the edge to the Chargers past defense against raw
02:29 rookie Tyson Bagent.
02:31 Well, not exactly the past defense, but the past rush.
02:33 Khalil Mack will be after Bagent.
02:37 And it's not even certain that Darnell Wright can finish the game with his sore
02:41 shoulder and he's blocking Mack.
02:43 They don't have Braxton Jones this week.
02:46 So one more tackle going out could mean Tevin Jenkins being moved to tackle.
02:50 It's gonna be hard for the Bears to get off a pass unless they're three yarders
02:55 like they threw last week to DJ Moore in the backs.
02:59 Finally, you have to give the intangibles edge to the Chargers.
03:02 It's at West Coast and Sunday Night Jinx working against the Bears.
03:05 They're 11 and 19 in Sunday Night Rogue games, 18 and
03:11 29 overall at once, we're 12 and 12.
03:15 So they've gone six and 17 since then.
03:17 They have lost six straight.
03:20 Add all that up and it comes out to a 27 to 17 Chargers win on Sunday Night Football.
03:26 And you were waiting all day till Sunday night for that.
03:29 [MUSIC]