The Eagles Provided a Blueprint to Beat the Packers and Other Bears Bullets

My foot injury is feeling a lot better now than it did earlier in the week, so I am looking forward to hitting the road and cutting a rug at my friend’s wedding on Saturday. Let’s get it!

  • Not only did the Eagles beat the Packers on Thursday, they did so while receiving contributions from someone who played their college ball at my alma mater — Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Here’s the story from The Athletic’s Jeff McLane:
  • The Eagles are a scary group when they are clicking. And if they’ve found a running game, watch out. Philly’s running backs rushed for 163 yards on 27 carries. That comes out to 6.03 yards per carry. Jordan Howard (yes, that Jordan Howard) carried the rock 15 times for 87 yards and scored two touchdowns. There is no doubt in my mind that his revenge game in November when the Bears travel to Philadelphia has the potential to be painful for Bears fans (not to mention the general manager and coach who dealt him).
  • Oh, and Howard hauled in a receiving touchdown, too.
  • But hey, maybe Howard can play his way into getting the Bears a fifth-round pick instead of a sixth-rounder in 2020. Positive vibes only, my friends.
  • A cold reminder: Howard ran it 15 times on Thursday. The Bears ran it a grand total of 15 times in Week 1 against the Packers. I wonder if Doug Pederson is giving a good-natured ribbing to his friend Matt Nagy as he provided a blueprint on how to beat the Packers. Heck, I hope Pederson is trolling his former understudy and giving him a hard time. I mean, it worked when Nagy turned up the heat on Mitch Trubisky.
  • Since Week 1, the Packers have allowed Dalvin Cook (20 carries, 154 yards, 1 TD), the combination of Phillip Lindsay and Royce Freeman (36 carries, 144 yards, 2 TD), and the Jordan Howard-Miles Sanders tandem (26 carries, 159 yards, 2 TD) to go off in the last three games. So while Green Bay looked like a tough out (and very well still could be) in the first three games, they proved to be beatable — and at home, no less. It is a shame the Bears wasted a golden opportunity to establish an identity with a season-opening win against their arch rivals by exploiting an apparent weekend, but I suppose there is a reason pencils have erasers. And while the Bears can’t go back and fix their work, what they *CAN* do is correct things down the line to ensure the same mistake doesn’t get made twice.
  • (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)

  • Seriously, don’t let Trubisky drop back 50+ times against this (or any) defense again. Please and thank you.
  • Green Bay losing makes Sunday’s Bears-Vikings game that much more important, as the winner of that one will have a piece of the first-place pie through four games. And even though I know there is a long way to go before we get to the end of the season, it’s never too early to jockey for position and get an inside track.
  • The Bears were facing long odds against the Broncos and their dominant history in home openers back in Week 2. They also found themselves fighting the past when they entered Monday Night Football facing a lengthy losing streak to Washington. So this uniform-related nugget about the Vikings’ winning wearing the “road purples” shouldn’t be anything to worry about (and yet…):
  • It doesn’t matter what color jerseys they are wearing, stop the running game by tackling Dalvin Cook or whoever is carrying the ball.
  • A Vikings-related injury update:
  • I’m not sure what is more encouraging here — Trubisky sliding in the pocket before delivering an accurate pass on a crossing route or David Montgomery’s pass-protection while taking on a blitzer. Choose for yourself:
  • One way Montgomery could wiggle his way into a bigger snap share is with better pass protection. They can’t take you off the field if you excel in all facets of the game.
  • WORTH NOTING: Montgomery’s usage has increased with every game he has played this season. Montgomery played just 38 percent of the offensive snaps in Week 1, but that number was bumped to 45 percent in Week 2, and jumped to 65.1 percent in Week 3. Last year, Jordan Howard was on the field for 58.1 percent of the Bears’ offensive snaps. Let’s keep our eyes on this number as the season moves along.
  • The first step toward winning the NFC North for a second consecutive season would be winning against Minnesota on Sunday. And for that to happen, Trubisky needs to take command of the offense:
  • https://twitter.com/nflnetwork/status/1176866655089172480

  • R-E-S-P-E-C-T M-A-C-K:
  • Hey, @ChicagoBears IG, blink twice if Michael put you up to this:
  • https://www.instagram.com/p/B25VYhvl8cD/

  • Flashback Friday:
  • With Taylor Gabriel in the NFL’s concussion protocol, I’m glad I stumbled across this piece that helped me better understand a complicated subject:
  • Clothes, games, exercise equipment, and cold brew coffee makers are among the plentiful Deals of the Day at Amazon today.
  • Well, this is certain disturbing:
  • I wish I would have known this BEFORE starting Nelson Agholor over John Ross III in fantasy:
  • Speaking of fantasy football, a pathway that is essentially the gateway to sports gambling now has an NFL partner:
  • Maybe you should sit this one out, AB:
  • written by

    Luis C. Medina, who you can find on Twitter at lcm1986, has been covering the Chicago Bears at Bleacher Nation since 2017. Since then, he has written about 3 head coaches, 5 play-callers, and 11 starting quarterbacks. Previously, Luis wrote about the Cubs and MLB at BN (2015-16) and worked in the Chicago Tribune sports department (2011-16). He also co-hosted a Cubs postgame show, Outside the Ivy, in 2019.

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