Playing the Packers may not be a revenge game for Aaron Rodgers, but former Chicago Bear Roquan Smith almost certainly does not feel the same way about facing his former team. He never seemed to get along with general manager Ryan Poles and was unceremoniously traded ahead of the 2022 deadline.
The two clubs are meeting for the first time since that trade and are in vastly different places. The Ravens, a dominant powerhouse for years, have seen major regressions on both sides of the ball and have won only a single game (and no, not all the blame can go to injuries) while the ascendent Bears have won four in a row and show no signs of slowing down.
One gigantic cloud hovers over this game for now, and that is the uncertainty of Lamar Jackson’s status for Sunday. He’s missed the last two games and was expected to return after the Week 7 bye, but he missed Monday’s practice. He returned on Wednesday and Thursday but was limited both days and didn’t appear to be doing too much work on the field.
Whether Jackson plays or not, this is a winnable game for the Bears, despite being big underdogs to the 1-win Ravens, especially if they hit these keys.
The three-time Pro Bowler may have lost a step or two over the years, but he’s still a solid player and can’t be fooled easily, making for a reliable field general on Baltimore’s defense. He may have couched his eagerness to beat the Bears in amicable terms when he said he was ‘excited about the matchup‘ but make no mistake: Smith intends to humiliate the Bears if he can.
That’s what Chicago can’t have happen. The tight ends and the offensive line need to be at their best on Sunday when dealing with Smith, which means setting good blocks at the second level in the run game (Smith has historically struggled in shedding blockers) and running crisp routes so as to disallow Smith from getting into position to break up a pass.
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Smith is not the only defender the Bears must worry about. Two-time Pro Bowl safety Kyle Hamilton has been a nightmare for NFL offenses since he was selected with the 14th overall pick in 2022, and he can give Caleb Williams nightmares if allowed to. There’s no foolproof way to fully make him a non-factor in the passing game, so the best thing for the Bears to do is run the ball as well as they did last week. This will force the Ravens to keep Hamilton in the box more to defend against the run, which will open up more throwing lanes for Williams.
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Despite scoring a dominant win over the Saints in Week 7, quarterback Caleb Williams had very little to do with it. The Bears got away with it then because the Saints, while feisty, are not very good. The same cannot be said for the Ravens, especially if Lamar Jackson plays.
This one could easily turn into a shootout, and if it does, the Bears are going to need much bigger contributions from their quarterback as in their Week 3 win over the Cowboys. Williams threw for 298 yards and 4 touchdowns in that one. Another performance like that would not only net the Bears another win, it would also quiet down the panic of some Bears fans.
For this prediction, I’m assuming that Jackson plays. If he does, then I think we’ve seen the end of Chicago’s exciting win streak. Between Jackson and Derrick Henry, they should be able to move the ball at will against Chicago’s defense, despite their recent resurgence in defending the run. Williams will play well, perhaps even put together his best game of the season, but it won’t be enough.
And just for the record, my prediction if Jackson does not play is a massive 38-20 Bears win. Henry will still move the ball at will, but Chicago’s opportunistic defense will force enough takeaways that it won’t matter.
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