Paul’s Pick
The Bears do not run it very well, and QB Mitchell Trubisky is in a funk. Their ability to get sacks and turnovers is down from a year ago. The Giants come off their bye healthier than they’ve been, but they do nothing exceedingly well and are quite poor in several key areas. They desperately need Saquon Barkley to be Saquon Barkley.
Bears 24, Giants 17
Marquee matchup
Bears CB Prince Amukamara vs. Giants WR Golden Tate
This will not be an every-down battle, but these two veterans will certainly meet up on the field when Tate moves from the slot to the outside. Since coming off a four-game suspension, Tate has done a solid job, often as the primary target. Amukamara does not have great ball skills, but he is savvy and physical. The Giants are not bad (12th in the league) as far as yards after catch, and Tate is a big reason why. He has 224 yards after catch in six games, nearly as many as Evan Engram (252 in eight games) and Saquon Barkley (252 in seven games). So, it will be imperative for Amukamara to get Tate to the ground after the catch and this is a strength of the former Giants’ first-round pick. Amukamara has strong hands and excellent technique when it comes to tackling.
4 downs
Mack attack: How is this even possible? Khalil Mack was on the field for 47 of the 55 snaps on defense for the Bears last Sunday night and did not register a single statistic. No tackles — not even an assisted tackle — no sacks, no quarterback hits, no tackles for loss. Nothing. Mack has 5.5 sacks this season but he has shown he can be blocked with two offensive linemen, which was not the case last season when he made his Bears debut with 12.5 sacks and six forced fumbles.
“They do a few [twists] with him so he’ll come inside to the guard,’’ left guard Will Hernandez said. “I never pay attention to numbers and stats and all that. I look at the film and see what the guy’s got. I don’t care what he did before that game, whether it was good or bad. The only thing that matters is: Are you gonna let him do it now?’’
Mad about you: Vince Lombardi once said, “Show me a good loser and I’ll show you a loser.’’ No one is insinuating the Giants are good losers, but they are at least harmonious losers. They are in it together, with no blame-throwing.
“That would be cowardly,’’ veteran safety Antoine Bethea said. “When we all got together, we talked about how we were going to be together. Whether it was good, whether it was bad, whether it was ugly, or whatever the case may be. If you’re a type of guy that likes to point fingers or whatever the case may be, you’re not built for this.’’
Cold daze: By the standards of playing games in the Midwest so close to Lake Michigan, what awaits Daniel Jones is not harsh. The game-time weather forecast is a high of 49 degrees, a low of 36 degrees and wind at 10 mph. Certainly not the tundra of Green Bay. Still, this will probably be one of, if not the coldest game Jones, of Duke, has played in.
“When we played Pitt in college, there was snow toward the end of the game, but I think it usually didn’t get too cold in Durham,’’ Jones said. Here is one caveat: “Obviously, the colder it gets, the ball gets a little slicker in that regard,’’ offensive coordinator Mike Shula warned.
Sophomore slump: Matt Nagy was the toast of the town last season, his first as Chicago’s head coach, as he debuted with a record of 12-4 to win the NFC North and earn himself NFL Coach of the Year honors. The sequel is not nearly as promising, as the Bears are 4-6 and losers of five of their past six games.
“Every year is different,’’ Nagy said. “You have to prep for that and you’ve got to understand that’s the way it goes. That’s the beauty of coaching, is how you respond to adversity. When you build a strong culture like we have in our building, when these types of things come your way, you rely on people’s character.’’