The 4-4 Chicago Bears will play the 2-7 New England Patriots at Soldier Field in a Week 10 matchup. Here’s what you need to know before kickoff (noon, Fox-32).
5 things to watch — plus our predictions
For the second time in three weeks, Bears quarterback Caleb Williams will face off with a fellow member of his rookie class.
The Patriots selected quarterback Drake Maye at No. 3 in this year’s draft, behind Williams and Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels, whom the Bears played in Week 8. Williams has known Maye for a while and was complimentary of the player who has completed 65.6% of his passes for 770 yards, six touchdowns and four interceptions.
“He’s explosive,” Williams said. “He’s accurate. He’s a tall, strong figure back there in the pocket. He makes plays for his team.”
The Patriots have gone 1-3 in Maye’s four starts, the only win coming when Maye was knocked out of the Week 8 game against the New York Jets with a concussion and Jacoby Brissett replaced him. Read more here.
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‘We’re going to look inward’
Coach Matt Eberflus was asked directly Monday morning about potentially changing who would call the plays for quarterback Caleb Williams and the offense and was firm in rejecting any shake-up suggestions about offensive coordinator Shane Waldron.
“The changes we’re going to make is that we’re going to look inward and make sure we do a good job of utilizing our talents and our skill and really just (improving) general, basic execution of our plan,” Eberflus said. “We have to make sure we’re doing that going forward.”
The Bears have a lot of troubleshooting ahead to revive an offense that has been sloppy and stagnant in the two games since the bye week. After exploding for 10 offensive touchdowns in a span of 18 true possessions during blowout wins over the Panthers and Jaguars, the Bears had just two touchdowns and 24 points in 23 offensive series in losses to the Cardinals and Commanders.
After eight games, the Bears rank 28th in the league in total offense (294.6 yards per game) and — with two Week 1 return touchdowns included — 19th in scoring (21.5 points per game). Read more here.
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Moore and Williams still searching for answers
For the second week in a row, the Bears had a game clip go viral for all the wrong reasons.
In the wake of the Bears’ 29-9 loss to the Cardinals in Week 9, a clip of DJ Moore walking off the field in the middle of a first-quarter play circulated widely online, catching the attention of multiple national analysts on social media. But Moore had a simple explanation for why he stepped out on the play Wednesday as the Bears resumed practice at Halas Hall. He was injured.
“Tweaked the ankle,” Moore said. “I was coming back because I’d seen Caleb (Williams) was scrambling. My ankle went in and out. I couldn’t stop, so my momentum took me out of bounds, and then I just walked off. The noise, I hear it, seen it. Really didn’t care. It is what it is.”
Against the Cardinals, Williams targeted Moore nine times, but Moore had four catches for 33 yards. Some of Williams’ worst displays of inaccuracy came on passes to the seventh-year veteran.
- The Caleb Williams File: Why addressing the disconnect with DJ Moore is a top priority for the Bears QB
- Column: GM Ryan Poles needs to overhaul the Bears offensive line in the offseason. He has done it before.
- Tracking Caleb Williams: How the Bears QB is performing in his rookie season
Injury news
If you made a list before the season of players the Bears could least afford to lose, nose tackle Andrew Billings might have ranked in the top three. He surely would have belonged in the top five.
Perhaps that sounds askew, but the Bears are about to find out what life will be like without Billings, who’s headed for surgery to repair a torn pectoral muscle that will knock him out for the remainder of the season.
Billings is the team’s best interior lineman versus the run and proved to have a little more juice as a pass rusher than maybe expected. And the main reason he’s so indispensable is the Bears don’t have a proven option to replace the 6-foot-1, 311-pounder. Read more here.
Trade deadline report
The Bears made waves at the trade deadline the last two years as a buyer. This time they’re selling, sending running back Khalil Herbert to the Bengals.
Herbert was seldom used in the first eight games and hoped to get a chance to play somewhere — and that will happen as general manager Ryan Poles completed a deal Tuesday for the Bengals’ seventh-round draft pick in 2025. Originally a sixth-round pick by the Bears in 2021, Herbert rushed for a career-high 731 yards in 2022 and started nine games last season with three 100-yard games, including two in the final three weeks. Read more here.
