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Last week, the Bears started Jay Cutler just two weeks after suffering a groin injury. This week, he's out for certain after an additional ankle injury from being beat up in the offensive line's worst game of the season. Josh McCown gets the start as the Bears look to take one from the defending NFL champions.
The Ravens have a fierce pass rush as well as a $120 million quarterback paired with Torrey Smith, but they also have the league's third-worst rushing attack, not much production from their other weapons, and a losing record on the year. Having lost quite a few of their own defensive starters due to free agency or retirement in the offseason, the defense isn't quite the same, but still not a bad one thanks to that pass-rush. They also have Haloti Ngata, who's, ya know, a pretty good defensive tackle.
The Bears had a hard time standing up to the Lions' pass rush last week, and the Ravens bring Terrell Suggs and Elvis Dumervil, guys intent on doing bad things to the quarterback, so they'll need to bump things up a bit in pass protection. And let's not forget the Bears' own rushing defense isn't good at all this year - Something has to give. McCown's offense has been productive, and it'll need to be once again.
It's game day, folks. Let's link.
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Here's your TV information today. CBS has the game, with Jim Nantz and Phil Simms. There's a reason the announcer volume is a nothing during the pre-game stream, and it's not just so you can hear me and Sam. And here's the Injury Report.
Dane exchanged five questions with Baltimore Beatdown this week.
Here's this week's PTMY, as well as my Six Keys.
Spongie's updated the Bears Den three times this week. Reward him by looking through the Weekend Den.
Lester enjoys the fat man touchdown. He wants to give Eben Britton his shot.
Les also put together this week's Sackwatch, and it's a fun read, as usual.
And if you want to see how we all picked this week, here you go.
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This was the scene at Soldier Field around 7:30 AM today.
Stadium workers clearing water off the tarp covering the Soldier Field grass 4.5 hours until kickoff. #Bears #Ravens pic.twitter.com/Kl7OSEPsd2
— Jeff Dickerson (@ESPNChiBears) November 17, 2013
The Bears are wearing throwbacks today. Not bad.
#Bears wearing their 1940s-style 'Monsters of the Midway' throwback uniforms today vs. Ravens: pic.twitter.com/TtyulPPqJ8
— Zach Zaidman (@ZachZaidman) November 17, 2013
So it's supposed to storm today during the game. That sounds like it'll suck.
A storm is coming to Soldier Field for #Bears/#Ravens: pic.twitter.com/jfBRqk29KW
— Zach Zaidman (@ZachZaidman) November 17, 2013
Here's the ESPNChicago "What to Watch For" and SunTimes game-previews.
Did you ever think we'd be praising a Bears' receivers coach for anything?
The rest, Spongie's got you covered. Go check out the best collection of Bears news in the history of talking footballs.
Gameday procedure, the first-quarter thread will show up right at gametime, with subsequent threads appearing as the game goes on. Immediately after the game, we'll have our recap and the late game thread where hopefully we're celebrating a Bears win.
Now with all the propers out of the way... Bear down.
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This week, Sam and I will bring you our weekly pre-game show, breaking things down for the Bears/Ravens game as well as anything else that happens to cross our lines of sight. If you have any questions, comments, or you merely wish to throw down and engage in a spot of fisticuffs, you can comment here, at my Twitch channel, or at our respective Twitter accounts (@SJS_illini, @SamHouseholder).
Watch live video from SJS_illini on TwitchTV