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The Bears have already played their second preseason game - if you missed our coverage, you can catch up on Schweickert's Scribbles, Sam's Not-Scribbles, or today's Bears Den - but the rest of the league swings into action over the next few days. Tonight's offerings are:
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Philadelphia Eagles at New England Patriots
Kick-off time: 7.30pm EDT / 6.30pm CT
Reason to watch: We travel to New England in week 8, just before the bye week and the fifth away game in that initial stretch. Did you know that we've only played the Patriots seven times in games that matter since SB20 and won just the once, in the 2000 season when Shane Matthews outplayed Drew Bledsoe? We've lost three straight at the hands of Tom Brady since then, with the most recent being the 36-7 shellacking in 2010.
There's no particular reason to watch the Eagles, other than perhaps to see if Nick Foles - the second-highest rated QB last season by passer rating after Tarvaris Jackson - bounces back from last week's game at Soldier Field.
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Tennessee Titans at New Orleans Saints
Kick-off time: 8pm EDT / 7pm CT
Reason to watch: We host New Orleans in game 14, and hopefully it'll go better than the 26-18 loss when they came to visit in week 5 last season.
The Titans? Yeah, I sort of remember them.....
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Detroit Lions at Oakland Raiders
Kick-off time: 10pm EDT / 9pm CT
Reason to watch: One is a complete trainwreck of a franchise, and the other is the Oakland Raiders. Ahthankyew.
Cheap jokes aside, the Lions' prospects hinge on Jim Caldwell's ability to get Matthew Stafford to take to coaching - the QB did say after the season ended that he saw no need to work on his mechanics - and improve on his decision making. That sounds familiar to Bears fans. Much like Aaron Rodgers, Stafford isn't going anywhere so how the new offense fares, and whether any offensive weapons other than Calvin Johnson can step up, will be of significant interest to fans of the Beloved.
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San Diego Chargers at Seattle Seahawks
Kick-off time: 10pm EDT / 9pm CT
Reason to watch: We face the reigning SB champions next week in the dress rehearsal for the regular season, so there's plenty of interest in this game, too. Will the league's new crackdown on defensive backs impede newly-minted Richard Sherman's game? If there was only a way of impeding his mouth.
Will Philip Rivers wear that ugly, ugly bolo tie?
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Have fun!