Week 4 game preview: Bears-Giants

I’m on the road this week, just like the Chicago Bears, so let’s keep this short and sweet.

The Bears are going up to New York Jersey to face a Giants squad, not unlike their own.

The New York Giants have a new coach, a quarterback they are trying to make it work with, a good running game, and the ability to play up or down to an opponent.

They’ve played close games in all of their matchups so far this season. There’s no reason to think that they won’t give the Bears another close, hard-fought game Sunday.

Let’s break it all down and see if, at the end, we think that Bears can win.

New York Giants

SB Nation site: Big Blue View

Record: 2-1, second in NFC East

Last week: 23-16 loss to the Cowboys on Monday Night Football

Game day, time, TV: Sunday, noon CT, FOX

Spread: According to DraftKings Sportsbook, the Giants are 3-point favorites over the Bears. The total is 39.5 points.

Bears all-time record against: 36-24-2 including 5-3 postseason

Historical meetings: In week four, 2010, the 2-1 Bears went to the New Meadowlands to face the 1-2 Giants.

A defensive battle ensued and it was one of the worst offensive games in recent memory.

Jay Cutler was sacked nine times in the first half. The Bears had to play all three of their active quarterbacks (Todd Collins and Caleb Hanie). The trio combined for 51 net passing yards (the Bears lost 63 yards on 10 sacks allowed).

Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs each scored a touchdown and torched the Bears for 189 rushing yards.

The Bears lost 17-3.

Last meeting: Week 17 last season, the Bears hosted the Giants in a game featuring two good-as-dead coaches.

Mike Glennon started for the Giants, while Andy Dalton was under center for the Bears.

Glennon was comically awful as the Bears sacked him four times, intercepted him twice and recovered two of his four fumbles. Glennon had as many fumbles as completions.

David Montgomery scored two touchdowns and Dalton found Darnell Mooney for another.

The Bears won 24-3. Saquon Barkley did have 102 yards rushing though.

Injury report: The Giants listed nine players on their Wednesday injury report, all were limited or non-participants.

Limited

• CB Justin Layne (concussion)
• CB Aaron Robinson (appendix)

Did not participate

• CB Cordale Flott (calf)
• CB Nick McCloud (hamstring)
• WR Wan’Dale Robinson (knee)
• WR Sterling Shepard (knee) - announced as an season-ending ACL injury
• WR Kadarius Toney (hamstring)
• OLB Jihad Ward (knee)
• DE Leonard Williams (knee)

Offense: The Giants offense ranks 21st in yards and 18th in points.

They 30th ranked passing offense and the fourth ranked rushing offense.

Daniel Jones (64.1 cmp pct/560 yds/3 TD/1 INT) is throwing to Richie James (14 rec/146 yds/0 TD), Saquon Barkley (13/91/0), Daniel Bellinger (5/56/1), David Sills (5/57/0) and Kadarius Toney (2/0/0).

Remember Kenny Golladay? Some Bears fans mention him as a possible late trade addition. He’s still in New York but has five targets, two catches and 22 yards.

On the ground, Saquon (53 car/317 yds/2 TD) looks like peak Saquon again and is bound to give the Bears’ bad rushing defense fits.

Daniel Jones (25/125/0) is also able to run, too.

Defense: The Giants defense ranks 12th in points allowed and 16th in yards allowed.

Their passing defense ranks 10th and their rushing defense ranks 25th.

That’s right, the Bears are once again playing a bad rushing defense and a good passing defense, so there can be excuses made when Justin Fields inevitably attempts 12 passes.

Their defense ranks 31st in turnover percentage and they have zero interceptions on the season.

The defense stars Julian Love (27 tkls/1 sk/2 TFL), Adoree’ Jackson (16 tkls/1 PD/1 FR), Xavier McKinney (16 tkls/3 PD/1 TFL), Dexter Lawrence (11 tkls/1 FF/4 QB hits) and Oshane Ximines (1 sk/4 QB hits/11 tkls/1 PD).

Leonard Williams missed the Cowboys game and it’s unknown if he will be available Sunday, but he might be their best DL.

Key matchups: On paper, this looks like a more favorable matchup for the Bears’ offense. We know they can run the ball and their secondary, while not allowing huge yards (They’ve also faced Cooper Rush, Ryan Tannehill and Baker Mayfield), haven’t had an interception.

Their pass rush hasn’t been great either, which should be a boost to Chicago’s offensive line.

Khalil Herbert should be able to find running room. The Giants are allowing 5.3 yards per carry, which is worse than the Bears, even if the Bears are allowing more rushing yards.

For the defense, the Giants have allowed more sacks than the Bears. While Daniel Jones has taken care of the ball better through three games (only one fumble lost and two interceptions), he’s still Daniel Jones.

The big key is going to be for the Bears to slow down Saquon. The Bears won last time when Barkley had 102 yards, but Mike Glennon was quarterbacking. This is going to be a different thing.

Key stats

• The Giants rank fourth in third down defense and seventh in red zone defense.
• Their offense ranks 29th on third down offense
• The Bears and Giants, both 2-1, are each on the wrong side of the point differential. The Giants are -3 (56 PF, 59 PA) and the Bears are -5 (52 PF, 57 PA).
• The Bears have won three straight against the Giants since the overtime game in 2018.
• Daniel Jones has worse stats at home than the road (62.1 pct cmp/212 YPG/18 TD/20 INT)

Can the Bears get a road win against another team they are closely matched to? Are the Giants that much better than them?