Windy City Gridiron
The journey of turning around the Chicago Bears franchise has hopefully begun.
Winning three straight games will do that. Getting the first win out of the way is sometimes the toughest and Chicago did that, taking down a reeling Dallas defense at home.
The next test was to win on the road, against a tough defense. The Raiders aren’t a good team, but the road has proved to be a tough place for the Bears to win. And winning in a come-from-behind way, fighting back from a late deficit to win on a field goal, was another sign that things were turning around.
Then Chicago came out of their bye week, went on the road and won again, this time against a playoff team from a year ago and the site of their most heartbreaking loss. To do so again with a fourth quarter comeback with a walk-off field goal made it that much sweeter.
The next step is to start beating the teams that you should beat at home. Sunday against the New Orleans Saints would allow the Bears to do just that. It’s a game Chicago is favored in and one they should win. Winning is beginning to become the expectation.
Let’s keep it that way.
New Orleans Saints
SB Nation site: Canal Street Chronicles
Record: 1-5, last in the NFC South
Last week: 25-19 loss to the New England Patriots
Game day, time, TV: Sunday, noon CT, FOX
Spread: The Chicago Bears are 5.5-point favorites over the Saints.
Bears all-time record against: 15-19 (including 2-1 postseason)
Historical meetings: Week 7, Oct. 20, 2019. The 5-1 Saints came to Soldier Field to face the 3-2 Chicago Bears.
The Saints took an unusual 2-0 lead after Pat O’Donnell batted a blocked punt in the endzone, saving a touchdown but getting flagged for illegal bat.
Teddy Bridgewater, playing for an injured Drew Brees, hit Josh Hill for a seven-yard touchdown. Cordarrelle Patterson took the ensuing kickoff 102 yards back for a touchdown to make it 9-7.
After trading field goals for the rest of the half, the Saints struck first with Latavius Murray finding the endzone in the third quarter.
After that, the Saints took over, scoring with Taysom Hill, a Wil Lutz field goal, and another Murray run.
With a 36-10 lead, the Bears were able to cobble together a couple of garbage time TDs with Mitch Trubisky finding Allen Robinson for a touchdown and Adam Shaheen for a two-point conversion. Trubisky then found Javon Wims with 36 seconds left to put a bow on a 36-25 loss.
Last meeting: Week 9 of the 2023 season. Tyson Bagent started for an injured Justin Fields. He played well early, finding Cole Kmet for touchdown passes in the first and second quarter.
Derek Carr also led two scoring drives, finding Chris Olave in the first quarter and Tayson Hill in the second.
The close game continued, as the teams traded field goals in the third quarter. But the Bears couldn’t move...
