The Cincinnati Bengals have a lot of firepower on their offense, while the Chicago Bears are reeling defensively due to injuries.

It’s a battle of strength versus weakness in a lot of ways this weekend and it’s going to be a tough match up for the Bears to get a win on the road.

But they are favored, and the Bengals preferred starter, Joe Flacco, is questionable to play.

It will no doubt be an interesting game.

We asked our staff to give us their keys for a Bears win. Here’s what they said.

Sam: Chicago must slow down Ja’Marr...

Here we go again, Chicago Bears fans. That old fear is back.

The fear that this team got it wrong again. With every chance to get it right. With the No. 1 overall pick in their clutches and the choice of any of the three top QBs in the 2024 before them.

It was hard enough last year when Jayden Daniels’ Rookie of the Year campaign took the NFL by storm and the Washington Commanders to the NFC Championship game. But to an extent, you knew it wasn’t the same situation. After all, how could you expect Williams, a mere...

Earlier today, Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson said that at some point, they’d have to give running back D’Andre Swift a week off to get his body right. Swift has been playing through a groin injury while racking up 277 yards the last three weeks, and while he wants to play on Sunday, Johnson said, “Sometimes you have to protect the player from himself.”

With the injury report now official, Swift is one of four players the Bears have ruled out for this week’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals. Also out on Sunday will be running back Roschon Johnson...

Modern football is all about big plays and as a companion piece to the STEP Differential, I’m tracking the Bears big plays all year in this Infogram:

Last year’s tracker is on the second page. Remember that you can click into the tabs on the lower left to see the tally by player and you can hover over any of the shapes on the right hand side of the visual to see a description of each play. Like last year, I’ll color code the plays on the right with the team color of the opponent. New this year I’ve added...

As we continue with our quarterly QB rankings for the year, we have reached the midseason edition. Before we dive into the rankings, I want to talk about the process of how these rankings are determined. First of all, there’s no equation, there’s no chart, it’s my eye test. Now, certainly, statistics come into play, both traditional and analytical. These rankings are not based on this season alone; they are based on the QBs previous equity they’ve built through their play and based on how they are playing this season, which, of course, is weighed fairly heavily.

The idea here...

The Chicago Bears had the magic run out on Sunday with a bumpy loss to the Baltimore Ravens. How will the team rally against a Cincinnati Bengals team that is certainly beatable without Joe Burrow?

We sat down with Anthony Cosenza from Cincy Jungle, SB Nation’s Cincinnati Bengals site, to get the Bengals’ perspective on their team and this game. Here’s our conversation.

**1. How are fans feeling about the Bengals’ outlook for the season? I know the plan is to hang in there until Joe Burrow returns from injury. Do you think that’s possible, and can this team...

The Bears found themselves in unfamiliar territory as they rode the wave of a 4-game winning streak entering a matchup with the struggling Baltimore Ravens this past week. Despite the contrast in team records and the absence of Lamar Jackson, Baltimore was still viewed as the betting favorite in this game. On one hand, this is completely understandable, given the significant injuries to the Bears’ defensive secondary (notably missing all 3 starting CBs in this game), on the other hand, you’d hope that Caleb Williams and this ascending Chicago offense would instill enough confidence to carry the team to victories...

WE WANT YOU!

Would you like to show your Chicago Bears spirit to the world? I’m starting a feature where Windy City Gridiron readers can share pictures of themselves and their families and friends in Bears attire. Simply email a picture to me at the following address: denmasterken at aol dot com. The pictures need to be clear, and full resolution (i.e. full size from your phone if that’s how you take them). Include any description information you like along with the photo!

THE DAILY SPONGIE SPECIAL

BEARSSSSSS

[**Now or never for Bears’ pass rush as they take on struggling...

The Chicago Bears are back on the road this Sunday for another AFC North matchup, and hopefully, this one is better than the last one. Much like the Ravens were a week ago, the Cincinnati Bengals are also missing their Pro Bowl quarterback. But as we just saw in Baltimore — on any given Sunday — so the Bears will need to bring plenty of focus and a much better game plan to beat the Bengals.

Cincy has only one win since losing Joe Burrow, but the trade for Joe Flacco has given the offense a spark. He’s a professional...

We’re up to Week 9 of the 2025 NFL season, and this will be your open thread to talk about all the games.

For the TV broadcast maps to determine if these games are on in your local market, check out 506sports.com. Here’s the full slate of games this week (all times Central).

Thursday Night Football
Baltimore Ravens at Miami Dolphins, 7:15 p.m., Amazon Prime

Sunday Noon Kickoffs
Chicago Bears at Cincinnati Bengals, CBS
Minnesota Vikings at Detroit Lions, FOX
Carolina Panthers at Green Bay Packers, FOX
Denver Broncos at Houston Texans, FOX
Atlanta Falcons at New England Patriots, CBS...

We have a brand new Bear Bones podcast with host Dr. Mason West previewing all the latest about the upcoming Chicago Bears vs the Cincinnati Bengals game.

For a third week in a row, the Bears have a lengthy injury list, so Mason will give his best guess on whether the players will play and how long they will be held out. He and his co-host this week, Danny Meehan, will also touch on some specific matchups they feel are key for this Sunday’s game, plus they’ll dive into a few league-wide topics for Week 9.

***Check out the latest...

An article from ESPN yesterday suggests the Chicago Bears should be buyers before next Tuesday’s 4 pm (ET) trade deadline, and one voice is suggesting an unconventional addition to the squad.

Though Chicago has few truly glaring positions of need offensively, the defense could use some help, especially up front.

But Benjamin Solak floated a name one might not have expected for a surprise Bears pickup at the deadline: Washington Commanders corner Marshon Lattimore.

“This would be back-to-back trade deadline relocations for Lattimore, who picked off Patrick Mahomes on Monday but has struggled since Washington acquired him,” Solak writes. “He...