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Your In-Depth Eagles vs. Bears Week 12 Preview

Adrian Fedkiw|

If the Philadelphia Eagles can beat up on the Chicago Bears this Sunday and come away with the win, then they can clinch the NFC East as early as Thursday if the Dallas Cowboys lose to the Washington Redskins.

If Dallas wins, then the Eagles will have to beat Chicago and Seattle to wrap the division up. Let’s get into this Bears game.

 

EAGLES PASSING GAME VS. BEARS PASS DEFENSE
PHI- 103.8 PASSER RATING (4/32), 233 YPG (15/32)
CHI- 93.5 PASSER RATING ALLOWED (21/32), 213 YPG ALLOWED (11/32)

Alshon Jeffery will be going against his former team for the first time on Sunday. He spent five seasons with the Bears and despite some injury problems, he had a stellar tenure which included one Pro Bowl berth. Jeffery has downplayed the reunion all week.

Obviously, I still have friends over there. I’ve just been focused on what we’ve got going over here.

The chemistry between Wentz and Jeffery gets better each week and the former Bear has arguably had his best two games as an Eagle in the last two. He had six receptions for 84 yards and a pair of touchdowns against Denver and followed that up by catching four more balls for 67 yards against Dallas, including this 17-yard snag for a score on a 4th-and-5.

Carson Wentz was 14-of-27 for 168 yards and two touchdowns against Dallas, which was lackluster at best for his standards. He was just 7-of-18 in the first half and had a stretch of six straight incompletions. The Eagles had three-and-outs on their final five drives of the first half and Wentz put the ball up just nine times in the second as Philly seized control of the contest on the ground. He still had a few jaw-dropping plays, including this two-point try when he shook two Cowboys on a scramble to the right before finding Jeffery.

I’m also still trying to figure out how he got this ball off!

The Bears will be coming into the game banged up. Outside linebacker Leonard Floyd injured his knee last week, linebacker Danny Trevathan has been hobbled by a calf injury the last few weeks and is doubtful to play and Akiem Hicks is dealing with a knee issue. Bears defensive coordinator Vic Fangio commented on his team’s health earlier this week.

They’re starting to pile up a little bit. But our guys have a good attitude, and we’re going to go out and play.

 

EAGLES RUNNING GAME VS. BEARS RUN DEFENSE
PHI- 4.6 YPC (5/32), 144.6 YPG (2/32)
CHI- 3.8 YPC ALLOWED (9/32), 106.0 YPG ALLOWED (12/32)

The Eagles ran for 180 of their 215 rushing yards in the second half on Sunday. The addition of Jay Ajayi and emergence of Corey Clement has re-invigorated the rushing attack after the Eagles hit a bit of a lull prior to Ajayi’s arrival. They are now second in the NFL in rushing yards per game (144.6), trailing only the Jaguars. Ajayi has 168 yards on the ground in two games with the team and broke off this 71-yard run against Dallas.

It was speculated that Ajayi’s selfishness was a reason for his departure from Miami, but Ajayi said earlier this week that he doesn’t mind being part of a committee.

I was kind of a part of something like this in Miami last year, so it’s something that I’m able to deal with it. It comes down to the opportunities when they’re given to you. I love winning. I’m having a lot of fun, I’m happy.

Undrafted rookie Corey Clement has taken the snaps away from Wendell Smallwood, running for over 50 yards in each of his last three games and finding the end zone four times during his last two. He now has six touchdowns on the season, which leads Eagles running backs.

 

BEARS PASSING GAME VS. EAGLES PASS DEFENSE
PHI- 76.9 PASSER RATING ALLOWED (5/32), 236 YPG ALLOWED (20/32)
CHI- 80.8 PASSER RATING (26/32), 170 YPG (31/32)

Chicago quarterback Mitchell Trubisky has had an up-and-down rookie season, but head coach John Fox has let him rip it the last few weeks. Trubisky has had at least 30 pass attempts in each of his last three games after putting the ball up just 23 times total in the two contests prior. While Trubisky has had accuracy issues at times and taken some poor sacks, he’s thrown well on the move and takes care of the ball for the most part. Some fans in Chicago are already giving up on him but these are the trials and tribulations that rookie quarterbacks endure and Trubisky was a guy who had just one year of starting experience at North Carolina.

Eagles head coach Doug Pederson commented on what Trubisky brings to the table.

“We saw incremental growth with Carson last year, and I think some of these teams are seeing the same thing with their young quarterbacks, especially this one this weekend. He’s a talented guy that you can’t fall asleep on him because he can hurt you with his legs, too.

But taking all of those poor sacks, the Eagles’ front seven will be chomping at the bit.

Rookie Derek Barnett has emerged over recent weeks and dominated Byron Bell in Sunday’s matchup in Big D. He racked up two sacks and six pressures, including this strip-sack where he bent the edge and maintained balance following the shoulder dip before getting to Prescott and swiping his arm.

The interior of Chicago’s offensive line is solid, led by guards Josh Sitton and Kyle Long and center Cody Whitehair, but I believe its tackles can be had. Charles Leno will be the one going against Barnett at left tackle and Bobbie Massie is on the right side.

 

BEARS RUNNING GAME VS. EAGLES RUN DEFENSE
PHI- 3.7 YPC ALLOWED (7/32), 71.0 YPG ALLOWED (1/32)
CHI- 4.5 YPC (6/32), 131.8 YPG (5/32)

The Eagles lead the NFL in rushing yards allowed per game, but Jordan Howard’s 841 rushing yards leads the NFC and is third in the NFL overall. Rookie Tarik Cohen has added 273 yards on the ground to go with a team-leading 33 receptions. The Bears have put both on the field at the same, which forces defenses to be very assignment sound. It’s an electric duo, but the Eagles have only surrendered one 100-yard rusher this season and that came in Week 2 against Kareem Hunt when he went for 121 on the ground. The Bears like to run a lot of outside zone with Howard, which is also what he ran at Indiana.

It’ll be really fun watching Fletcher Cox and Timmy Jernigan go against the stout interior of Chicago’s offensive line.

 

PREDICTION:

The Eagles are 5-0 at home this season and have won seven straight at the Linc, while Chicago is 1-3 on the road this year after going 0-8 last season. If this game was in Chicago, maybe we’d have a trap scenario looming because the Bears are tough at home and Philly is coming off the high of a dominant display in Dallas. The Eagles have been shutting down rushing attacks all season long and Trubisky isn’t ready to put the Bears on his back. I also believe Chicago has too many injuries on the defensive side of the ball to keep it in the game. I’ve got the Eagles winning this one pretty handedly.

34-13 Eagles.

 

You can follow Adrian Fedkiw on Twitter (@AdrianFedkiw) and e-mail him at [email protected]. Subscribe to The Bitter Birds on YouTube here. Follow Philly Influencer on Twitter (@PHL_Influencer), Facebook and Instagram.

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