Bears Win, 28-24
This game is proving a little harder to predict, as is typically the case with preseason games. Both the Chicago Bears and Seattle Seahawks looked good in their previous matchups. While the Bears took the win and the Seahawks didn’t, Seattle still put on a solid showing nonetheless and put up more points than Chicago did. Alongside this, not only have the Seahawks been relatively quiet on how much their starters will play, they just announced that Quarterback Drew Lock is out after testing positive for COVID.
What does this mean for the Seahawks? QB Drew Lock looked solid versus the Steelers, netting himself two passing touchdowns. On the other hand, his competition for the starting job, QB Geno Smith, had none. However, Smith did show off his mobile ability and ran the ball in for a touchdown, a capstone on an otherwise solid day of play. According to reports, Smith is also likely to be the Seahawks starter, so top notch play is expected from him.
All of these complications, and the fact that there have only been five days in between games for each team, mean that the starters for each won’t be seen much. Bears Head Coach Matt Eberflus has already confirmed as such, remarking that the starters will only get six or ten snaps each. With Drew Lock out for the Seahawks, Geno Smith will probably be backed up by third string QB Jacob Eason. Eason has only seen a handful of snaps in the NFL and lacks proficient game experience. This means the game on Thursday will quickly become dominantly played by depth players and members fighting for roster spots. Hopefully this should bode well for Bears fans, as successful depth players from last Saturday will be going up against a Seahawks defense which was lacking last week. On the flip side, Chicago’s defense looked good against the Chiefs, netting two takeaways.
All in all, Bears fans should expect some tough competition from Geno Smith and the other primary Seahawks players. Then Chicago’s depth players will get to work, capitalizing off their momentum from last week.
