The Chicago Bears turned things around on Sunday, beating the Detroit Lions 24-14. Coming off of that divisional win, the Bears have moved up in the power rankings.
After Justin Fields’ first career win as a starter and another impressive showing from the defense, the Bears are in the best spot they can be going into a tough stretch on their schedule.
CBS Sports: 21st
AP Photo/Kamil Krzaczynski
CBS Sports has the Bears up four spots to 21 going into Week 5 on their power rankings. Rookie quarterback Justin Fields getting his first win should help build confidence for him. Whether he’s the starter next week or not, the success of this team runs through the quarterback. The defense can only do so much for this team.
If Fields can build on his showing against the Lions and the offense can successfully run the football against the Raiders, they can very well in this football game. Las Vegas isn’t invincible, we saw how Justin Herbert torched their defense.
Jon Gruden and the Raiders are going to be ready for the running game and without David Montgomery, there’s a good chance they’ll be able to stop it early. Week 5’s matchup will be decided by Fields’ arm and how well the defense plays.
ESPN: 22nd
AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh
The Bears moved up four spots on ESPN‘s power rankings to 23. Going into Week 5, the Bears’ defense is looking sharp. They shut out both the Bengals and the Lions in the first half of their games. At home, they’ve been almost unstoppable on defense.
The offense has seen its fair share of struggles. The way they ran the ball on Sunday showed that they have the potential to win football games on the ground, open up the passing game, and take pressure off of the defense.
It’ll be tougher without Montgomery to repeat what they did on offense against the Lions, but as long as the Bears keep the pressure off of their defense, they’ll win football games. The defense bends but doesn’t break, they just need some offensive help.
Yahoo! Sports: 22nd
AP Photo/Kamil Krzaczynski
Yahoo! Sports keeps the Bears at 22 after their win against the Lions. Justin Fields improved in their 24-14 win, likely due to the play-calling duties being passed on to Bill Lazor. Lazor put a game plan together that committed to the running game and let Fields go under center, where he is comfortable.
Not moving the Bears up just means Yahoo! Sports had them too high after they got dismantled by the Browns. The good news is, if Lazor continues to call plays, there’s a good chance they’ll continue to find success on offense. If Matt Nagy takes the playsheet back, they’ll find themselves falling in the power rankings and the standings.
The Bears are going into a rough stretch their next few games. They could come out of this six-game stretch winless. It’s going to take improvement on offense each week to prevent that from happening.
Touchdown Wire: 26th
AP Photo/Kamil Krzaczynski
Touchdown Wire has the Bears moving up just one spot to 26, referencing that the Lions played so poorly that they practically gave the game to Chicago.
Though this was a game the Bears were supposed to win, they still had to go out there and play well. Without Nagy letting Lazor call plays last Sunday, there’s a decent chance this game is closer and potentially Chicago is 1-3, right now.
Nagy made the right call and his call on giving Lazor the play-calling duties is why the Bears are 2-2. Still, there’s a big stretch of tough teams coming on their schedule. This is going to be a rough month and a half of football if things don’t improve quickly.
NFL.com: 29th
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NFL.com didn’t move the Bears at all, keeping them at 29 for their Week 5 power rankings. They didn’t seem convinced that Chicago got any better on offense considering they didn’t play against a great defense. Though that is fair, you have to give Fields credit for his command of the offense in Week 4.
The switch in play calling and commitment to the running game helped Fields have a break-out game. Though he is yet to score his first passing touchdown, he improved in the air and showed a lot of promise.
Yes, it was just the Lions defense – but teams have to beat who they play. If the Bears came out flat and didn’t win, they wouldn’t have stayed at 29, they would be lower.
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