Chicago Bears vs. New Orleans Saints: Three Things To Watch
(CBS) -- The Chicago Bears take on the New Orleans Saints on Sunday at Soldier Field. Kickoff is set for 3:25 p.m.
Here are three things you kneed to know:
Bridgewater The Backup
The Saints backup plan has been much better than the 2010 Jennifer Lopez rom-com. Teddy Bridgewater tries to make it five wins in five starts filling in for Drew Brees.
Bridgewater hasn't been amazing, but he has been efficient throwing for seven touchdowns in four games and just two interceptions. But, look for Teddy to do most of his damage near the line of scrimmage. He's averaging just 6.9 yards per pass attempt, which is 24th in the NFL.
Trubisky Time
As for the Bears quarterback, what can we expect to see from Mitchell Trubisky, if, as expected, he is back in his starting role. Trubisky's best game of the season came in his last start against the Redskins, but that was before he hurt his non-throwing shoulder and it came against a porous pass defense.
The Saints have been surprisingly good on defense, so Trubisky could be in for a long day especially if he's hampered at all physically. I've been among the people calling for Trubisky to run more. He has just five rushes this season.
We'll see if he does it more against the Saints. Matt Nagy didn't provide much insight when I asked him this week if Trubisky should run more, saying he would never answer that. He did call Trubisky's legs a huge weapon.. It's a huge weapon they're not using right now.
Improvement On Offensive Line?
It hurts a little to say this because Kyle Long has been such a big part of the Bears the last few years, but look for the offensive line to be improved without Long in there.
He has clearly been limited by injuries and this year his level of play has fallen off. Rashadd Coward looked pretty good filling in for Long and Ted Larsen too against the Vikings. Maybe it won't happen this week against the Saints, but hopefully the change finally opens up more running room for David Montgomery and maybe makes things a little easier for Mitch Trubisky, which seems to be needed.
