Bears vs Saints: Inside the Matchups

Mandatory Credit: Rob Grabowski-USA TODAY Sports

It’s Bears vs Saints to cap off the Week 15 slate of NFL action.  The Bears have kicked off the last couple of weeks and that hasn’t gone so well for them, dropping their last two games in convincing fashion.  The nationally televised embarrassments continue on Monday Night Football under the watchful eyes of Jon Gruden and Mike Tirico.

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Let’s face it, besides for fantasy implications, not even Brandon Marshall wants this game on Monday Night Football.  Let’s call it the Underachiever Bowl for this battle of 5-8 teams.  The big difference?  The Saints, believe it or not, are still in the thick of a playoff race.  Can the Bears play spoiler?  Will the Saints bounce back after a throttling at the hands Carolina Panthers?  Let’s look inside the numbers to see how these teams match up.

When the Bears Have the Ball…

I don’t know which is more surprising, the Bears 18th – yes 18th – ranked scoring offense, netting just 21.6 PPG 0r the Saints’ 30th ranked scoring defense which is giving up 27.6 PPG.  Rob Ryan’s crew has fallen off the charts as precipitously as Trestman’s offense year over year.  The Bears offense has been out of sync all season and no one seems to know why.  Now the Bears have to go to battle without a key cog to their offense as Brandon Marshall sits on the sidelines on IR.  For the Saints defense, they’ve tumbled from what some thought would be a potent defense to, well, impotent.  The Bears will need to capitalize and crack the 30-point mark if they want a shot to win this game.