The Giants are coming off their first loss of the season and will look to get back into the win column on Sunday when the Chicago Bears come to East Rutherford.
New York had been 2-0 to start the season and was hoping to be undefeated going into Sunday after facing the Dallas Cowboys in Week 3, but the NFC East rivals got the better of the G-Men in a number of areas that resulted in the loss. The Giants will have a number of things to correct going into their matchup with the Bears.
Chicago Bears (2-1) at New York Giants (2-1)
Game Details:
- Location: MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.
- Time: Monday, 1:00 p.m. ET
- Channel: Fox
Betting Stats:
- Spread: NYG -2.5
- Over/Under: 39.5 points
- Moneyline odds: NYG -153, DAL +128
Top Matchups/Storylines:
Offensive line recovering from rough Week 3
The Giants’ O-line struggled mightily during their Monday night debut against the Cowboys and they’ll need to rebound from the effort this week. Daniel Jones faced plenty of pressure during the course of the game and it will be up to the offensive line to give him some more time to make decisions this week against the Bears. Chicago is not exactly a powerhouse in the NFL, but they can be a pesky team.
They’ll also need to be able to open up holes for running back Saquon Barkley, who has looked like the Saquon of old the prior two weeks. Chicago was able to hold the Houston Texans to just 92 yards on the ground and an average of 3.8 yards per carry last weekend.
Stopping the Bears’ run game
As someone put it, Chicago doesn’t do a whole heck of a lot right, but their run game is one of those things they’ve managed to do well. The Bears have the second most running yards in the NFL through the first three weeks of the season with 186.7 yards per game and a total of 560 on 104 attempts.
Running back Khalil Herbert’s 240 are among the top 10 in the league as well. All of that is to say the Giants will need to eliminate the ground game from a team that has found a way to make teams pay through it. During the Week 3 win over the Texans, the Browns utilized the jet sweep and multiple running backs.
They also put up 110 yards on the ground through the first 15 minutes of the game. None of that is a great sign for a New York team that has given up an average of 138.8 rushing yards through three weeks, which is some of the most among all 30 NFL clubs.
Limit the turnovers
Daniel Jones faced a mountain of pressure during Week 3 and only turned over the ball just once. The Giants will need to see the fourth-year QB replicate that effort after helping to keep the Giants in the game against Dallas.
While there had been plenty of attention on Jones after some rough years in the league, he’s made enough strides where things are starting to look up for him. Head coach Brian Daboll gave Jones his due credit for serving what had been a very long night at MetLife Stadium.
“I think he’s improved every game,” Daboll said during Tuesday’s virtual availability. “He’s really improved every practice, and he was a good leader out there. And he competed as hard as he could compete and gave us a chance.”
