(670 The Score) The Bears' home opener is a nooner against an AFC North opponent, which feels fitting for reasons I can't totally describe. The Bengals arrive fresh off a fun overtime win against the Vikings, and the Bears arrive with a whole bunch of anxiety, just so much anxiety. It's a dark, confusing time to be a Bears fan, but there's good news on the way: It's going to be 82 degrees Sunday! And sunny! If you feel the urge to scream at any point, you can just open a window and do so into the warm, fresh air. And speaking of the urge to scream, here's what to watch for when the Bears play football this weekend.
Bears coach Matt Nagy vs. the Soldier Field crowd
You think this is a joke but I'm totally serious – serious enough to list it first, at least. I'm curious if Nagy fully realizes what kind of an afternoon he's probably in for. Soldier Field has been booing bad throws and bad plays and bad entire offensive systems for most of the Nagy era, but back then the alternative was Chase Daniel. Until last year, fans have never quite approved of who was playing quarterback, but they never disagreed. We could hear an entirely different octave of boos, a richer, more full-bodied boo. And even those will still be preferable to the "We want Justin" chants that will come next. Unless the Bears pull out their best impression of the 2018 win against the Buccaneers, it's going to be a mess. So it's going to be a mess.
Bears OLB Khalil Mack vs. Bengals OTs Reilly Reiff and Jonah Williams
Of all the Week 1 overreactions that have floated around Bears Twitter all week, I think the "Actually, Khalil Mack is bad" one is the most capital-t Twitter of them all. In a way, it makes sense: Mack's performances have typically been the one redeeming quality of watching the Bears in primetime, and everyone assumed that not getting those consistently was really more of a 2023, 2024 problem?? Being credited with just half a tackle in the opener is a tough look for Mack, even if the Rams were plenty happy to play the entire game on whatever side of the field he wasn't on. Mack will have his work cut out for him against Reiff and Williams, both of whom played well – especially in pass-blocking – in Cincinnati's win against Minnesota last week. Neither allowed a sack, quarterback hit or even as much as a pressure, according to Pro Football Focus. As a whole, the Bengals finished with the sixth-best pass blocking rate of Week 1. The Bears secondary is, you know, a work in progress right now – getting any semblance of pressure on Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow is going to go such a long way.
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Bengals CB Eli Apple vs. whichever Bears receiver is running farther than 10 yards
We're just going to assume the latter is going to happen this week. Fingers crossed! The Bengals secondary is a weakness. Their best cornerback, Trea Waynes, is out with a hamstring injury, and their other three corners – Eli Apple, Chidobe Awuzie and Mike Hilton – all had pretty bad games against the Vikings. Apple's day was especially rough, as he allowed seven receptions on seven targets for 70 yards and a touchdown. He was PFF's lowest-graded Bengals defensive player, and his overall grade (44.3) was the sixth-worst of all cornerbacks who played last week. You may say that's just one game, which is true. There are also all the other bad games he has played prior to this one, but it's true. Whoever's running 9's all game is going to have some space to work with, and the Bears hitting on a couple of those would probably go a long way towards fixing key matchup No. 1.
Cam Ellis is a writer for 670 The Score and Audacy Sports. Follow him on Twitter @KingsleyEllis.
