There's no sugarcoating it: The Bears aren't heading to New Orleans high on a wave of confidence or good fortune.
That shows in the odds, with the 4-4 Saints going off as 7.5-point favorites against the 2-6 Bears. But as Deuce McAllister explained on WWL this week, how the Saints handle expectations could be a major factor.
Listen to Deuce's full breakdown in the player above. Can't see the embed? Click here.
"You cannot take your opponent for granted," McAllister said when breaking down the keys to a Saints win.
That means keeping the nose to the ground in scouting UDFA Tyson Bagent, who will making his third NFL start, as you would've for Justin Fields. The same level of attention to detail against a 2-6 team as you would against a 6-2 team.
If the Saints can do that, they'll almost certainly get back on the right side of .500 and continue a wave of momentum.
"The goal for a head coach is to be, or coaches, is to be harder this week than you were the previous week, because of the human nature factor of, man, they’re not very good," McAllister continued. "There’s probably a worse word than that. And so knowing all of this, you still have some prideful guys on that team. You still have some guys that get paid and are in the NFL for a reason.”
Another major element is the Saints' ability to flummox another rookie QB, after failing to do that earlier in the season in a loss to the Texans and CJ Stroud. The Saints should be changing up looks, forcing the QB to show he has the answers.
"You've got to treat him like a rookie," McAllister said. "He’s a rookie ... and at this point right now, he doesn’t know what he doesn’t know,"
