Today at 1:00 p.m. ET the struggling Chicago Bears (3-4) will have to shove aside their internal turmoil and take on the New England Patriots (5-2) in Foxborough Stadium on Fox. Live stream the inter-conference clash by clicking this link; Bears fans can listen to the game on WGN 720, while Patriots fans can hear the radio broadcast on 98.5 The Sports Hub.
While Chicago's in-house problems have become public, the Patriots are dealing with adversity of their own in the form of injury. Linebacker Jerod Mayo is out for the season with a knee injury, and star defensive end Chandler Jones is expected to miss a month with a bad hip. To compensate, the Pats traded for Titans reserve Akeem Ayers, while Bill Belichick is employing a "next man up" mentality.
"You do the best you can with whatever the situation is," Belichick said. "That's the way it always is, every day. ... You hate to see it happen. You hate to be without any player, but every week there's something you have to deal with."
They must learn to deal with it quickly. After surrendering more than 200 yards on the ground to the Jets Thursday night, Matt Forte will be lining up against them today.
"He does an excellent job of burst and explosion through the line of scrimmage," Patriots defensive coordinator Matt Patricia said of Forte. "He has incredibly quick feet and some good quickness to get to the edge. ... They've also extended him out a little bit and put him in different positions where they can now feature him and give him the ball out in space."
Forte is averaging 126 yards from scrimmage, and nearly nine targets in the passing game.
Bears Injury Report
Patriots Injury Report
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