CHICAGO – After back-to-back losses dropped them to 4-4 on the season, the Bears are in desperate need of a rebound win or two.

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The Bears’ struggles on the road under head coach Matt Eberflus have been well documented, but they have been very good at home. And they now have three straight games at Soldier Field, starting at noon on Sunday against the 2-7 New England Patriots.

The Bears have won eight in a row at Soldier Field since last season, and the home game is nine in a row if you include their Week 6 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars in London, which was a Bears home game.

That is also the last game the Bears won. That put them at 4-2 entering the bye week, but they came away with a brutal last-second Hail Mary loss to the Commanders in Washington and then were defeated by the Cardinals last Sunday in Arizona.

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Chicago will try to right the ship on Sunday against a struggling New England team that looks nothing like the Patriots’ Super Bowl champion Tom Brady and Bill Belichick.

WGN Radio’s Kevin Powell joined the WGN Weekend Morning News on Sunday to talk about the Bears and their matchup against the Patriots. Powell says the Bears desperately need a win to get back on track in what has been a rollercoaster 2024 season so far. Watch the video attached to this story to see this.

Here’s what else you need to know before Sunday’s game:

New England (2-7) and Chicago (4-4)

Sunday, 12:00 noon, FOX

Injuries and inactives

UPDATE: The Bears have announced their inactive players for Sunday’s game.

They are DB Jaquan Brisker, LB Noah Sewell, OL Darnell Wright, OL Braxton Jones, DB Ameer Speed, DL Darrell Taylor, OL Nate Davis and OL Kiran Amegadjie.

The Bears announced earlier Sunday morning that Davis had been added to the injury report with a back injury and was out against the Patriots.

Davis was not listed on Friday’s injury report.

That report already listed as out for Sunday’s game Brisker (concussion), Amegadjie (calf), Jones (knee) and Wright (knee).

However, the Bears received some good injury news this week. Full participants on Friday included DB Kyler Gordon, OL Teven Jenkins and DL Montez Sweat.

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Gordon missed the last two games due to a hamstring injury, while Sweat was ruled out just before last week’s game due to a calf injury, a big reason why the Bears couldn’t stop the Cardinals’ rushing attack.

The Patriots also announced their inactives for Sunday’s game.

They are WR Tyquan Thornton, QB Joe Milton III, S Kyle Dugger, LB Christian Elliss, OL Tyrese Robinson, DT Eric Johnson and DE Yannick Ngakoue.

By the numbers

BetMGM NFL Odds: Bears with 6 1/2 (subject to change).

Against the spread: Patriots 3-5-1; Bears 4-3-1

Series record: Patriots lead 10-5.

Last meeting: Bears defeated Patriots 33-14 in Foxborough, Massachusetts, on October 24, 2022.

Last week: Patriots lost 20-17 in overtime at Tennessee; Bears lost 29-9 at Arizona.

Patriots Offense: overall (32), rush (24), pass (32), score (30).

Patriots defense: overall (25-T), rush (26), pass (22), score (21).

Bears foul: overall (28), rush (23), pass (29), score (19).

Bear Defense: overall (12), rush (20), pass (8), score (5-T).

Turnover difference: Patriots minus-3; Bears plus-7.

Patriots player to watch

QB Drake Maye. The No. 3 overall pick in this year’s draft stunned and showed he’s still a work in progress last week. Maye threw for 206 yards and a dazzling touchdown at the end of regulation, eluding defenders for nearly 12 seconds before finding Rhamondre Stevenson in the end zone when he was hit to force overtime. The former North Carolina star ran for 95 yards. But he also threw two interceptions, including one in OT.

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Bears player to watch

QB Caleb Williams. The No. 1 overall draft pick has cooled off after a hot streak, posting a 65.4 passer rating and a 49.2% completion percentage (32 of 65) over the past two games. In the four games before that, he threw for nine touchdowns and three interceptions.

Key match

Williams vs. Maye. Williams will face another top quarterback from this year’s draft class for the second time in three games after Jayden Daniels led Washington to a victory on a Hail Mary pass two weeks ago. While Daniels, the No. 2 overall pick, is leading a resurgence in Washington, the transition to the NFL hasn’t been as smooth for Williams and Maye.

Other injuries

Patriots S Marte Mapu (neck) and DT Jaquelin Roy (neck) were hurt against Tennessee. … Bears DT Andrew Billings was scheduled to undergo surgery this week for a torn pectoral muscle. He left in the second half of last weekend’s match.

Series notes

The Bears had lost five straight and eight of nine to the Patriots since their Super Bowl XX victory prior to the Week 7 win two years ago. Justin Fields threw for a touchdown and ran for a score, helping Chicago stop a three-game losing streak. The Bears then lost their final 10 games and finished a league-worst 3–14 in their first season under general manager Ryan Poles and Eberflus, trading DE Robert Quinn two days after that win and LB Roquan Smith the following week.

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Statistics and all that

New England is tied with six teams for the NFL’s worst record at 2-7. … Maye’s 95 yards rushing last week was the third-most for a QB in team history, but outside of their quarterback, the Patriots totaled 15 yards on 12 carries. … CB Marcus Jones has impressed on special teams, returning a punt 44 yards last week after returning one 62 yards in the previous game against the New York Jets. … Chicago’s wins are against teams with a combined record of 10-24: Tennessee (2-6), the Los Angeles Rams (4-4), Carolina (2-7) and Jacksonville (2-7). … Chicago ranks fourth in the NFL with 15 points. … The Bears gave up 213 yards last week, the most they’ve allowed since Detroit ran for 265 yards on Jan. 1, 2023. … Rookie WR Rome Odunze caught five passes for 104 yards – his second 100-yard game. The No. 9 pick had 112 yards in a Week 3 loss at Indianapolis. … TE Cole Kmet wasn’t targeted last week and had just one pass thrown his way — a 14-yard reception — in the previous game at Washington. The veteran has 303 yards and three touchdowns. … K Cairo Santos ranks third in the NFL with six field goals of 50 yards or more. … Rookie Tory Taylor has a gross punt average of 49.1 yards – the highest single-season mark in franchise history.

Fantasy tip

Williams should expect a bounce-back performance against a shaky defense. The 2022 Heisman Trophy winner is 3-0 with three touchdowns, zero interceptions and a 95.4 QB rating at Soldier Field. Williams threw for 304 yards and two scores against Carolina in Week 5 – the Bears’ most recent game in Chicago.

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