Detroit Lions (0-3) at Chicago Bears (1-2)

The big question for the Bears this week is who is going to start at quarterback. Veteran Andy Dalton began the season as the starter, much to the chagrin of fans who wanted to see rookie first round pick Justin Fields get a shot from the start of the season, and even when Dalton struggled through two games and then injured his knee, Dalton remained the starter on the depth chart, with Fields only coming into the lineup as an injury replacement. 

Fields had a shot to flip the depth chart with a good performance in Dalton’s absence, but Fields struggled mightily last week in an embarrassing loss to the Browns. With Dalton at less than 100%, Fields’ performance last week prompted the Bears to make this a three quarterback battle, with veteran third stringer Nick Foles a possibility to start over Fields if Dalton can’t play. The Bears are calling their quarterback decision a gametime call, likely suggesting they are holding out hope Dalton can play through his injury, and there isn’t anything close to definitive on who the Bears are going to use this week.

Ultimately, who starts at quarterback might not matter that much because none of them are good enough to elevate a team with serious issues beyond the quarterback position, especially on the offensive line. Fortunately, the Bears do get a much easier matchup this week with the Lions, one of the worst teams in the league, coming to town and, on top of that, the Bears’ defense should at least be in somewhat better shape with nose tackle Eddie Goldman and possibly middle linebacker Danny Trevathan set to make their season debuts after missing the start of the year with injury.

The Bears are 1.5 points better than the Lions in my roster rankings, suggesting they should be favored by more than the field goal they are favored by, but these are the 4th worst and 5th worst teams in my roster rankings and it’s hard to get excited to bet on a team as mediocre as the Bears, especially given their uncertain quarterback situation. I’m still taking the Bears for pick ‘em purposes, but this is a low confidence pick and I might drop it to no confidence depending on what they do with their quarterback situation. The worst thing they could do in my opinion would be to try to play Dalton at less than 100%, as he is not an upgrade enough over Fields or Foles to justify playing him at less than full strength.

Chicago Bears 24 Detroit Lions 20

Pick against the spread: Chicago -3

Confidence: Low