Second-year quarterback Justin Fields has set the league on fire with his dual-threat abilities amid the Chicago Bears’ skid to their current 3-11 record. In one of the most highly anticipated matchups of his young career, Fields will compete against the Buffalo Bills, one of the NFL’s top teams, for the first time in his career.
Buffalo is led by two stars on offense, quarterback Josh Allen and receiver Stefon Diggs, who are among the league’s most dangerous tandems in the passing game. On defense, the Bills’ roster is constructed to give even the most established offenses fits with their stingy secondary and tenacious linebacker play.
The Bears haven’t fared well in matchups against other AFC East teams this season, going 0-2 in their games against the Miami Dolphins and New York Jets in November. They managed to keep their loss to Miami to a three-point margin but got stomped by New York, losing by 21 points.
To get a win over the juggernaut Bills, Fields will need to have a career day against their top-flight defense. Chicago’s defenders, too, will have their hands full in their effort to keep Buffalo from running up the score. The Bears will not have their usual home-field advantage playing in “Bear Weather” at Soldier Field against a Bills team that is used to playing in the bitter cold.
This game could make or break the Bills’ chances of securing the AFC’s top seed in January’s playoffs, so Fields and the Bears are sure to be up against one of Buffalo’s best gameplans of the season. Chicago, on the other hand, is in line to receive the second-overall pick in the 2023 draft as the second-worst team in the NFL by record and will be considered heavy underdogs in the matchup despite their scrappy play that has kept their margin of loss relatively low over the course of the year.
