There are numerous journalists and fans calling Sunday’s game against New England a must-win situation for the Bears.

It’s pretty early to say you have to win.

However, the “must win” situation likely came and went for the Bears with the loss to the Commanders. Last week’s loss was just another insult.

But yes, this is a must-win situation.

The Bears needed to finish their first nine games 7-2 or 6-3 to have a shot at making the playoffs considering the difficulty of their schedule going forward. They can’t do that now. It’s the toughest schedule left in the NFL based on opponent winning percentage (.548) according to Tankahon.com. Therefore, your efforts could prove futile.

On the other hand, just because the Bears didn’t reach 7-2 or 6-3 doesn’t mean the season is over, and it’s always possible they improve enough to defeat one or more of the NFC North powers they have . We will face each other in the coming weeks. It could happen in Chicago considering their best game at home.

What really makes this game a must-win situation is that it’s at home, they face the Green Bay Packers next week, and their record of 10 straight losses against the Cheeseheads haunts them. A two-game losing streak can now easily turn into a four-game losing streak if they don’t take care of their business this week. A four-game losing streak in the third year of a rebuild is a real problem for everyone on the coaching staff, if not the Bears front office.

Several people have speculated this week about Matt Eberflus’ employment status.

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THE BEARS LEAN ON A VERY RENEWED OFFENSIVE LINE AGAINST THE PATRIOTS

What can be said with certainty is that if they lose to this New England Patriots team at home, everyone will be looking at Eberflus with the utmost scrutiny going forward.

It’s the Bears (4-4) and the Patriots (2-7) in a noon game at Soldier Field on Sunday, here’s who wins and why.

Bears pass defense against Patriots

Caleb Williams at home is not the Caleb Williams that appeared on the road for the last two games. His home passer rating is 105.1 with a 67.3% completion rate. When he operates freely, as he did against the Rams, Panthers and even in a home game in London against the Jaguars, all the receivers are involved and no one runs off the field during plays. New England’s pass defense is shaky, although not the worst. They rank 23rd in passer rating against, 22nd in overall pass defense, but don’t put much pressure on passers. They are 17th in blitz percentage at 24.5% according to Stathead/Pro Football Rererence, but their return is that they rank 28th in pressuring QBs at 18.4% of pass attempts. When you talk about Yannick Ngakoue as the answer to your rushing problems, then you really have problems. Edge Bears

Bears Rushing vs. Patriots Run Defense

The Patriots invite teams to run on them, as they rank 26th in stopping the run and have allowed 159 yards per game on the ground over the last seven, and have allowed no fewer than 112 yards on the ground in any of those seven. games. . When D’Andre Swift and Roschon Johnson are allowed to get going, the Bears’ offense can click. The only exception was the game against Washington, when they rushed for 202 yards with the help of Williams and still lost. They can’t give up the run unless they are hopelessly out of it because the Patriots are allowing more than 6 yards per carry to the outside on both sides of the line of scrimmage. Additionally, losing safety Kyle Dugger to injury is a blow to the Patriots’ run defense, as well as their pass defense. Plays the run like a linebacker. Edge Bears

Bears pass defense vs. Patriots pass

Montez Sweat is back to rush the passer, Kyler Gordon is back to defend the slot and create havoc. The Bears have a top-3 pass defense in passer rating against and in terms of total yards allowed they are eighth. Drake Maye is the difference-maker for the Patriots, as they average just 165.6 yards without him and 196.7 with him, but their receiving corps is made up of inexperienced or underperforming receivers except for tight end Hunter Henry. Whoever the Patriots quarterback is, they’ve had six games out of nine in which they haven’t reached 149 passing yards. Edge Bears

Bears Run Defense vs. Patriots Rushing

Even with Andrew Billings healthy, the Bears struggled with consistency in the run defense this year. They have found that those gain-loss tackles provided by Justin Jones last year have been difficult to replace. Getting Sweat and Gordon back helps their run defense tremendously, but the key cog has always been Billings and he’s done for the year. The Patriots aren’t afraid to run and run some more, as they have the 12th most carries in the league despite being far behind. Rhamondre Stevenson averages just 3.8 yards but is getting tough yards, and Antonio Gibson is a tough runner but always a threat with a 4.3-second finish speed. The biggest running threat could be Maye at RPO or as a coder. Border Patriots

Special teams

Joey Slye is one of those modern kickers with big legs and his 12-for-15 performance for the Patriots this year included a 63-yard field goal. The climate is changing and you might find it a little more difficult in the future. Still, he has a reach advantage over Cairo Santos. Bryce Baringer has matched Bears punter Tory Taylor this season with 21 inside-20 punts and a 50.1-yard average. New England’s Marcus Jones is the big return threat with 15.6 yards per punt return that the Bears lack. Border Patriots

Training

As much as Matt Eberflus’ teams weaken on the road, they have built a nine-game winning streak at home and play a different style of game at Soldier Field. Key strategic mistakes like not using timeouts or not keeping tacklers in bounds haven’t happened at home. They even won the first game when they had no business winning it. Jerod Mayo was a curious pick for a team trying to get past Bill Belichick. His experience is with the Belichick regime. They should have gotten away from all that old-fashioned styling. No advantage

Intangibles

Home field should be a big help, but one almost wonders if it can work the other way around too, because their habit of starting so poorly on offense could lead to an early deficit again and Bears fans may boo their own team better than anyone, except maybe. Eagles and Jets fans. However, the marked difference in their passing game at home compared to the road is enough to make this a real advantage for the Bears. Edge Bears

Final score: Bears 27, Patriots 13

If any team ever needed a home game against an NFL punching bag, it’s the Bears right now. It would be easy to see them winning just one more game this season after this one, so Bears fans better enjoy it.

Twitter: BearsOnSI