When a team hasn’t quite found its footing yet during a season, having some good luck can never be a bad thing. The Chicago Bears and head coach Ben Johnson didn’t get much of it through the first two weeks. They were beset by several injuries before the season even began, and those absences were felt in the losses to Minnesota and Detroit. However, things seemed to tilt in their direction towards the end of September. Dallas lost star wide receiver CeeDee Lamb early in their game against the Bears. The next week, Las Vegas saw injuries hamper Kolton Miller and Brock Bowers, two of their best players.
It gets crazier. Washington won’t have Terry McLaurin on Monday night. Cincinnati lost Joe Burrow for three months to turf toe. The New York Giants lost Malik Nabers to a torn ACL. Now another prominent opponent on the schedule suffered a brutal setback. The San Francisco 49ers crushed the Bears last season when the two teams met. They may have a harder time in the rematch this December. Having already lost star pass rusher Nick Bosa for the season, they watched the same happen to linebacker Fred Warner, who broke his ankle on Sunday.
Ben Johnson can and should take advantage of this.
Losing Bosa was bad enough. He was the engine of the entire 49ers defensive front. Warner is even worse. He is the heart and soul of their team, not just the defense. Not having him around will make life incredibly difficult for them moving forward. San Francisco still has a great coaching staff. They can mitigate some of the damage, but even they have limits. Ben Johnson is familiar with that team. His Lions put up 31 points on that defense with Bosa and Ward healthy. No doubt he will be eager to enact some revenge now that they’re ailing.
This is before you remember this matchup could have enormous implications for the NFC wild card race. Beating the 49ers could catapult the Bears into the postseason, presuming they’re still alive at that point. One cannot understate the magnitude of this injury. It can be season-altering.
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