This should be a fascinating football game on Sunday afternoon. The Bears are changing QBs after a slow start on offense but most eyes will be on a defense decimated by injury. The Lions will look to rebound at home after getting blitzed 56-21 in Philadelphia last week.

The Bears would like to get back to the offense that worked so well for them last season. That means running the football against a Lions defense that is allowing 129.3 yards rushing and 4.3 yards per carry. The Bears must protect the football and control the clock because the defense is really banged up and the Lions do have an explosive offense. Cedric Benson has not played well this season as he has carried the football 59 times for 189 yards (3.2 ypc) with 1 TD run and 2 lost fumbles. If Benson continues to struggle this week the Bears probably won’t hesitate replacing him with Adrian Peterson (15 car, 64 yards). If the offensive line gives Brian Griese enough time to throw the ball he will exploit the Lions defense with short, crisp passes. Look for Griese to get Mushin Muhammad (4 rec, 36 yards) and the TEs Greg Olson (2 rec, 28 yards) and Desmond Clark (9 rec, 125 yards) more involved in the passing game. They won’t forget their best receiver this season, Bernard Berrian (16 rec, 221 yards) who is better on the deep patterns when he can run by defenders because he doesn’t like contact. The Lions do allow 278.7 yards passing per game but the Bears don’t want to engage in a shootout.

The Lions are all about passing the football, so the Bears must get a good pass rush to protect their secondary. If Jon Kitna has time to throw the ball the Bears could be in some trouble. The Bears secondary as it stands now does not match up at all with the receiving corps of the Lions. Roy Williams (335 yards), Shaun McDonald (237 yards), Mike Furrey (155 yards) and rookie Calvin Johnson (189 yards) will make the Bears pass dearly if they can’t get to Kitna. Kitna was sacked 9 times last week by the Eagles so look for the Bears to send Brian Urlacher often on the blitz and they hope DE Mark Anderson can get in the backfield causing Kitna to make some mistakes. The Bears have a solid run defense as they allow only 92.7 yards rushing per game and 3.3 yards per carry. But the Lions only run the ball when they are trying to trick the defense.

PREDICTION: Look for this to be a close game that could go either way. I will side with the Bears by a field goal in this game because Brian Griese will protect the football.

The Chicago Bears’ defense has been decimated by a series of injuries after the brutal game last Sunday Night against the Cowboys. Lance Briggs was the least injured of the bunch as he left the game with a groin injury. He plans to play this week against the Lions which is good because he’s not a replaceable player on the Bears’ defense. Briggs already has 22 tackles, a sack and a fumble recovery so far this season. The news is not so good for DT Tommie Harris who has a sprained knee and will likely miss at least 1 month. Harris has 8 tackles and 2 sacks this season but his most important role was taking up blockers and keeping the linebackers clean to make plays. The Bears also lost both of their starting cornerbacks and that will really hurt the team especially with the high flying offense of the Lions on deck this Sunday. Charles Tillman will miss at least the next two games with a sprained right ankle. Tillman was one of the leading tacklers on the Bears with 18, so losing him is going to leave a mark. The Bears will start 7th round pick Trumaine McBride is his spot which the Lions will no doubt attack early and often! The other starting corner, Nathan Vasher, will miss at least a month with a partially torn groin. Vasher had 5 tackles and a sack in the first three games of the season for the Bears. Vasher will be replaced in the starting lineup by Ricky Manning Jr. who is a decent football player who has 5 tackles so far this season.

The Bears appear to be in big trouble on defense, especially in the secondary so they will need help from the offense if they are to get back on the winning track.

The Chicago Bears have finally seen enough from Rex Grossman and they have demoted him to 2nd string! Grossman has completed 47 of 89 passes (52.8%) for 500 yards with 1 TD pass and 6 interceptions (45.2 QB Rating) so far this season. Grossman also has carried the ball 4 times for 9 yards (2.3 ypc) and he also has been sacked an amazing 9 times this season. Grossman has now played in 27 games (26 starts) in his NFL career and he has completed 414 of 764 passes (54.2%) for 4,996 yards with 28 TD passes and 32 INTs (69.3 QB Rating). He also has carried the football 42 times for 58 yards (1.4 ypc) with 1 TD run. Finally, the Bears have seen the light as Grossman just is not a capable starting NFL QB.

Enter veteran Brian Griese. Griese has been a really solid QB in his NFL career and he does something that Grossman has never done in his career….and that’s protect the football. Griese has played in 81 games (72 starts) in his NFL career and he has completed 1,481 of 2,350 passes (63%) for 16,564 yards with 104 TD passes and 80 INTs (84.5 QB Rating). He also has carried the football 220 times for 555 yards (2.5 ypc) with 5 TD runs. After watching Griese play his first couple of games this season fans will wonder what could have been last season if he was starting instead of Grossman. Look for the Bears offense to improve big time.

The Bears played a decent first half last night on defense as the game was tied 3-3 at the half. In the 2nd half the Cowboys dominated on both sides of the football as the “Bad” version of Rex Grossman showed up. Grossman completed 15 of 32 passes for 195 yards with 0 TD passes and 3 interceptions (one of which was returned 51 yards for a TD by Anthony Henry)! RB Cedric Benson had a night to forget as he carried the ball 16 times for 46 yards (2.9 ypc) with 1 TD run and 1 fumble lost. Adrian Peterson also found yards hard to come by on the ground as he ran the ball 6 times for 17 yards (2.8 ypc). WR Bernard Berrian had a rough game with drops as his hands looked a lot like bricks last night. He still caught 6 passes for 73 yards (12.2 avg) to lead the team in receptions and yards. The Bears finished up with 75 yards rushing on 23 carries (3.3 ypc) and they completed 15 of 33 passes for 164 yards.

Reserve linebacker Jamar Williams replaced an injured Lance Briggs and he led the team in tackles with 10. Adam Archuleta had 7 tackles and an interception but he also got torched a few times in the passing game. Linebacker Brian Urlacher also had a solid game with 5 tackles and 2 sacks. The Cowboys finished up with 131 yards rushing on 25 carries (5.2 ypc) and they also completed 22 of 35 passes for 300 yards.

Something has to give in this ballgame on Sunday Night. The Bears are only allowing 12.0 points per game and the Cowboys are averaging 41.0 points per game this season. It will be interesting to see how this football game plays out. The Bears will likely try to keep the ball on the ground to control the clock. To do that though, Cedric Benson (143 yards rushing, 3.3 ypc) and Adrian Peterson (47 yards rushing, 5.2 ypc) must hold onto the football. The Cowboys do give up 293.5 yards passing per game so the Bears will likely try to get the ball down the field to Bernard Berrian (10 rec, 148 yards) and over the middle to TEs Greg Olsen and Desmond Clark. Rex Grossman must be careful with the ball because the Cowboys already have five interceptions this season.

When the Cowboys have the football will be the funnest thing to watch in this game. They will try to run the football against the Bears defense that is only allowing 73.5 yards rushing per game and 2.5 yards per carry. So look for some high impact collisions between RBs Marion Barber (154 yards rushing, 3 TDs) and Julius Jones (98 yards rushing) and DT Tommie Harris and LBs Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs. The Bears will blitz often to try to get to Tony Romo before he gets the ball off, but the Cowboys have only allowed 2 sacks this season. TE Jason Witten (8 rec, 143 yards, TD) will likely challenge the Bears safeties often and that is a weakness of the Bears defense. WR Terrell Owens (8 rec, 184 yards, 3 TDs) will put big time pressure on the corners of the Bears to make plays.

PREDICTION: The Cowboys will score early in this game and Rex Grossman will make a few big mistakes that will turn the game in the Cowboys favor. Because of that the Cowboys will win this game by about a TD.