The Indianapolis Colts may be greeted by a chillingly cool fall breeze off the shores of Lake Michigan when they visit Soldier Field on Sunday in a Week 4 battle against the Chicago Bears. With forecasts calling for a chance of rain and a temperature in the mid-50’s, this week’s test will certainly have the feel of football season officially arriving.
Aside from the chance of rain, the Colts do have a 100 percent confirmation of what Chicago Quarterback they will see this week; former Super Bowl Champion Nick Foles.
That’s after Foles earned the starting job from Head Coach Matt Nagy following a less-than-stellar performance by Mitch Trubisky against the Atlanta Falcons. The Super Bowl 52 MVP led the Bears in a comeback effort to beat the Falcons, and the Foles train is taking on plenty of passengers in the Windy City.
Before Sunday’s showdown, Pro Football Focus’ Sam Monson stopped by The Ride with JMV on Tuesday to preview the matchup and talk about what he has been impressed with the Colts thus far.
“The Bears are a 3-0 team that just upgraded at Quarterback which you don’t ever see at all,” Monson told JMV. “Foles gives them a different upside that they don’t have with Trubisky. He’s willing to put the ball in the air far more regularly and take more chances.”
Foles has been a “Jekyll and Hyde” Quarterback when not with the Philadelphia Eagles, however. The Bears acquired the 31-year-old following his short 2019 stint with the Jacksonville Jaguars where he went 0-4 with three touchdowns and two interceptions. Injuries have also been a problem over his career.
“The thing about this Chicago team is that the rest of the roster is in really good shape,” Monson said. “If they just got viable Quarterback play, they’re a team that can contend, get to the playoffs and maybe make some noise. But that was never going to happen if Trubisky wasn’t able to give them average Quarterback play, so they went to Foles knowing there’s a chance he won’t but a lot of the time he will.”
The injury bug will be a factor going into Sunday’s game for both clubs. In their win against Atlanta last week, the Bears lost speedy running back Tarik Cohen to a torn ACL. On the Colts side, Parris Campbell and Michael Pittman Jr. remain out. Elsewhere, Marlon Mack and Malik Hooker are out for the season.
A piece of good news for Indy is the return of Trey Burton continues to get closer. If they can get the former Bear into the lineup for the first time, he can cause havoc with an already impressive Tight End core featuring Jack Doyle and the emerging Mo Alie-Cox.
“I’ve been really impressed with how (Alie-Cox) has played so far,” Monson added. “He’s someone that has had impressive grades in limited sample sizes, so he’s going to get the opportunity because of those injuries to continue this run. He’s got the athleticism and he’s got the receiving skills.”
Philip Rivers has gladly welcomed Alie-Cox arriving on the scene in a big way, as he caught Rivers’ 400th career touchdown from the win over the Jets in Week 3.
If you told Indianapolis fans last year a Colts and Bears matchup would feature Rivers vs Foles in 2020, that may have come as a surprise. But Frank Reich’s team seems to be a confident group going into Week 4.
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