I was incredibly excited for my Bears (1-1) to host the Philadelphia Eagles (2-0) on Monday Night Football in Week 3 and quite amped up about this season overall regarding Chicago. But that was all built around rising superstar quarterback Caleb Williams. Alas, the former No. 1 overall pick and Heisman Trophy winner is out injured for a while and the hosts likely are down to third-stringer Case Keenum tonight for the typical 8:15 ET kick on ESPN and ABC.
In Sunday's ugly 9-3 loss to Minnesota in the Bears' home opener, Williams went down in the fourth quarter scrambling toward the end zone, and frankly it looked like a torn Achilles' tendon right away as Williams wasn't touched. It resembled one of those NBA Achilles tears you often see without contact. But thankfully, that is not the case, as it was a hamstring and Williams could be back as early as Week 5 -- although that sounds a bit optimistic. Chicago is 9-2 SU and 8-2-1 ATS in non-divisional home games under Williams all-time and 4-0 in non-divisional prime-time games. So, yeah, this is a bummer.
Backup Tyson Bagent is decent but was placed in concussion protocol Tuesday -- although he's out of it now. The extra day ahead of Week 3 certainly helps Bagent's chances but if it's Keenum, and sounds like it will be, he would be the fifth QB in NFL history to start for at least seven teams, along with Ryan Fitzpatrick, Brian Hoyer, Gus Frerotte and Chris Chandler.
The Eagles were a bit fortunate to win Week 2 in Nashville to stay unbeaten, but that shouldn't surprise anyone. Why? Tonight, Nick Sirianni looks to improve to 16-4 in September as a head coach, which would be the second-best September winning percentage by a head coach in NFL history (minimum 15 games). George Allen holds the mark of .867 (26-4-0).
Philadelphia has become the first team in league annals to start 2-0 in back-to-back seasons with all four wins coming by fewer than five points. Philly's two main injury issues Monday are with tight end Dallas Goedert and pass-rusher Jonathan Greenard.
We'll take you through every aspect of the Eagles vs. Bears game that you need to know before you lock in your bets, including SportsLine expert picks, props, trends, DFS, injury information and everything else that will help you know which plays are worth making for the prime-time matchup.
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