Chicago Bears – 30, Philadelphia Eagles – 24
All the good feelings generated between the Eagles and their fans in recent weeks went right out the door when
Jay Cutler (208 yards, 2 TDs) led the Chicago Bears to 10 unanswered points in the fourth quarter rip one away on the road in a duel against
Michael Vick (247 total yards, 0 TDs, 1 INT). Vick was mostly unspectacular and uninspiring, and even overthrew a pass to a wide open Jeremy Maclin on 4
thand 10 in the game’s waning minutes, making Maclin leap high to make the catch, causing him to lose his balance and fall about a yard short of the first down marker. Cutler on the other hand made a lot of timely throws and kept the Bears solidly in the playoff hunt with a mistake-free game.
Can you tell Cutler has missed
Earl Bennett (5-95, 1 TD) this season? Bennett made a huge splash in his first game action of the year, leading the Bears in receiving and rendering all the other Bears receivers moot. The Eagles vaunted secondary had no answers for Bennett, who looked fresh and strong, which sometimes is all you need at this point of the season to make a fantasy impact.
Make that three straight games of
Brent Celek (7-60) making a fantasy splash, as Vick has apparently liked being able to throw to the middle of the field to a receiving TE. It only took the better part of two seasons for him to make that discovery, but better late than never for fortunate Celek owners. The duo of
Jeremy Maclin (4-63) and
Desean Jackson (2-16) were unimpressive, but Maclin was once again the leader in catches and yards between the two, which has become the trend lately.
Matt Forte (24 car., 133 yards; 3 rec., 17 yards) continues to make 150 total yards look easy and routine, as fantasy owners have become spoiled by his constant production against any opponent. Unfortunately,
Marion Barber (9 car., 31 yards, 1 TD; 1 rec., 8 yards) continues to vulture the goal line looks and scored yet another touchdown at Forte’s expense. Scoring plays are the only things that will keep Forte from being the #1 fantasy back this year.
While
Lesean McCoy’s (16 car., 71 yards, 1 TD; 5 rec., 46 yards) yardage totals were lower than normal, he did score yet again, running his scoring streak up to 8 games, as he’s gone half the season with getting at least one TD per game. McCoy is basically like Brian Westbrook, only if Westbrook was actually a prolific touchdown scorer. McCoy has a real shot at being the top fantasy back this year, especially in PPR leagues.
Follow @FFChamps on Twitter
The views and content in this article are not necessarily the opinion of Fantasy Football Champs, www.FFChamps.com, and its in-house experts.