But the last impression he left wasn’t a good one: He threw four interceptions in a playoff loss to the Chiefs. The OVER is 5-0 in the last five games between Dallas and Chicago. Barkley is expected to back-up Brian Hoyer when the Bears take the field in the Lone Star State, and that likely means that Cutler will miss this week’s game with a sprained right thumb. Last week, if you had to play him, he only got you six points, but at least it was a touchdown run.
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Chicago will also be missing Danny Trevathan, in his first season with the Bears from the Broncos.
The injury to Cutler shouldn’t be a surprise since he hasn’t played 16 games in a season since 2009.
How does a pitch-and-catch offense centered around Brian Hoyer and Royal sound? Grossman found his tight ends Desmond Clark and Greg Olsen for gains of 52 and 21 yards to set up Chicago at the Dallas 1-yard line.
After running the football 46 percent of the time past year, even with a 6-10 record, the Bears are running on just 37 percent of their plays in 2016 in spite of presumed upgrades at left guard (Sitton), right tackle (Bobby Massie), right guard (moving Kyle Long back to his preferred spot) and center (rookie Cody Whitehair, a No. 2 pick).
Filling in for Cutler in the 4th quarter against the Eagles on Monday Hoyer completed 9-of-12 passes for 78 yards.
PLAYER SPOTLIGHT: Bears DE Akiem Hicks – At 330 pounds, he’s going to have to be the rock on the Bears defensive front with numerous other stout run stoppers injured, like Danny Trevathan, Lamarr Houston and Eddie Goldman. If Chicago can figure out the quarterback situation, step it up on defense, and stop turning the ball over they could be a great team. The first key is going to be, tracking Alshon. Oddly enough it would be the second time in as many years that the team would start a backup in the third game after an injury in the second. Houston led the Bears with eight sacks in 2015.
The Bears lost to a rookie quarterback in Carson Wentz of the Eagles last week and face another one this week. With cornerbacks Jacoby Glenn and Tracy Porter, the Cowboys WRs will have a tough task ahead of themselves. The defense has fared better, limiting passers to an average of under 200 yards per game, but has been busy spending over 36 minutes on the field in each of its past two outings. Chicago is scoring just 14 points per game, while the defense is allowing opponents to score 26.
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Jimmy Clausen filled in for the injured Cutler past year in Seattle and the Bears lost to the Seahawks 26-0. Yes, the Vikings, Patriots and Cowboys boast better rosters than the Bears, but they also avoided major dropoffs, in large part, due to coaching.
