Chicago Bears, NFC North, NFC South, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Week Five’s Thursday Night Game TB12 v Foles The Rematch

Week Five’s Thursday Night Game TB12 v Foles The Rematch

Thursday Night Football Tampa Bay @ Chicago

Finally, a Thursday night matchup to savour. Why you may ask – well its only a QB rematch of Super Bowl LII!  Ok, both QBs call new teams home and in Foles case, he has flitted about a bit, but both are coming into the game with something to prove and in Brady’s case hitting top form.

Image: Jeff Bukowski/Shutterstock.com

Brady looked back to his old self last week, lighting up the Chargers Defense and scoring 5 TDs in the process, while his opponent and so far nemesis Nick Foles has claimed the starter’s job in Chicago because Tubisky’s form fell off a very large cliff! So we have QBs looking to impress, teams with winning records, but stats can sometimes disguise the trend.

Who is on Form

Foles actually played ok in his first start for the Bears in last weeks defense dominated affair and got little in the way of help from the running game and he will be hoping that Montgomery can muster a bit more than 2.7 yards per carry! He is only playing his third game in a Bears uniform and is 1-1 so far.

Brady, on the other hand, lit up a pretty good Chargers defense, helped by a solid performance from his main running back Ronald Jones II and showed he still has that poise under pressure which you cant teach leading the Buccs back from a 17 point deficit. After a less than stellar showing in the opening loss to The Saints, he has steadily improved and now seems to have clicked with his teammates.

Tale of the Tape

Stats wise both are 3-1 after the Bears lost last week in a rather dull affair against the Colts, and all but the most blinkered of Chicago fans will acknowledge that they are probably not as good as their record suggests.  The Buccs, by comparison, are top of the NFC South thanks to a three-game winning streak in which TB12 has improved steadily every game. They also have a pretty good run defense so the Bears will probably have to beat them through the air if they are going to win.

Why its a Grudge Match 

Back in 2018 Foles led the Eagles to a 41-33 victory over the Patriots handing Brady a rare Superbowl loss and at that time depriving his other hand of a ring (he had five at that stage). Now with Six, he will be hoping to cement his legacy with a seventh with Tampa, and a win here would not only put them in prime position for a playoff place, even at this early stage. Not only that but also level their head to head record.

Who Wins?

We expect the Buccs to win this one quite handily and level the head to head.

 

 

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