After a crushing defeat on Monday Night Football by the Houston Texans, the Jacksonville Jaguars head north to face the Chicago Bears in week 14. Since the Jags are sitting at a 4 -8 record, this game is nothing more than part of the evaluation process for Jack Del Rio and the coaching staff. There will have to be changes made next year so look for Jack to give a lot of players a chance to show what they are made of. Conversely the Chicago Bears are still battling for the NFC North title, trailing the Minnesota Vikings by only 1 game. The Bears have everything to play for and the Jaguars have nothing to play for. So what could be the deciding factor in this game?
The Weather
The temperature is supposed to hover around 16 degrees through most of the game but when you factor in the wind chill it will feel more like 6 degrees. Through in a slight chance for snow and you have yourself some classic Chicago football weather. Fortunately for the Jaguars, they play very well in winter weather for a southern team. Anyone who has any doubts about this should remember the 2 victories over Pittsburgh late in the year last year. Fred Taylor is particulary excpetional in the cold weather and should have a good game. The Bears are used to this kind of weather so it shouldn’t affect their play dramatically. Matt Forte should see lots of carries against a Jags defense that struggled to control Steve Slaton last week. The pressure is on the Bears to win after losing last week to the Vikings so this could play into the Jaguars hands.
Injury Report
Jaguars:
Greg Jones – FB – Questionable
Greg Estandia – TE – Probable
Tony McDaniel – DT – Probably
Bears:
Dusty Dvoracek – DT – Out
Jason McKie – RB – Doubtful
Anthony Adams – DT – Questionable
Adewale Ogunleye – DE – Questionable
Hunter Hillenmeyer – LB – Probable
Prediction
The Bears will do what every team has done this year: make the Jaguars throw the ball. While I do not blame Garrard for the Jaguars losing season, I do not think our passing attack is potent enough to beat the Bears. The Bears will control the clock with their running game and keep Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew from causing any major damage. Bears 24 – Jaguars 10
Topics: David Garrard, Fred Taylor, Greg Estandia, Greg Jones, Jack Del Rio, Maurice Jones-drew, Tony McDaniel
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