Start or Sit'em in Fantasy Football: Bears vs. Patriots |
After Thursday Night Football with the Denver Broncos and Indianapolis Colts, all NFL fans thought it couldn’t get worse. Then, the Bears played the Washington Commanders. I think that was worse. It didn’t help the fantasy stats either, particularly for Chicago Bears’ players. But, they can possibly make a big turnaround against the Patriots this coming Monday (8:15 p.m./ESPN).
David Montgomery - Start While Montgomery had his second-highest number of attempts of the season with 15, he only rushed for 67 yards. He did, however, have a reception for 13 yards. The game against the Commanders has been a down game for the Bears overall, so it doesn’t reflect as much on Montgomery as it does on the offense as a whole. David Montgomery is still a running back worthy of starting. Darnell Mooney - Start in some leagues Darnell Mooney was targeted 12 times on Thursday, had seven receptions, and 68 receiving yards. While he is still looking for his first touchdown of the season, this was one of his best games of the season so far. The Chicago Bears are still last in passing yards per game with 122.8 (the New York Giants are second-to-last in passing yards per game with 154.3), but there has been some noticeable improvement in the passing game. Quarterback Justin Fields had 190 passing yards against the Commanders and 208 against the Vikings. With improvement from the passing game, this also means that Mooney’s stock increases. Given that Cooper Kupp and Stefon Diggs are both on bye this week, Mooney is a very appealing person to start in most fantasy formats. Cole Kmet - Sit After three weeks of multiple receptions, Kmet only had one reception for 15 yards against Washington. Mooney had a solid performance and Dante Pettis emerged as a reliable receiver with four receptions for 84 yards, including his 40-yard touchdown reception. Given that Justin Fields has actually found two receivers to throw to, as well as Kmet’s lack of production overall this season, he is not somewhere worthy of starting even given the dismal performance by tight ends so far this season. Justin Fields - Start in some leagues Congratulations to Fields, he finally had greater than 20 fantasy points in a game (in formats that give six points for touchdowns). While he did throw an interception, he did throw a 40-yard touchdown pass to Dante Pettis, as well as 12 rushes for 88 yards. His rushing yards are what give him fantasy stock. It is actually part of what is responsible for him being ranked No. 43 overall according to Yahoo! fantasy rankings. Furthermore, Bills’ quarterback Josh Allen and Rams’ quarterback Matthew Stafford are both on bye this week. Fields is a good fantasy option in some leagues, perhaps 10-team leagues. He might still be too much of a risk in 8-team leagues. Still, given the star quarterbacks that are on bye and his own statistics recently, he is definitely worthy of being considered to start. Chicago Bears Defense - Start The statistics don’t provide the whole story in regards to the Patriots’ offense. They have a good turnover ratio on paper, but that is in part because of the fact that the Patriots’ defense has generated 12 turnovers. Their offense has created 11 turnovers, six of them are from second-year quarterback, Mac Jones, who is expected to return Monday night. Only three turnovers have been caused by rookie quarterback, Bailey Zappe. Each quarterback has been sacked five times and both have played in three games for the Patriots so far this season. So, for the Bears’ defense, having Jones back makes their defense a good option to start as there will probably be some turnovers. Dante Pettis - Start in some leagues Dante Pettis was probably the best surprise coming from Thursday’s game against the Commanders. Pettis had not caught a pass since Week 1 against the 49ers when he had a 51-yard touchdown reception. Pettis now has five receptions for 135 yards and two touchdowns this season. The difference between this past game against the Commanders and every other game this season is that Pettis was targeted seven times where he had only been targeted six times in all of the games preceding. Now that Pettis has gotten some attention from Fields, he is actually a player to consider starting in some fantasy formats, particularly with Diggs and Kupp on their bye week.
