Carelessness Can Prevent Bears Win Streak

The way the Bears handled the ball last week is the first thing that can prevent them from establishing a winning streak against Dallas.

When the Bears had just beaten New England Monday night, the media went on a fishing expedition.

They were looking for someone to call it a turnaround game, something that could swing the season in the Bears' direction. That makes for a fun narrative.

They found few takers, definitely not Matt Eberflus. The Bears coach pointed them toward Dallas and a game in six days but nowhere beyond this.

Then, it looked like Justin Fields himself had provided the turnaround theory with fuel.

"For sure, definitely momentum," Fields said of the win.

Then, to his credit, he immediately shot down the turnaround theory.

"But again we can't get too high on the win," Fields said. "We've got to get reset Wednesday and come in and prepare like any other week, prepare like last week."

Momentum Comes with Isolated Wins

The truth really is one week in the NFL is an isolated occurrence. A team wins that week, then needs to re-assemble everything again for the following week.

Momentum is for people who look at football schedules and statistics, trying to make something more of them than they actually are.

Numbers on paper ultimately mean nothing and one win means little by itself. Putting together a good game plan and executing it again the next week can provide one more win and then there is a streak.

Beating Dallas would not constitute a turning point, either, but it would be more impressive considering New England is a sub-.500 team and only .500 when they Bears won there.

The Cowboys have a legitimate, feared defense with a coordinator who might have been the coach of the Bears. Maybe it was his Colts tie and the fact former Colts GM Bill Polian was doing the picking, but Matt Eberflus got it and now the Bears get to face Dan Quinn's defense.

The Bears get to see what Micah Parsons is all about, a player who might be the most dynamic defensive force in the league now that Aaron Donald seems satisfied with his ring and has only four sacks for this season.

New England's defense was more of a stable wall, with the exception of Matt Judon.

The Cowboys defense represents something else entirely. They attack with Parsons from different spots on the field and force mistakes, so players like Trevon Diggs can capitalize. They have the potential to turn even good offenses into a turnover-prone nightmare.

What Putting the Ball at Risk Does

The Bears put the ball on the field five times Monday night. If they do anything close to this again, they can be sure the result won't be five Chicago fumble recoveries like against the Patriots. Fields was responsible for four of those fumbles.

If the Bears took anything away from their win over New England, it should be what four turnovers can do to a team. The Patriots turned it over four times and the Bears dominated the game.

Dallas has 29 sacks and is tied for fifth in the league in takeaways with 12.

The Cowboys are tied for fifth with the Bears in takeaways, but the real problem the Bears face is Dallas' offense has turned it over only six times while the Bears turned it over 12 times, the sixth most in the league.

In the end, football comes down to maintaining possession of the ball and doing something with it.

The Bears proved they can do something with it last week but even when they won they were careless and put the ball at risk.

It's the kind of thing that puts quick stops to winning streaks and quickly halts talk about turning around seasons before they ever really get started in that direction.

___

The Line: Cowboys by 9 1/2 (over/under 42 1/2).

BearDigest Record: 5-2, 3-4 ATS, 2-5 against the total.

BearDigest Prediction: Cowboys 21, Bears 9

TICKETS TO SEE JUSTIN FIELDS AND THE BEARS THROUGH SI TICKETS

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven