The Worksheet, a comprehensive fantasy football preview by Rich Hribar, breaks down everything you need to know about the Week 8 matchup between the Ravens and Bears.
Find a breakdown of every Week 8 NFL game in our Worksheet Hub.
| Chicago | Rank | @ | Baltimore | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6.5 | Spread | -6.5 | ||
| 22.0 | Implied Total | 28.5 | ||
| 25.3 | 10 | Points/Gm | 24.0 | 16 |
| 25.8 | 25 | Points All./Gm | 32.3 | 32 |
| 62.3 | 14 | Plays/Gm | 54.2 | 31 |
| 56.5 | 6 | Opp. Plays/Gm | 67.2 | 30 |
| 5.6 | 14 | Off. Yards/Play | 5.7 | 11 |
| 6.2 | 32 | Def. Yards/Play | 5.7 | 27 |
| 46.79% | 5 | Rush% | 43.69% | 15 |
| 53.21% | 28 | Pass% | 56.31% | 18 |
| 45.72% | 24 | Opp. Rush % | 44.42% | 20 |
| 54.28% | 9 | Opp. Pass % | 55.58% | 13 |
- The Bears lead the league in turnover differential (+11).
- The Ravens are 31st in turnover differential (-7).
- With Lamar Jackson on the field, 27.7% of Baltimore's plays have gained 10 or more yards, the highest rate in the league.
- With Jackson off the field, that rate is 14.9%, 31st in the league.
- The Bears have a 49.4% dropback rate in neutral game script the past two weeks (31st) after a 59.9% rate (20th) prior.
- Chicago has a 52.7% success rate on defense, 31st in the league.
- The Ravens have allowed a league-high 2.98 points per drive.
- Chicago has allowed 2.31 points per drive, 23rd in the league.
- The Bears allow 3.23 points per drive without a takeaway, 29th.
- Baltimore averages 6.5 yards per play on first down, fourth in the league.
- The Bears allow a league-high 7.0 yards per play on first downs.
- 17.9% of Baltimore's runs have gained 10 or more yards, the highest rate in the league.
- 15.9% of Chicago's runs have gained 10 or more yards, second in the league.
Trust = spike production for that player
Quarterback
Lamar Jackson: Coming out of the bye, Jackson was still not at practice to open the week.
The spread seems to imply that Jackson will be back.
We will have to monitor his status as the week progresses, but we will enter the week optimistic that Jackson can play, given our knowledge of what we have if Cooper Rush remains the starter for another week.
If Jackson is back on the field, he climbs right back to the top of the QB1 options.
Jackson scored over 25 fantasy points in his three full games.
The Bears have forced turnovers at the highest rate in the league, but they have also been shredded when they are not getting takeaways.
The Bears allow a 71.5% completion rate (29th), 7.7 yards per pass attempt (27th), and a league-high 8.7% touchdown rate.
When the Bears have not gotten any pressure, they have allowed an 11.4% touchdown rate.
The league average is 5.3% on dropbacks without pressure.
They have allowed multiple passing touchdowns in five of their six games, which includes facing Geno Smith, J.J. McCarthy, and Spencer Rattler.
Baltimore is also expected to have Ronnie Stanley back on the field coming out of the bye.
Caleb Williams: Williams did not have a clean outing on Sunday, completing 15 of 26 passes (57.7%) for 172 yards (6.6 Y/A) with 0 touchdowns and an interception.
He has completed fewer than 60% of his passes in three straight starts.
Williams has the highest inaccurate throw rate among qualified passers (16.2%).
His completion rate is 9.7% lower than expected, the worst differential in the league.
He has three QB1 scoring weeks, but two have also come attached to a rushing touchdown.
Regarding passing output, he is QB18 in passing points per attempt (0.454) and QB19 in passing points per game (14.0).
Chicago has gone run-heavy out of the bye.
They have also used more pre-snap motion, setting a new season-high in motion rate per dropback at 63.6% in Week 6 and 81.5% last week.
Williams oddly has worse splits on his snaps with motion.
He is averaging 8.6 yards per pass attempt (3rd) on plays without motion compared to 6.3 Y/A on his dropbacks with motion (25th).
I prefer Williams as an upside QB2 due to his volatility.
Baltimore’s top-down defensive metrics are awful and signal this as a great matchup, but there are moving parts on their defense since they were bludgeoned by injuries to open the season.
Before the bye, Baltimore got Kyle Hamilton and Marlon Humphrey back, and they only allowed Matthew Stafford 181 passing yards and 7.0 yards per attempt.
Baltimore is expected to get Roquan Smith and Chidobe Awuzie back out of the bye.
There are still holes here defensively, so all of those pieces may not completely flip this defense into one we are avoiding, which is why Williams still has an upside outcome beyond his rushing production.
We only have a 38-pass sample with Hamilton, Humphrey, Smith, and Awuzie on the field this season, but Baltimore still allowed 9.0 Y/A and a 76.3% completion rate on those throws.
Running Back
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Learn MoreMore Week 8 Fantasy Breakdowns From The Worksheet:
| Matchup | Time |
|---|---|
| Vikings @ Chargers | Thursday Night Football |
| Dolphins @ Falcons | Sunday -- 1 p.m. ET |
| Jets @ Bengals | Sunday -- 1 p.m. ET |
| Browns @ Patriots | Sunday -- 1 p.m. ET |
| Giants @ Eagles | Sunday -- 1 p.m. ET |
| Bills @ Panthers | Sunday -- 1 p.m. ET |
| Bears @ Ravens | Sunday -- 1 p.m. ET |
| 49ers @ Texans | Sunday -- 1 p.m. ET |
| Bucs @ Saints | Sunday -- 4:05 p.m. ET |
| Cowboys @ Broncos | Sunday -- 4:25 p.m. ET |
| Titans @ Colts | Sunday -- 4:25 p.m. ET |
| Packers @ Steelers | Sunday Night Football |
| Commanders @ Chiefs | Monday Night Football |