Rest is the angle that hasn't gotten much attention. Neither team plays again before this game. The Bears last played on the Thursday against New England, so they get 11 days between games. Seattle comes off Sunday Night Football and gets the usual 8. Montez Sweat is also back from his 2-game suspension, which means Chicago gets a full week and change to work its best edge rusher back in.
Seattle's 4-3 record hides how close it's been. The Seahawks' 3 losses in their last 5 came by 2, 3 and 3 points: a 33-31 shootout in Washington, 32-29 at home to San Francisco and a 17-14 overtime loss in Denver. They're 2-1 at Lumen Field in that span. Chicago's 4-1 run has a hole in it, though. A 31-7 beating at Green Bay is the one game where the Bears went on the road against a real defense and got nothing going.
The skill-position matchup is loaded. Luther Burden III caught all 4 of his targets for 130 yards and a score against New England. D'Andre Swift handled 22 carries, and Rome Odunze keeps producing. For Seattle, Jaxon Smith-Njigba has 8 touchdown catches, most in the league, after a 9-catch, 150-yard night against the Chiefs. Emanuel Wilson ran for 100 yards filling in for Charbonnet. The Bears' secondary has to handle that without safety Anthony Johnson Jr., who's on IR, and maybe without Malik Muhammad II, who's dealing with a toe injury.
The forecast for a 5:15 PM PT kickoff is 47 degrees, partly cloudy, with 8 mph wind, so weather shouldn't decide anything. Two things will: whether Cross is back to block Sweat on Darnold's blind side, and how Williams' receivers do against a Seattle defense that just held the best quarterback in football to 213 yards. Seattle's defense has earned the benefit of the doubt. The Bears' 11 days of rest make it a fair fight.