Can Bears continue win streak?
Lofty possibilities:
A victory Sunday in New Orleans would give the Bears their first three-game winning streak since 2013, when they opened the season 3-0 in Marc Trestman's first year as coach.
A win could also end a long run of Bears cellar-dwelling. They have been alone in last place in the NFC North for 20 straight weeks. They've held a share of the bottom spot for 27 straight weeks.
But a Bears victory and a Lions loss at home to the Steelers Sunday night would leave the Bears at 4-4 and Detroit at 3-4.
The Bears have also been in the bottom half of their four-team division for 55 straight weeks. The last time they weren't in the bottom half was the third week of the 2014 season, when they were 2-1.
We go way back:
Bears special teams coordinator Jeff Rodgers has known the Saints' Drew Brees longer than any of the quarterback's current teammates.
Rodgers was Brees' center at Westlake High School in Austin, Texas.
"Really good athlete," Rodgers said. "Heck of a baseball player, good teammate. Did everything right. There wasn't a whole lot of repeats in practice because of anything he was doing (wrong). He was on point. Drew has always been a guy with a chip on his shoulder."
Was it obvious that he was a future Hall of Famer back then?
"In 1995?" Rodgers said. "No."
Room to grow:
Offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains and quarterback Mitch Trubisky both want the rookie to play more of a role in the offense than he did last week, when he completed 4 of 7 passes in a 17-3 victory.
But, what if a similar situation occurs in the future?
"If we win the game, then we'll tell him, 'Good job,' " Loggains said. "I just don't see a game unfolding that way again. If it does, great, that means we won. But we hope we're throwing the football and being balanced and aggressive, and Mitchell continues to grow.
"I told him this right after the game, 'Look dude, I've coached in this game 13 years, and I think this happened one other time in my life.' We scored 1 touchdown (on offense) one year in Tennessee in 2006 and we won 31-13. It just doesn't happen."
The Bears' offense has produced just 31 points in Trubisky's three starts. In those three games, has thrown only 48 passes.
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