The fantasy football landscape shifts each week, bringing fresh opportunities and unexpected challenges that separate the prepared from the pretenders. Savvy managers know that last week’s performance tells only part of the story, and diving deeper into the underlying metrics reveals the accurate picture.
This week presents some intriguing decisions. Here’s insight about key Chicago Bears players heading into their matchup with the New York Giants to help you craft a winning lineup.
Caleb Williams, QB
In what could be the game of the year, Caleb Williams threw for three scores, ran for 53 yards, and stayed composed in a day full of chaos.
It was a great fantasy day and a strong signal in terms of his development, but not every game will see 89 total points scored. The second-year QB had a total of two touchdown passes in his four games before the win in Cincinnati: what we can expect moving forward is somewhere in the middle of those disastrous games and what we saw on Sunday.
On the plus side, it would appear that Ben Johnson is comfortable enough with his new team to introduce his mad scientist schemes. The touchdown catch helped boost his value, and while that’s obviously not something we’re banking on, creativity is the primary path for Williams to hit our lineups weekly.
READ MORE: Soppe’s Week 10 Fantasy Football Start ‘Em Sit ‘Em: Analysis for Every Player in Every Game
I like this matchup (Mac Jones was perfect, 14-of-14, against the Giants in the first half last week), and I like the script that is always possible for Williams to find himself in while playing next to a bad defense.
Not every opponent has Joe Flacco, but most will be able to force this offense to be aggressive, and that’s all I need from a player who has some Brett Favre in him.
D’Andre Swift, RB
D’Andre Swift missed last week (groin), his first DNP since joining the Bears after some durability concerns to open his career with the Lions.
The hope is that this is nothing that lingers.
He had been able to play through this nagging issue for much of October, but he didn’t practice last week and now has to be watched (Chicago is a month past their bye).
If things look promising, you play him. This offense is hardly a work of art, but Swift has produced 12.8% above expectations this season, the second-best mark of his career. This isn’t a matchup to fear in general, and the versatility in this profile (24 targets and 100 rush attempts across his seven games) makes him a reliable player regardless of the projected script.
Track the injury reports, but I currently have Swift penciled in as my RB2 in spots where I roster him.
Kyle Monangai, RB
D’Andre Swift missed last week with a groin injury, and Roschon Johnson was also sidelined, putting Kyle Monangai in a position to build on an expanding role and really live up to the greatness that was bestowed upon him at birth by way of his first name.
Yeah, I’d say he capitalized.
He obviously benefited from the Cincinnati matchup, but 26 carries, 22 routes, and eight red zone touches later, the man has worked himself into the weekly plan.
This situation gets complicated should Swift return (4.6 yards per carry this season with a TD in each of his past four games), but it’s clear that Ben Johnson has his finger on the pulse of this backfield, and that has me thinking that both could produce lineup-worthy numbers.
If both play, I’ll defer to the veteran because of how well he was running. That said, Monangai would still crack my top 30 in that world, and should he walk back into the RB1 role, he’d flirt with my top 15 at the position against a defense that has allowed 25+ PPR points to an RB four times this season.
DJ Moore, WR
It was kind of a weird week to get the “Let Ben Johnson Cook” narrative going, as a standard offensive attack can do damage against the Bengals, but it was good to see the head coach show us confidence in DJ Moore.
The six targets and 72 receiving yards were nothing special, but how about a 17-yard run and a two-yard touchdown pass?
Not repeatable, but not things you trust just anyone to do.
Better days are ahead for Rome Odunze, and a true Colston Loveland breakout would make it tough for Moore to have access to much of a ceiling. But if the rookie tight end is more average than extraordinary, I still think there’s a path for Moore to offer a high-floor profile that lands him as a strong flex more often than not.
MORE: Free Fantasy Start/Sit Lineup Optimizer
The Giants have dialed back their defensive aggression of late (19.2% blitz rate since Week 5 after posting a 31.8% rate in September), and that allows a refined route runner like Moore to find gaps in coverage.
He’s a good bet to reach double-figure PPR points without a touchdown, and his scoring equity is trending in the right direction if the Bears use last week as a launching pad.
Luther Burden III, WR
Development isn’t linear.
A wise friend shared this with me at a young age, and it has proven accurate through all walks of life.
Not all players or situations are the same, and that is why patience can be so valuable.
Luther Burden isn’t in a spot to succeed this season, and I’m now confident that “patience” regarding him in fantasy circles means 2026 and beyond.
The explosive rookie hasn’t been on the field for 30% of Chicago’s snaps in a single game this season and has a high-water mark of 6.5 expected points.
Don’t lose track of this name in the eight-plus months between today and your 2026 draft, but there are zero signs of him returning any sort of meaningful value this season, and that means you are free to cut ties.
Rome Odunze, WR
Before last week, Rome Odunze was averaging 2.8 receiving yards for every point the Bears put on the board. He had five top-20 performances and scored at least 10% over expectations in four of his previous six games.
So, a goose egg in a spot in which the Bears put 47 points on the board was surprising.
I’m going to largely ignore that speed bump, but it is worth noting that he’s been held under 35 receiving yards in three of four games following the early bye, and the offense as a whole hasn’t missed a beat.
This is part of the Ben Johnson experience. He’s got the Odunze motor running smoothly early in the season, then was Swift, and now he might be working toward unlocking Colston Loveland.
We might get a few more down games, but I expect more good than bad the rest of the way. If Caleb Williams puts an end zone target on his chest last week instead of behind him, the fantasy production looks better, and you’re probably not sweating in the same way.
I was encouraged by Odunze popping up in some big blocking spots last week to spur chunk gains. He’s engaged, and this team seems to be buying in: sit tight, we will get back to the top 15 production that you came to expect after the explosive September.
Cole Kmet, TE
Cole Kmet entered last week battling a back injury and then exited in the second quarter with a head injury.
He’s been running into health hurdles for a month now, but the biggest issue he has is a Colston Loveland problem.
The rookie exploded last week and scored the game-winning touchdown: this was a committee situation early in the season, but those days seem to be over.
There’s not nearly enough contingent value to hold a fully healthy Kmet, and there’s no guarantee that we get that version of him with regularity moving forward.
Kmet can be safely dropped, even if he clears all protocols during the workweek.
Colston Loveland, TE
No player had a louder Week 9 than Colston Loveland, a high-pedigree rookie who was having the best fantasy day of his season before the 58-yard game-winning TD to cap his 6-118-2 day in Cincinnati.
MORE: Fantasy Football Trade Analyzer
Kmet’s late departure in the first half certainly aided the role expansion, but we were trending that way prior (7-2 route edge in the first quarter). There are plenty of mouths to feed in this offense, but with Ben Johnson feeling himself and motivated to make this first-round pick look the part, I’m comfortable in elevating Loveland to the top 10 at the position.
Williams can have a wide range of weekly outcomes, but the ceiling performances are high enough to suck me in on Loveland over tight ends like Kyle Pitts and Harold Fannin, two players at the mercy of lesser QBs.
