NFL Week 13 Recap: Instant Fantasy Football Tips from Bears-Eagles Black Friday Football

• The Philadelphia Eagles lose the time of possession battle: The Eagles already rotate their skill players less than any team in the league, and the Bears’ run-heavy approach — combined with some quick three-and-outs — caused Philadelphia to give its top players even fewer breaks than usual.

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Chicago bears @ Philadelphia Eagles

Luther Burden III‘s role continues to rise: The Bears’ second-round rookie ran a route on more than 55% of the Bears’ passing plays for the second time this season.

Burden played just 24.3% of the Bears’ offensive snaps through the first eight weeks. Rome Odunze and DJ Moore have filled the outside roles, while Olamide Zaccheaus opened the season as the primary slot receiver. Burden recorded 41.7% of snaps in one-receiver sets and 93.3% in four-receiver sets, but only 20.0% on 12 personnel and 21.3% on 11 personnel.

In week 10, he filled in for the injured DJ Moore, but that spike in usage was temporary. In Week 11, Burden started playing for Zaccheaus in 11-man, and he has played at least 60% of those snaps in each of the last three weeks. Chicago used more 11 personnel than usual in this game, giving Burden another season of high snap totals. He sat above 60% until the fourth quarter, when the Bears switched to more 12 men to run the ball and protect the lead. Chicago also used Burden and Zaccheaus together more often as the two receivers on 12 personnel.

Burden has been Chicago’s highest-rated wide receiver for 12 weeks. His 2.32 yards per route run ranks 11th among receivers with at least 100 routes, with most players in that range shaping up as must-start fantasy options. He led the Bears’ wide receivers this week with four catches for 33 yards.

He has been one of the top targets for waivers for several weeks and remains a strong speculative option. However, to reach his full fantasy potential, he will need to take meaningful playing time from Moore or Odunze.

The playing time of the Eagles’ stars was not affected by injuries: DeVonta Smith and Saquon Barkley both appeared on the injury report this week.

The Eagles have four core skill players on offense: Saquon Barkley, DeVonta Smith, AJ Brown and Dallas Goedert. All four are among the top seven players at their positions in terms of speed, and all have stayed relatively healthy. Barkley and Smith haven’t missed a game, while Brown and Goedert have each missed one.

Smith had not appeared on the injury report at any point in the first 12 weeks, but this week he was listed with an illness, a shoulder problem and a chest injury. He was unable to train on Tuesday or Wednesday, making his availability questionable, but he trained fully on Thursday and did not have a competition title. Through the first 55 minutes, his role remained unchanged, playing 100% of the snaps in 11 and 12 men and only coming off the field in one-receiver sets. He left briefly with five minutes left after appearing to be in pain, marking the first time Philadelphia used 11 personnel without him all season, but he returned a few plays later.

Barkley has stayed very healthy for a running back over the past two seasons. He missed one practice and was limited from another practice earlier this year due to a knee injury, but was otherwise a full participant through the first twelve weeks. This week he was limited on Tuesday and Wednesday with a groin injury. Teams often rotate a bit more on a short week, but Barkley actually played more than usual. With the Eagles struggling to sustain long drives while Chicago controlled possession, he needed fewer breaks.

Neither player produced much fantasy value in this matchup, but that reflected the offense as a whole rather than an individual problem with Barkley or Smith.

Various comments

• This was the first week since Week 6 that Bears running back D’Andre Swift did not appear on the injury report. The playing time between him and Kyle Monangai was similar to that of recent weeks.
• This was the first game of the season in which two running backs from the same team had double-digit carries for triple-digit rushing yards each. Chicago achieved this before the start of the fourth quarter with Swift and Monangai. No team has accomplished this in a full game since Week 16 of 2022, when D’Onta Foreman and Chuba Hubbard did it for the Carolina Panthers.
• Chicago running back Travis Homer was back in the lineup after missing last week with hamstring and knee injuries. He was a full participant in training all week.
• The Bears then waived running back Brittain Brown on Thursday. He will likely sign with the practice squad.
• Bears wide receiver Jahdae Walker was a healthy scratch, his fourth straight absence.
• Tight end Colston Loveland wasn’t on the field as much as usual as the Bears were focused on the run game. However, the percentage of pass plays where he ran a route was the highest ever in a game where Cole Kmet was also healthy.
• Eagles halfback AJ Dillon was a healthy inactive, his fourth straight absence.
• Philadelphia wide receiver Xavier Gipson did not practice all week due to a shoulder injury. He was ruled out on Thursday. The Eagles signed Britain Covey from their own practice squad on Wednesday to replace Gipson.

Table notes

• Snaps include plays called back due to penalties, including offensive holding or defensive pass interference. These plays have been removed from the other three statistics.

• Objectives may differ from official NFL sources. The most likely discrepancy would be the result of an obviously thrown pass, where the NFL could give the target to the nearest receiver, while this data does not.• Carries are only possible on designed plays. Quarterback scrambles do not count toward the total number of carries in the game.