Bears vs. Eagles Week 13: Two must-know storylines for Black Friday game

NFL fans are by no means being discounted with this year's Black Friday game.

Following Thanksgiving's heaping three-game helping of football, the Bears and Eagles will take each other on in a battle of 8-3 division leaders.

Chicago enters scorching hot, having won eight of its past nine games, while Philly has found similar success overall but must find a way to bounce back after giving up a 21-point lead to lose to the rival Cowboys in Week 12.

Whichever team comes out on top will have the better shot at chasing down the Rams for the NFC's No. 1 seed heading into December.

Two-must know storylines

1) Williams, Bears enter prove-it stretch run

If you're in first place in a division -- especially one as brutal as the NFC North -- entering Thanksgiving week, you are for real. However, the Bears still have some questions to answer in the final six games of the season. That much is obvious from their chances of making the playoffs sitting at 59%, by far the lowest of the seven NFC teams currently in playoff position. To prove any doubters wrong, Chicago must make it relatively unscathed through a gauntlet that includes four opponents squarely in the playoff hunt still to go: Eagles, Packers (twice), 49ers and Lions. Chicago's defense should continue to help, even as injured as the group is, but most eyes will be on the offense. Can Caleb Williams continue to make magic happen? He's been vastly improved in his second season. To go along with a league-leading five game-winning drives, he has 2,568 passing yards, 16 touchdowns and four interceptions. His sacks are also way down. After taking an average of four a game in 2024, he's at 1.5 in 2025. But Friday might represent his toughest test yet, an Eagles defense that's limited teams to under 200 net passing yards in three of its past for outings. However he fares, the future appears bright. Last Black Friday, the Bears fired head coach Matt Eberflus. This Black Friday, Williams has a chance to deliver Chicago its ninth win by taking down the Super Bowl champs.

2) Eagles offense is still seeking answers

Philadelphia remains a favorite to reach the Super Bowl, but the Eagles feel a bit closer to the 2023 version of themselves than last season's. That would be the team that found ways to win early but collapsed down the stretch and crashed out of the the wild-card round, rather than a squad that came together to raise the Lombardi Trophy. The rest of the 2025 season is still unwritten, though. The Eagles just need to figure out what their story will be. Things looked better on Sunday, when the Eagles scored touchdowns on each of their first three possessions, but then they failed to add a point the rest of the way. As long as they can avoid too many turnovers against an opportunistic Chicago D, the Eagles should be in a get-right spot against a unit that allows a ton of yards. It's of vital importance for Jalen Hurts to get back to how he was playing in the two games before the team's Week 10 bye, when he threw for a combined 505 yards and seven TDs. That would necessitate getting A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith involved and be made easier if Saquon Barkley can get going and keep going on the ground. Barkley's per-game rushing average is essentially half of what it was during his 2,000-yard 2024 campaign (62.2 versus 125.3) and he's wearing down later in games; he's averaging 5.9 yards per carry in the first quarter this season but only 1.9 YPC in the fourth quarter, worst in the NFL. The Eagles can't afford that trend to continue Friday, especially given the Bears' knack for late-game heroics.

Bears' Week 13 injury report

Eagles' Week 13 injury report