Matthew Stafford

It was another forgetful fantasy game for Stafford in Week 12, who's now finished with 16.1 or less fantasy points in 6-of-11 games this season, including three with 12.3 or less points. He's averaging 35.1 pass attempts per game, which is a decent number, though you'd think with the way their defense has played he'd have more. He's going into a matchup with the Bears, a team he sees twice per year, and that hasn't been a good thing for him. Over his last seven games against them (including Week 1 of this year), he's averaged 254.1 yards, 1.14 touchdowns, and 1.28 interceptions. He's finished every game in-between 213-297 yards and has failed to throw more than two touchdowns in any of the games. The Bears have started to slip as of late, but still allow just the third-fewest fantasy points per offensive snap to opponents. They've allowed the sixth-fewest points per game to quarterbacks, but again, that number has been on the rise as of late. Over their last five games, they've played against Jared Goff, Drew Brees, Ryan Tannehill, Kirk Cousins, and Aaron Rodgers, and four of them were able to post at least 16.9 fantasy points against the Bears, which is an improvement over the first six games of the year where not one since quarterback topped 16.2 fantasy points. Still, Rodgers' 25.6 points in Week 12 was just the second time the Bears allowed a quarterback to hit the 20-point barrier since the start of the 2019 season (span of 27 games). The Bears were missing Akiem Hicks last week, which presents all sorts of issues for their defense, so his status means a lot to Stafford's potential. Will the firing of Matt Patricia ignite this Lions offense? Oddsmakers don't seem to think so, as the Lions have just a 21-point team-implied total. The matchup isn't as bad as it once was, but given Stafford's struggles, he remains in the mid-to-low-end QB2 territory.

Based on Stafford's track record this season of performing in tough matchups, he could have a solid game here...but there's absolutely no way you can trust him heading into this matchup. He should be viewed as a low-end QB2.