You can watch Thursday Night Football: Seahawks vs. Bears at 8:20 p.m. ET/5:20 p.m. PT on Amazon Prime Video.
This “Thursday Night Football” matchup is the last of the season, and even more important than usual, as this is the championship round. Yes, we just had Wednesday football, and if you’re playing for the ‘ship, you likely had a couple of Ravens or maybe a Texan or two on your roster.
Well, what about some Bears and Seahawks? Hmm, maybe, maybe not. It’s like, are you benching DJ Moore and DK Metcalf in the most important fantasy game of the year, after you likely spent high picks on them? Hopefully, you have other, better options if you have to make that call. Or maybe you were lucky enough to draft Jaxon Smith-Njigba (or pick him up off waivers after he was dropped by a frustrated manager), who looks like everything we ever wanted him to be … and a fantasy playoff hero.
Yes, there are key fantasy-relevant players on both sides tonight. Let’s go to the tale of the tape.
Zach Charbonnet, league-winner?
Kenneth Walker III returned to the starting role in Week 16 only to end up dealing with an ankle injury (in addition to his existing calf injury). As such, he’s been ruled out of tonight’s game.
If you are a Charbonnet manager, congratulations — you might have gotten one step closer to winning your fantasy championship.
We can keep this one short. Fire up Charbonnet tonight as he’ll take on a Bears defense that’s been killed by running backs all season, but has looked particularly bad across the board of late. Charbonnet looks set to be a workhorse for the Seahawks, a role he’s excelled in at times this season in Walker’s stead.
Will Keenan Allen keep it rockin’?
It appears no one has told Keenan Allen that he’s 32 years old, that it’s 2024, that he was just supposed to play third fiddle for his rookie quarterback. Instead, Allen has turned back the clock to deliver some vintage performances of late.
He’s scored five times in his last five games, including three games of 13+ targets during that stretch. That’s not just good — that’s elite fantasy football wide receiver usage. Of course, we have to address the elephant in the room: those big games? They all came against the same two opponents: the Lions and Vikings, two teams notorious for scoring a lot while bleeding production to opposing wide receivers.
Nonetheless, the Bears have been chasing the scoreboard more often than not this season, and with the way their defense has been performing, don’t be surprised if Caleb Williams finds himself throwing a ton yet again, and throwing a ton to Keenan Allen. The Seahawks might still have some motivation to miraculously make the playoffs, furthering the thought that game script will benefit the Bears’ passing game, however unsuccessful it is (hey, just give us the volume, right?). It also helps that the Seahawks’ biggest weakness on defense is at cornerback. It’s wheels up for Allen in the fantasy championship.
