THREE KEY STORYLINES

Field of screams

One major advantage for the Bears is their familiarity with a Soldier Field playing surface that Alshon Jeffery, a former Bear, called “terrible.” Jeffery and Malcolm Jenkins both said the Eagles should wear their seven-studded cleats intended for super sloppy fields, as opposed to the molded-bottom cleats that players typically like to wear. Expect plenty of slipping from both teams, which means dual-threat tailbacks like Tarik Cohen and Darren Sproles get an advantage in open space. While Sproles has become an important piece of the Eagles’ offense since his return from a hamstring injury, Cohen is relied on more heavily by the Bears to move the chains.

Crazy parallels?

Playoff experience can be a factor in postseason games, and the Eagles have an upper hand there. Go back to last year’s 3-6 game between the home Rams and visiting Falcons, which the Falcons won. The Rams were led by first-year coach Sean McVay and second-year quarterback Jared Goff, each appearing in the postseason for the first time in their respective roles. They had also a seven-win turnaround from the year before. Same deal with the Bears, who are led by first-year coach Matt Nagy and second-year quarterback Mitchell Trubisky. The Bears also won seven more games this year than in 2017.

Nick the quick

Lost in the hysteria over the Eagles’ making the playoffs on the final week of the season was yet another record-setting effort by Foles, who tied an NFL record by completing 25 straight passes against Washington and also set a new franchise record by completing 85 percent of his passes on 33 attempts. Foles is getting the ball out quicker than ever, which has kept the pass rush off his back and allowed him to complete a career-best 72 percent of his passes, way up from his career 61.6 mark. The Eagles need another masterpiece from Foles to get past this top-ranked Bears defense.