Baltimore Beatdown's Ravens-Bears prediction

The Ravens were able to close the gap some in the AFC North race last week with a win over Cincinnati.

They'll hope to take that one step further with a win against the Bears on the road on Sunday. The Bears will be a challenge as they offer one of the more balanced offensive attacks in the NFL.

However, the Bears defense isn't the defense of old. It's been vulnerable against a variety of teams all year. The run defense ranks 31st in the NFL and the secondary has to force turnovers to be successful. The problem Chicago has here is that Charles Tillman, the best playmaker in the Bears' defensive backfield, was placed on the short term injured reserve list.

Ray Rice will have as good of a chance as he's had all year to finally break off some good runs this week. To be honest, he probably won't. But Chicago's defense is struggling while Baltimore's is improving. This could limit Chicago's big-play ability while allowing the Ravens to do just enough to come away with a road win.

Prediction: Ravens 23, Bears 20