Bears can establish full control of the NFC North; Seattle Seahawks vs. Chicago Bears preview
The Chicago Bears are among the NFL’s surprise teams of the year, as they are 4-1 on top of the NFC North. While the Packers were the s**y preseason picks to not only win the division, but also the Super Bowl, it has been the Bears who have the wins to show
for it. The Packers are still in it at 3-2, but they are really banged up this week. The Vikings are struggling at 1-3 and the Lions are still building their team, so the Bears have a shot to go to 5-1 and put themselves in a very good position.
The Seattle Seahawks have shown signs of improvement, but have yet to win on the road. They are 2-0 at home and 0-2 on the road. They look like two different teams when they travel and when they’re in the friendly confines of Qwest Field. Traveling to Chicago
will be very tough and probably will be too much for the Seahawks.
The Bears are back to the old Bears that we remember; winning games with solid defence and last week they showed they could run the ball. They did well despite an abysmal performance by backup quarterback Todd Collins, as Collins was 6 of 16 for 32 yards and
four interceptions. The Bears still won thanks to Matt Forte’s 166 yards and two touchdowns and stingy play from their defence, albeit the Carolina Panthers have the worst offence in the league.
Chicago will have Jay Cutler back this week after Cutler suffered a concussion two weeks ago when he was sacked nine times. The Bears will have to protect Cutler this time, because if Cutler gets time to throw and the Bears can run the ball effectively, it
will be no contest with Seattle. The Bears should use Forte in both running and receiving and Cutler should continue with what has worked for him this season, avoiding turnovers. The Bears aren’t scoring a whole lot of points, but they have stayed disciplined
and with their defence playing so well, they are winning.
The Seahawks will look a little different, as they traded Deion Branch this week back to New England and traded for Marshawn Lynch during their bye week. They’ll look to develop a better running game and will need Leon Washington to create some big plays on
special teams and when he is on offence.
Matt Hasselbeck has not played well on the road in recent years and he’ll have to deal with a rejuvenated Bears’ pass rush. Julius Peppers is making a huge impact, as attention has gone to him and his teammates have benefited from that in getting to quarterbacks.
They’ve also shut down the running game, as they are third in the league with just 78 yards allowed per game on the ground. They are also fifth in the league points allowed per game (14.8).
Seattle is 31st in the league against the pass with 302 yards allowed per game. That works out just fine for Mike Martz’s pass-happy system. The Bears’ offensive coordinator will be aggressive and will try to exploit the Seahawks’ lack of a pass-rush and a
weak secondary.
If this game were at Qwest Field, the Seahawks would be a huge challenge, but the fact is, they have looked awful on the road and Soldier Field is an intimidating place to play. Expect the Bears to continue their winning ways and to take it easily at home.
Tags: