Chicago Bears vs Washington Redskins preview: Bears look to maintain lead in NFC North
The 4-2 Chicago Bears will be looking to stay atop the NFC North as they prepare to host the Washington Redskins on Sunday 24 October.
Previous meetings and recent games
The competition in the NFC has been fierce with each division having one team entrenched at the bottom while the other three teams jockey for top spot. The Chicago Bears are a team with the lead in the
NFC North and are looking stay where they are. The Washington Redskins, despite their 3-3 record, are all the way in third place in the NFC East and will be hoping that a win will bump them up into a tie for top spot if other teams can help them out by beating
the New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles.
The Bears, after jumping out to a 3-0 start before losing to the New York Giants, lost for the second time this season last weekend falling 23-20 to the Seattle Seahawks.
The Redskins also came off a tough loss last weekend falling 27-24 to the Indianapolis Colts. Of their three losses this year, only one was against an NFC opponent.
In the 5 meetings between these two teams since 2001 the Redskins hold the edge 3-2. The last meeting took place way back on 6 December, 2007 when the Redskins won 24-16.
How they match up
Since coming over from Philadelphia, quarterback Donovan McNabb has done a decent job under centre for the Redskins but hasn't exactly put up stellar numbers. At quarterback for the Chicago Bears is Jay
Cutler who has led the team to three wins as a starter but has been sacked a league-high 23 times and holds the ball in the pocket way too long. He was sacked nine times earlier in the season by the New York Giants which led to his missing a start because
of a concussion. The Bears managed to win without him, but did so against the 0-5 Carolina Panthers who seem like they're trying to go 0-16 this season. In Cutler's absence, stand-in quarterbacks Todd Collins and Caleb Hanie combined for a miserable 51 yards
passing.
The Bears and Redskins match up pretty well along the ground with the Redskins possessing the double threat of Ryan Torain and Clinton Portis, while the Bears rely heavily on Matt Forte who not only leads
the team in rushing yards, but in receptions as well.
With the Bears unlikely to win this game via their offence, they will then have to turn to their defence which boasts the likes of Brian Urlacher, Lance Briggs, Israel Idonije, and Julius Peppers.
The big mismatch could be with the Redskins receiving corps where Santana Moss and Chris Cooley are good one-two punch for the Redskins.
What to expect
It's never easy to just walk into Soldier Field in Chicago and win a game, but the Redskins look poised to do just that. Despite Cutler throwing close to 300 yards last weekend, if the Bears don't come
up with a big performance on defence, the Redskins could walk away with big win making the NFC an even tighter race.
Prediction: Redskins win a close one 16-14.
Tags: