2. Attack the Bears secondary
The Chicago Bears have a tremendous pass rush. It is probably the best in the league. They have Khalil Mack, Akiem HIcks, and Leonard Floyd getting into the opponents’ backfield. They also have Eddie Goldman manning the middle. In addition, they have great depth. Aaron Lynch is having a pretty good season in a rotation. Having him play fewer snaps also keeps him healthy. Bilal Nichols may not get a lot of attention but he is giving Hicks the rest he needs to continue to harass quarterbacks. On the other side of Hicks, Jonathan Bullard and Roy Robertson-Harris are holding their own.
Quarterback Kirk Cousins is having a good season himself. He has 2,685 passing yards and a 17/5 touchdown to interception rate. If he can handle that Bears pass rush he should be able to complete passes downfield. While the Bears lead the league in interceptions (16), they rank only 21st in passing touchdowns allowed. It’s feast or famine for that secondary.
Kyle Fuller is the epitome of the Jekyll and Hyde Bears secondary. He is tied for second in interceptions with four. Additionally, he has 11 passes defended, two away from the top. On the other hand, he’s given up some big touchdowns and he’s had some interception chances that he dropped. The most notable was against the Packers in Week 1 that would have sealed a win for the Bears.
One criticism of the defense is their tackling. Watching film of their games, they’ve had way too many missed tackles for an elite defense. If the pass rush can’t get to the quarterback, the other guys must tackle well and not give up a lot of yards. This hurt them against the Miami Dolphins. Miami deactivated quarterback Ryan Tannehill before the game and sent out Brock Osweiler. After throwing two interceptions throwing downfield, the Dolphins decided to dink and dunk the rest of the game. The Bears missed a lot of tackles and the Dolphins took advantage of it to get a lot of yards and a few touchdowns. Cousins has to find the receivers quickly and guys like Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen have to make their defenders miss. They can try the short passes to soften up the defense then try to hit the long ball.
The running game doesn’t need to have a big night. In fact, I don’t expect much as the Bears have the top overall rushing defense. They rank second in rushing yards allowed and lead in rushing touchdowns and yards per carry allowed. It wasn’t until Week 9 against the Buffalo Bills that the Bears defense allowed a rushing touchdown.
What the running game needs to do is have a few good runs to keep the Bears honest. When they know they can stop your running game whenever they want, they become beasts and try to devour the quarterback. If the running game helps out the Vikings have a great shot of winning.
Next: Don’t let Khalil Mack beat you
