Stock up
Marcus Cooper Jersey , stock down: Bears-Patriots That was a tough loss Sunday and the Bears are back at .500. Granted, not many would have picked the Patriots
game to be a win when the schedule was announced, but disappointment comes with
changing expectations.Being .500 here is actually progress for the Bears, who
have been out of it by Halloween for the last few years.They have a chance to
get back into the win column over the next couple of weeks and get things
pointed in the right direction heading into the halfway point.So let’s take a
look back at Sunday’s game, and see which players need to improve and which
players need to keep playing well to help the Bears get back to their winning
ways.Stock upBilal Nichols, DT - The rookie fifth round pick had himself a day
trying to pick up the pass rush for the Bears. Nichols had a forced fumble and a
QB hit, as well as being very close to splitting a sack with Roquan Smith.Kyle
Fuller, CB - Three interceptions in two games definitely deserves a shoutout.
Did he play perfect? No, but he had three passes defensed to go with a right
place, right time INT.Trey Burton, TE - On a day where the Patriots seemed
determined to not let Taylor Gabriel get open, Burton picked up the slack with a
career day: nine receptions for 126 yards (both career highs) and a touchdown.
Stock downDion Sims, TE - What is he still doing on this roster? The one pass
that went his way bounced off his hands and was incomplete. I get that he’s just
filler until Adam Shaheen comes back
https://www.thebearsfanshop.com/Kyle-Fuller-Jersey , but Sims has been a waste of money.Eddie Jackson, S - This is two weeks in a row
he makes an appearance here, but he needs to be better. His failure to wrap up
(a knock on him coming out of Alabama) allowed Josh Gordon to run free for most
of the extra yardage on the touchdown.Ben Braunecker, TE - I hate to jump on the
kid, especially when you hear his post game comments, but a small technique
mistake will be deadly in the NFL and it was Sunday. Branecker is a core special
teamer and is solid on that unit, but he deserves the mention here, even though
it pains me to do so.Who did I miss? Who are your picks?Chicago Bears vs New
England Patriots Preview: What to Watch For The Chicago Bears are attempting to
stay above .500. A loss in this game would drop them to 3-3 and almost assuredly
knock them out of first place in the NFC North. The Patriots present a huge test
for the Bears, but this isn’t the one-sided affair that it has been in the past.
The Bears actually seem to have an offense and I would be shocked if the defense
looks like it did last week, if for no other reason than pride. If we look at
the early season DVOA—provided by Football Outsiders—for both teams, this looks
like the opposite of the Bucs game. The Bears are still 1st in defensive DVOA,
while the Pats are down at 19th. This seems like the place where the Bears
actually have an advantage. While on paper this looks like another
strength-on-strength game, the Patriots just surrendered 40 points to the
Cheifs
Bryce Callahan Color Rush Jersey , while the Bears keep climbing up the offensive rankings after hanging 28 points on Miami’s 5th ranked defense (now 9th).So far
through 5 games, the Bears look to be in their biggest dog fight and this is
what I will be watching for:What to Watch ForOn offense, the name of the game
will be exploiting match-ups. The Patriots defense is not exactly fleet-of-foot
and there will be advantages that the Bears have. On paper, I would say that
this looks like another game that Taylor Gabriel and Tarik Cohen should have
huge games, but I think it ends up being very balanced. Look for a few seldom
used players to get some passes thrown their way this week. Once again, I expect
Jordan Howard to have more impact in the passing game than the running game. The
Patriots are simply too dangerous to try and score points by running the ball.
That said, he is likely successful on a per carry basis, so don’t let the
numbers fool you. Could this finally be the week that Kevin White gets a target?
If Matt Nagy has a few tricks he’s been saving, this might be the game to try
and incorporate them.Defensively, it will also start up front. New England’s
offensive line is not particularly great in the interior, but strong on the
edges. With the way that Tom Brady is able to get the ball out of his hands
quickly, it will be up to Akiem Hicks, Eddie Goldman
Josh Bellamy Jersey , Roy Robertson-Harris, Jonathan Bullard, and Bilal Nichols to get the push up front. If I was Vic Fangio, I would run a 4-3 nickel base,
often using Leonard Floyd in coverage. Don’t sleep on Sony Michel and the
running game either. This is an area that makes this game tougher. When the
Bears have faced highly-ranked offenses previously, they didn’t have much in the
way of a running game. The Patriots are very solid in this department and it’s
going to put a ton of pressure on the interior defensive lineman to get a
constant push up-the-middle and for the inside linebackers to not get caught by
the play-action passing game.That’s what I will be watching for on Sunday
afternoon, what about you? The Bears got cooled off by the heat last week,
coming home should make for a better performance all around, but is Brady &
Co. just too much for them to handle?Watch out for my ‘which players to watch
for’ coming later today.
