Bears Blitz

Published by Ross Read on November 19, 2014
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears

Are you ready to welcome former Bears head coach Lovie Smith back to Chicago? This looks like an easy win for the Bears on paper, but this season has proven to be anything but predictable. 

In order for the Bears to take care of the Bucs, they must shut down their fantastic rookie wide receiver, attack a questionable lead cornerback and slow down one of the league’s best defensive tackles. 

There hasn’t been much to rave about this season for the Bucs, but rookie Mike Evans is having a terrific year. Since coming back from an early injury that kept him out of Week 5, Evans has had seven touchdowns in five games. 

Rookie Kyle Fuller will get the call on the big target. Evans does most of his damage down the field in jump ball situations. It’s important for Fuller to get a bump on him within the first five yards. 

Allowing Evans to run clean down the field would put Fuller and the Bears at a disadvantage. He’s surprisingly fast for his size and is a great route-runner down the seam. 

On the offensive side of the ball for the Bears, they need to keep feeding the beast. Brandon Marshall is hot after what was his best game of the season and can continue to feast off of Alterraun Verner. 

Verner came over from the Titans in the offseason on a big free-agent deal but has hardly lived up to the hype. He has only one interception and five passes defended this year after having five interceptions and 23 passes defended last year. 

Whether it’s Lovie Smith’s system, the payday or the fact Verner isn’t as good as many thought, he’s being paid like a No. 1 corner and hasn’t delivered. He’s not the only one struggling on this defense. 

Like Captain Munnerlyn last week, Marshall can easily take advantage of the smaller Verner. Expect a lot of soft coverages from Verner as Lovie Smith likes to go with a bend-don’t-break defense. Marshall can catch a lot of underneath routes and use his size to gain chunks of yards after the catch. 

It’s important to continue to run the football and keep Jay Cutler clean. Last week the Bears didn’t give up any sacks, but now they have to deal with All-Pro Gerald McCoy. 

There are just a handful of defensive tackles in the conversation for best in the league, and McCoy is one of them. It’s up to center Roberto Garza to use his veteran awareness and slide the right protections to McCoy. 

While Garza can’t stop McCoy alone, he can slow him down enough with the help of Kyle Long and Michael Ola. The responsibility still falls on Garza to make sure he outsmarts McCoy for most of the game. 

If Marshall has a better day than Evans and McCoy doesn’t dominate the game, then the Bears should have no problem getting one step closer to .500. 

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