Bears Blitz

Published by Hunter Prichard on September 21, 2010
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears

Who would have thought Week 3 of the NFL season would already have a potential “make-or-break” game in it? Well, that’s what Monday night’s game between the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears is. Both teams go into the game 2-0, and the winner will come out with an immense advantage in winning the NFC North.

With Detroit losing steam before they even got started (Matt Stafford going down early really put a wrench in this team’s hopefulness) and Minnesota looking absolutely awful on offense without a capable wide receiver, the NFC North may come down to the the Packers and the Bears.

On paper, the Green Bay offense looked much superior then Chicago’s going into the season. The Packers seemed to have a clear advantage at every skill position.

Let’s take a deeper look:

Quarterbacks:

Before the season, I would agree that Aaron Rodgers was better than Jay Cutler.

Now I’m not so sure.

Cutler has been firing the ball on all cylinders so far this season. It was a little bit shaky at first against Detroit, but getting the come-from-behind victory with a beautiful pass to Matt Forte was something that I never saw last year. How many times did we see Cutler drop back when the game was on the line and screw it up with either an interception or a bad-pass? Last year’s game against San Francisco was a clear example.

Not only that, but Cutler laced the ball through the Dallas defense with incredible ease. The Cowboys defense is pretty loaded (just look how they stopped the Shanahan/McNabb combo a week before) and it was really good to see the Bears offense perform so well.

Not to say that Rodgers has been terrible. He’s been able to take care of business against a good defense (Philly) and a bad one (Buffalo). But Cutler has the highest QB Rating in the league right now, so I’m giving him the advantage.

Advantage: Chicago

Running Backs:

Fortunately for Bears fans, the wheels on the GB offense really fell off in Week 1 with the injury to Grant. Brandon Jackson didn’t really show me anything in his first start against Buffalo. John Kuhn played fine. But if Jackson and Kuhn weren’t able to get it going against a below-average D, then how will they do against Chicago?

We’ve learned something already about the Bears D so far this season. If Chicago can shut down the run game, then they have a HUGE advantage at shutting down the pass. Marion Barber couldn’t even get 3 yards a carry. Tony Romo was able to rack up the yards, but the Dallas O couldn’t score to save their lives.

Matt Forte is bringing all sorts of revenge to the people who doubted him last season. Mike Martz is using him in inventive ways, and Forte is talented enough and healthy enough to take advantage of it.

Advantage: Chicago

Receivers:

This is where Green Bay has a huge advantage. Devin Hester and Johnny Knox have played very well, but they are not in the same league as Greg Jennings. Jennings is a perfect No. 1 wideout for Rodgers’ skill set, and Donald Driver is a good No. 2.

Advantage: Green Bay

Defense:

Both defenses have played rather well this year.

The one thing I have to say about Green Bay is that even though they were able to limit Philadelphia to only 20 points in Week 1, they benefitted fromplaying a good portion of the game against Kevin Kolb. Kolb could not adjust to being a NFL starter. But when Michael Vick came into the game, he was able to shred the GB defense reasonably well.

Vick hadn’t started an NFL game in three years, and he ran pretty easily through the Packers. He’s a good athlete, but he’s not the player he once was.

Chicago’s defense has been good, not great. They limited Dallas to 20 points, although I have a feeling that Dallas isn’t really that great of a team. Still, that is Romo who they were able to contain, so there is something to be said about that.

Advantage: Neutral.

Closing statements:

Cutler has been playing out of his mind, and the Green Bay defense isn’t good enough for me to think he won’t keep this up – at least for another game. Will Green Bay be able to show up after walking through the Buffalo victory?

As we learned with Dallas, even if the Bears allow the Rodgers/Jennings tandem to go off, it won’t be that terrible. Dallas had trouble scoring, and with the lack of a Packers running game, they will probably have some trouble too.

Final Score Predictions: Chicago beats Green Bay, 34 – 26

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