Containing Charles vital for Bears ‘D’
It’s amazing what one win can do for an NFL team.
At 0-3 and returning home from an embarrassing performance in Seattle, it was hard to argue the Bears weren’t the worst team in the NFL.
Right now there are 11 teams in the league that are 1-3, and it really should be 13 with the game the officials stole fromthe 0-4 Lions and gifted to the 2-2 Seahawks.
As one of a group of 13 clubs, 41 percent of the league, you can now argue the Bears are much closer to the middle of the pack than they are to the bottom.
We’ll know a lot more when the Bears get to their bye week after visits this Sunday to the 1-3 Kansas City Chiefs and a week from Sunday to take on the hapless Lions.
I spent my Monday night the day after the Bears’ nightmare in Seattle on the sidelines at Lambeau Field covering the Packers’ win over the Chiefs.
I came away thinking the Chiefs are probably the best of the league’s bottom-feeders.
After opening the season with a win at Houston, the Chiefs gave one away to the 4-0 Broncos just four nights later at Arrowhead, and then went on the road to get beat by the 4-0 Packers and 4-0 Bengals.
While the Bears’ schedule hasn’t been easy by any stretch, the Chiefs’ has been torturous, and they are much more talented than the Bears.
What continues to impress me about Kansas City is that Jamaal Charles, Travis Kelce, Ben Grubbs, Justin Houston, Tamba Hali, Derrick Johnson and Eric Berry all continue to be among the best players in the league at their positions.
Who on the Bears other than Matt Forte, Kyle Long andmaybe Martellus Bennett can you say that about?
This game will offer us one of the best individual matchups we’re going to see all season.
Houston was just a ½ sack short of the NFL single season record last year with 22 and he rushes almost exclusively from the left side of the defense, off the right tackle’s outside shoulder.
He and Kyle Long should battle formost of the game, a pairing I’d buy a ticket for even if there weren’t going to be 20 other players on the field.
Long can and just might win it, but where will that leave the rest of the Bears’ rebuilt offensive line against Hali and a handful of other outstanding rushers, including Dontari Poe, Mike DeVito and Johnson?
Most of the Chiefs’ problems have been on the offensive line, but another matchup to fear is Charles challenging Shea McClellin and Christian Jones in the middle of the field.
Charles is quick as a hiccup, has the speed to go the distance, and can run 15 yards in a phone booth when cornered.
He will break the line of scrimmage repeatedly. What the Bears’ ILBs and rookie safeties Adrian Amos and Harold Jones-Quartey can do about it probably will dictate the outcome of the game.