After the Chicago Bears were blown out, 41-10, by the Kansas City Chiefs, the Bears can finally look ahead to a winnable matchup against the Denver Broncos in Week 4.
Denver is also winless through three games, but that doesn’t mean they have the same level of dysfunction that Chicago does. The Broncos still have an above average quarterback in Russell Wilson, with a solid offense and defense surrounding him. The Bears will need to rise to the occasion and improve in several key areas if the fans can enjoy Chicago’s first win in nearly a full calendar year.
Buy Bears TicketsLet’s take a look at five keys to a Bears victory over the Broncos in Week 4.
1
Justin Fields puts together his best game of the season
It’s becoming to sound like a broken record at this point, but the play of a quarterback is the backbone of nearly every NFL team. An organization lives and dies by that principle and, through that lens, the Bears have been dead since the season began.
Chicago has stumbled its way into another week of football, which means Fields has another chance to put his early season struggles to rest. Fields was more willing to throw the deep ball in last Sunday’s game, though a few drops from his supposedly reliable receivers certainly didn’t help. He also seemed to be a bit more decisive on any given passing play, throwing with more confidence or taking off with his legs on plays he felt wouldn’t work. Fields will need to have his best game of the season, utilizing his talent and instinct to out-duel Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson to get the win.
As much as the fans are sick of hearing it, Fields did make some improvements last week, however minor they are. It’s time for him to make a major leap in Week 4 and become Chicago’s franchise quarterback.
2
The run game is productive
The running backs continued to be a non-factor in Week 3, with rookie Roschon Johnson toting the ball eight times for 38 yards and Khalil Herbert getting seven carries for 31 yards. The offense flashed a faint sign of life in the run game early, but the Chiefs ran up the score as soon as the game began and the Bears had to resort to getting yards through the air.
Chicago will need to keep the offense on schedule with a healthy dose of the run in Week 4 against Denver. The Broncos have a talented defensive secondary that features the likes of cornerback Patrick Surtain, Kareem Jackson and Justin Simmons, so keeping them from anticipating a predictable pass will be crucial in getting a win. Fields will also need to be the final piece of the triple running threat, as a potent run game with a running quarterback will open up passing lanes downfield.
3
The pass rush contains Broncos QB Russell Wilson
In many respects, Wilson is what the Bears hoped Fields would be: an athletic running signal-caller who stretches plays with his legs and finds his receivers deep for big gains. The Bears defensive front will have the job of keeping Wilson in the pocket and not allowing him to break the defense’s spirit by making something out of nothing.
Despite Denver’s 0-3 record to begin the season, Wilson has recovered from an abhorrent 2022 campaign and has put together a solid season so far. With the exception of last year, Wilson has the ability to dissect defenses from the pocket.
It will be head coach Matt Eberflus’s job to call more complex defensive plays to fool him (more on that later). The front four will have the task of eliminating the other half of Wilson’s game, pushing the pocket with discipline and containing him. If the unit can get an interior rush while the edge rushers can hold the outside leverage on the pocket, it’ll crush any playmaking ability Wilson will try to muster.
4
The secondary limits the impact of Jerry Jeudy and Courtland Sutton
Teams that can’t score a win in the early portion of the season are usually regarded as franchises that have major deficiencies in talent, but that’s not the case with Denver. The team has skill up and down the roster, but they haven’t been able to congeal it into a unified group that can get a win. One major area of strength the Broncos have is at the receiver position, as they boast the dynamic pass-catching duo of Jerry Jeudy and Courtland Sutton.
The Bears defense will need to match up and adjust to each receiver’s strengths and weaknesses and minimize their impact as much as possible. Cornerback Jaylon Johnson, if healthy, would likely to match up with Sutton, as he matches Sutton’s large frame and can compete at a high catch point. Rookie cornerback Tyrique Stevenson will have the task of keeping up with the game-breaking speed of Jeudy, who has split open many defenses for huge gains down the field. Safety Eddie Jackson, if he plays, will be shadowing Jeudy if he’s active this week, and Jaquan Brisker will fill in that role otherwise.
As was the case in Week 2 when Chicago’s secondary went up against Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, it’s incredibly difficult to completely eliminate an elite receiver from making plays; it will be the secondary’s job to keep those big plays from affecting the outcome of the game. And if the team is down Johnson and Jackson, things could get ugly.
5
Matt Eberflus and Luke Getsy have better game plans
Eberflus and Getsy are public enemy number one in Chicago right now, and for good reason. Getsy continued to throw out frustratingly simple and archaic passing concepts out on the field in Week 3, which the Chiefs defense saw through easily. Eberflus has done a poor job in calling defensive plays since taking the role from former defensive coordinator Alan Williams, calling equally bland and vanilla coverages that the invulnerable Chiefs punctured effortlessly.
That simply cannot be the case in Sunday’s game. Both Eberflus and Getsy need to display more creativity in their respective playcalling abilities, because the opposition is seeing right through it. There are offenses like the Dolphins who’s cutting edge offensive scheme of extreme misdirection and motion allows them to drop 70 points on the Broncos in last week’s game, and the Bears are using the same tired scheme that continues the cycle of losing football. The same goes for Eberflus; a base coverage of Cover 2 just doesn’t cut it anymore. It’s much too passive and uninspired, and doesn’t contribute to Eberflus’s notorious HITS philosophy.
A collapse as spectacular as the Bears’ can’t just be blamed on just the players; the coaches are equally as responsible. It’s time for the Getsy and Eberflus to coach at the NFL standard, or they shouldn’t be coaching professionally at all.
