Dissecting Most Crucial Matchups in the Bears’ Week 8 Contest with New England
Published by Matt Eurich on October 22, 2014
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears
After a 27-14 loss at home against the Miami Dolphins in Week 7, the Chicago Bears are set to go back on the road in Week 8 to take on the 5-2 New England Patriots in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
The Bears’ loss on Sunday pushed them further behind the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers in the NFC North standings. The Lions and Packers both hold identical 5-2 records, with Detroit currently holding the tiebreaker.
In order for the Bears to win Sunday and stay afloat in the playoff race, they are going to need to win these crucial one-on-one battles against the Patriots.
Matt Forte vs. Dont’a Hightower
One of the league’s best all-around running backs, Matt Forte is currently fifth in the NFL in rushing yards with 448 and leads the league in catches with 52.
Despite his productivity this season, head coach Marc Trestman decided to only give Forte two carries in the first half last Sunday in their loss to the Miami Dolphins.
“A couple of reasons,” Trestman said when asked why Forte’s touches were limited in the first half, via Adam Hoge of TheGameChicago.com. “We only ran 18 plays. That would be one. We didn’t convert on third down to roll anything over. We had two called runs, we had two runs called with options to throw and we had another two called where we pulled the ball with an option to throw, as well.”
Trestman altered his game plan at the start of the second half, running Forte seven times for 30 yards on their first possession in the third quarter. Forte’s running helped open up the passing game, and Jay Cutler hit Forte for a 10-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown to finish off the drive. Despite his productivity on that drive, Forte ran the ball just three more times the rest of the afternoon.
Forte has been a workhorse for the Bears this season, averaging nearly 24 touches per game, and they would be wise to put the football back into his hands this Sunday when they face the New England Patriots.
The Patriots have been great against the pass this year, No. 1 in the league, but they have struggled against the run, allowing the eighth-most yards per game this season with 126.3.
New England lost inside linebacker Jerod Mayo for the remainder of the season with a knee injury, forcing Dont’a Hightower to take on a bigger role on defense, particularly against the run.
Hightower missed a couple of games with a knee injury earlier this season but returned last week to take on the New York Jets on Thursday Night Football in Week 7. He finished the game with nine tackles and one sack.
While the Patriots came away with the victory, the Jets racked up 218 yards on the ground on 43 attempts, including 107 yards from New York’s Chris Ivory.
Despite the Jets being able to seemingly run the football at will against New England, Hightower showed off his impressive ability to pursue the ball carrier.
In the first quarter against New York, Hightower blitzed the B-gap, the area between the guard and the tackle.
Ivory received the handoff from quarterback Geno Smith and worked his way to the outside before Hightower was able to fight his way through traffic and bring him down after a one-yard gain.
Hightower is not the fastest linebacker on the field, but he does a good job of using his momentum to move laterally and fights through traffic better than most linebackers. The Bears have been effective this season when running to the outside with Forte, and they will need to rely more on guards Matt Slauson and Kyle Long to get out on the edge to seal Hightower from making plays.
Expect the Bears to try to utilize Forte as much as possible in the running game this week, but he will have his hands full if Hightower is allowed to roam laterally from sideline to sideline.
Jay Cutler vs. Darrelle Revis
A week after having one of his best performances of the season against the Atlanta Falcons, Jay Cutler reverted back to his old ways against the Miami Dolphins on Sunday afternoon.
He completed 21 passes for 190 yards with one touchdown, but he threw one interception, was sacked three times and fumbled three times, losing one.
Cutler explained what happened on his interception in the second quarter after the game.
“We got squeezed from the outside. It was a little bit high. I think Marty saw the squeeze coming, I don’t even know if he saw it, to be honest with you,” Cutler said, via Kevin Fishbain of ChicagoFootball.com. “We’ll take a look at it on film.”
When asked if he should have thrown it away, Cutler said, “No, that’s where I had to go,” via Fishbain.
Chicago’s success this season has hinged on the play of Cutler. In the team’s three wins, he has thrown seven touchdowns with no interceptions, while in the team’s four losses, he has thrown seven touchdowns with seven interceptions.
Life will not get much easier this week for Cutler with Darrelle Revis lining up at cornerback for the Patriots.
Once the most feared cornerback in the game, Revis is not the shutdown cornerback he was once made out to be, but he still one of the league’s best.
According to Pro Football Focus (subscription required), Revis has been targeted 31 times in the passing game, allowing 19 completions for 267 yards with one interception, while opposing quarterbacks have an 86.4 quarterback rating when throwing in his direction.
What makes Revis so effective is his ability to take over an opposing wide receiver’s route, essentially running it for him. On his only interception this season against the Minnesota Vikings, Revis was lined up opposite of receiver Greg Jennings.
Jennings worked to the inside off the snap with Revis following him stride for stride.
When Jennings broke to his right, Revis was able to prevent Jennings from crossing in front of him, and Minnesota quarterback Matt Cassel wrongly threw the football to the spot where he thought Jennings would be, resulting in Revis coming away with the interception.
Even though he is not the same playmaker he once was, Revis is still one of the most fundamentally sound cornerbacks in the game. Cutler often makes the mistake of trusting his wide receivers too much to make a play, but if he does that with one of his receivers who is covered by Revis on Sunday, he may be in for a long afternoon.
Jeremiah Ratliff vs. Ryan Wendell
A former Pro Bowl defensive tackle for the Dallas Cowboys, Jeremiah Ratliff signed with the Bears late last year and appeared in four games, registering seven tackles and 1.5 sacks.
Ratliff was plagued with injuries throughout much of 2012 and 2013 and went into training camp this summer relatively healthy. After missing three games because of a concussion earlier this season, Ratliff returned in Week 6 against the Atlanta Falcons but did not get his name on the stat sheet.
His impact did not go unnoticed on Sunday afternoon against the Miami Dolphins when Ratliff busted out for 3.5 sacks in the first half.
Ratliff used a combination of speed and strength all afternoon to get past Miami’s guards, particularly on his first sack of the game.
Lined up opposite of Miami’s Mike Pouncey as Chicago’s 3-technique tackle, Ratliff showed a terrific burst off the line of scrimmage. After failing to get inside on Pouncey, Ratliff used his strength to work the outside and was able to bring quarterback Ryan Tannehill down in the backfield.
Ratliff looked explosive throughout the entire game this past Sunday and will be spending a lot of time this Sunday lined up against New England’s Ryan Wendell.
Wendell has started the last two games at center for the injured Bryan Stork, who returned to practice this week, and will likely reclaim his spot at right guard this week.
An undrafted free agent in 2008, Wendell started 37 games coming into this season for the Patriots.
According to Pro Football Focus (subscription required), Wendell has been a solid run-blocker, grading out with a plus-1.7 in 259 total snaps. While he has been good at opening up holes in the running game, he has struggled at times as a pass-blocker, registering a minus-0.4 grade and allowing five quarterback hurries.
If Ratliff can play with the same explosiveness he did in Week 7 versus the Dolphins against Wendell on Sunday, he has a chance to wreak havoc on Patriots quarterback Tom Brady all afternoon.
Record/statistical information provided via email from the Chicago Bears or NFL.com.
Matt Eurich is an NFL/Chicago Bears Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report and a member of the Pro Football Writers of America.
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