4th and Goal(s): Bears Late Season Win Streak Depends on Dalton
Similarly struggling Giants provide rare match where Bears could be favored
Well, how about that? Late in a hard-to-swallow 2021 season, the Chicago Bears are in a position to spark off a late-season win streak. How’s that to swallow?
Coming off a big-time victory in Seattle over the Seahawks last Sunday, the Bears will look to win back to back games against the Giants in their home finale today.
The team last won two straight in Week’s 4 and 5 of this season when the Bears last formulated a winning record (3-2) and it was looking like the team had a new spark under Justin Fields.
Of course, now Fields is banged up (ankle) with more of a mind to 2022 (which we all should at this point) than saving ‘21 and once again the Bears are turning to quarterback Andy Dalton to lead them, this time against a against a struggling Giants team.
It has been pretty rare around these parts to see the Bears favored over an opponent and according to Vegas they will indeed be just under a touchdown favorite for this game (whether or not that is a smart bet, we’ll leave to the experts).
Injuries have riddled both teams ahead of this contest, assisting in the bad play by both, but the Bears look to be the more healthy team at this juncture. This match-up should prove to be a fun exercise in two subpar teams each fighting for the lives of their head coaches. Here is how the Bears can get a victory in their last home game of the 2021-2022 season and *gasp,* maybe help make Matt Nagy’s seat cooler.
Don’t let the train get going – One thing the Giants would love to do this is get their running back Saquon Barkley rolling, but it has been a struggle for the once promising playmaker, whose career is still reeling after the effects of his last trip to Soldier Field.
This Giants running attack has been easily shut down for the majority of the year, it’s one that still relies heavily on the No. 2 overall pick from 2018 and Barkley hasn’t been that guy since Week 2 in Chicago in 2020.
Therefore, the Bears need to make sure they come ready to stop the run and short of injuring Barkley again, make sure this isn’t a revenge game for him. Many times this year, and throughout coach Nagy’s tenure, the run defense has failed to show up. Taking away the run from a dependent Giants team would put them in a tough situation.
After Step 1, finish off Step 2 – Where the Giants should seriously struggle is in the passing game. Quarterback Jake Fromm is a young quarterback that had success in college, but he has primarily been New York’d third string backup. The team’s other possible signal caller this week could be infamous former Bear Mike Glennon…uh, yeah…
This Bears team has struggled defensively for most of this season, but this should be as much of a “gimme” as the Bears are going to see.
The key here is to confuse either possible quarterback with different looks from defensive coordinator Sean Desai and to bring the pressure via the blitz or getting home with the pass rush from edge rusher Robert Quinn.
Don’t beat yourselves – The Bears have been about as bad as any team in the turnover margin, usually the Bears will turn over the football but rarely take it away. That’s not to say the Bears necessarily are a turnover machine but the importance of taking care of the football is ramped up in this one.
Realistically, the Giants will need a few breaks themselves, perhaps they can come in the form of too many penalties, which has been a consistent issue with the Bears. As long as the Bears can stay as disciplined as the Giants then their talent should overwhelm the under-manned New York club.
Control the game – Too often in the Nagy tenure the Bears have gotten too cute with how they execute situational football. It’s very easy to picture a scenario where Nagy becomes enamored with the ability to run his offense with Dalton and go on to do things that go over the Red Rifle’s red head.
The strength of the Bears is their run game, that should be the case no matter who is playing QB. As a team, the game plan should be to take control of the game on the ground and slowly overwhelm the Giants, where they then must rely on turnovers or freaky big plays.
Keep the Giants desperate by demoralizing them with big boy football and running the rock straight down their throats. That’s how you get a second win in a row.
Ryan Bukowiecki covers the Chicago Bears and professional football for WARR