Week 9 Bears Preview: New Look Squad Faces High-Flying Dolphins
Tua, Tyreek and Waddle will look to bombard young Bears defense; Fields and Claypool get acquainted on offense
After a couple weeks of roster upheaval, sad good-byes and unexpected welcomes, the Chicago Bears are ready to get back to action.
The Bears welcome themselves back to Soldier Field for an early Sunday contest against the Miami Dolphins, a team that has rudely inserted themselves into the AFC title hunt this season with a prolific air attack and by pulling off one of the most shocking moves of a shocking NFL trade deadline.
We’ve gone into just how prolific this year’s deadline was on this site and the Bears role in it was just about central to the proceedings. Prior to last week’s loss at Dallas, the Bears sent off Pro Bowl linebacker/defensive end Robert Quinn to the Eagles and the Cowboys may have had their discomfort with the deal in mind while hanging 49 points on the Bears’ defense.
In the 20-point loss Chicago’s “d” was lower case throughout all 60 minutes and several times even Roquan Smith seemed out of sorts in trying to corral the Cowboys’ Tony Pollard among others. The day after the deflating performance, Smith was sent packing to Baltimore and the Bears seemed officially to be in rebuild mode.
That is until Tuesday’s trade for Pittsburgh wide receiver Chase Claypool, a move that confused many outside Chicago but pleased most of the Bears faithful, outside of the detail of giving up Chicago’s assigned second-round pick to the Steelers to make the acquisition instead of the extra second-rounder that Baltimore provided.
Regardless of the draft capital left to play with next spring (eight 2023 draft picks to be exact), the remaining nine games of 2022 has a new-found potential energy that can be mined through the upcoming honeymoon period between Bears nation and its newest offensive weapon.
The Chase is On
Claypool touched down in Chicago Wednesday and over the next two days made good first impressions throughout Halas Hall. Reports from this week’s practices have the big, athletic 24-year-old a certainty to be included in Sunday’s game, though likely on a limited basis as he gets himself more familiar with the Bears’ playbook.
As wide receivers coach Tyke Tolbert said Thursday, Claypool can be expected to be fed a few specific plays.
“If you tell him, 'run that way, turn right, and catch the ball. He can do that.',” Tolbert told NBC Sports Chicago.
Claypool’s mere presence could set off alarms for Miami on Sunday — on one level it may be easy for the Dolphins defense to guard against him given the idea that when he’s on the field there’s a good chance he will be thrown to.
Or, Claypool could make for an effective decoy, who by attracting attention from certain Dolphins defenders would open up space for the likes of Darnell Mooney, N’Keal Harry or fellow Notre Dame alum Cole Kmet.
There’s also the potential effectiveness of Claypool as a blocker given his 6-4, 238 pound frame. The Bears’ league-leading rushing attack demands effective blocking on the edges where Claypool will spend much of his time.
"(Claypool) played inside. He played outside. That's something that's important,” said offensive coordinator Luke Getsy. “A guy who can do a lot of different things is really important for us in how we attack the game.”
Flying Fins
Miami enters this game with a 5-3 record and those two wins that put them above .500 came in their last two games, by a combined 10 points to two trade deadline sellers in Pittsburgh and Detroit. The three games before those were all losses where they scored no more than 17 points in each game.
So why do so many folks have the Fins as possible Super Bowl contenders?
Most recently, the team made use of its recent momentum by acquiring former Denver pass rush specialist Bradley Chubb. Soon after the deadline deal they extended the 2023 free agent five more seasons. Chubb will be wrecking havoc on opposing quarterbacks for at least the next couple years as a Dolphin and his first assignment will be to lay out Justin Fields, who’s already had to deal with Matthew Judon and Micah Parsons over the past two weeks.
Chubb adds defensive explosiveness to a team that already has explosiveness in spades on offense, to a record degree. No NFL offense has had two receivers start their seasons like Miami’s Tyreek Hill and Jalen Waddle. Hill leads the NFL in receiving yards (961) and is on pace for the league’s first-ever 2,000-yard receiving season while Waddle is on pace for a 1,500-yard season. The duo is ridiculously fast and covers more ground than any receiving duo you can name, they’ll be looking to stretch the Bears’ defensive backfield to its limit.
“It’s time to show true resilience for everyone in this room,” Eddie Jackson said this week. “We got a lot of young guys that’s never been through stuff like this…now it’s time for us to step up and show them, like, alright, this is how we handle this situation.”
Cincinnati showed last season just how much difference a consistent vertical offense makes for a team that does everything else modestly. And Miami’s potential record-breaking attack could be just getting in stride — remember, the ever-improving Tua Tagovailoa had to miss two games this season due to scary concussion issues.
Most recently, Tua hit for 382 yards and 3 touchdowns on a deadly 29-of-36 passing in the win over Detroit. Waddle scored twice while Hill averaged over 15 yards on 12 receptions (188 yards).
“I got the No. 1 and No. 4 wide receiver (in the league). I love Roquan, but I got some dogs coming to town,” Jaylon Johnson said. “My mind went from that situation to now what I can do to make my job better, what plays I can make this upcoming Sunday.”
Miami’s trade deadline addition of former 49er Jeff Wilson Jr. should also be noted, as it deepens a backfield that could already be a threat against a Bears’ defense that’ll be looking for the likes of Nicholas Morrow and rookie Jack Sanborn to man the middle of the field with some effectiveness under a lot of immediate pressure.
Bear Tracks
The Bears named defensive tackle Justin Jones a permanent captain this week in the wake of the Roquan Smith trade. Smith was previously a captain along with Justin Fields, Cody Whitehair and Eddie Jackson, who gained his position after previous captain Robert Quinn was traded to Philadelphia. This week’s honorary fifth captain is corner back Jaylon Johnson.
Guard Whitehair was welcomed back to practice this Wednesday and Friday he was officially set back on the 53-man roster. Whitehair hadn’t been in action since injuring his knee during the Week 4 loss at the New York Giants.
Both Whitehair and fellow offensive lineman Larry Borom (concussion) are expected to see some action Sunday but will each likely be on snap counts. Borom was part of a group of four starters, along with Eddie Jackson (hip), Kyler Gordon (hip) and Teven Jenkins (back) who were limited in practice for most of the week before being upgraded to full participation on Friday. Only rookie guard Ja’Tyre Carter (illness) was listed on Friday’s injury report.
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