Chicago Bears vs. Pittsburgh Steelers: Five players to watch

2. Martavis Bryant

I shouldn’t even have to mention that the Chicago Bears will obviously be watching Antonio Brown closely in this game. After all, #84 for the Steelers is no worse than the second-best receiver in the league, before or after Julio Jones. And you know that he’ll get his touches against a “meh” Bears secondary.

If we’re going to be honest, though, I’d be far more worried about the Bears getting destroyed by Bryant than Brown.

Brown’s speed, quickness and shifty route-running will serve him well no matter if Prince Amukamara, Kyle Fuller or Marcus Cooper checks him. However, given what I saw from Fuller last week, I think he can at least somewhat run with Brown. At the very least, hopefully, he’ll limit some of his yards-after-catch opportunities with his solid tackling.

Bryant, though? That guy’s a mutant, and I’m not sure the Bears can stop him from breaking at least one big play.

At nearly 6’4” with an almost 40” vertical leap and 4.3 speed, Bryant looks like a mad scientist’s take on a wide receiver. And when he’s not serving suspensions, like right now, he routinely runs over and around defense like they aren’t there. Truthfully, it often doesn’t matter if they are because they can’t catch him anyway.

The Chicago Bears better have a plan for limiting him. And even if they do, he might go big on them anyway.