Chicago Bears: New York Giants running game is no joke
The Chicago Bears need to do a good job against the run in week two or they will lose.
The Chicago Bears are going into a huge week two matchup with the New York Giants. This is their second week in a row where they are going into the game where they should be able to beat their opponent without much issue. Well, we saw how that worked out in week one as they probably didn’t even deserve to win that game against the Lions. They were a dropped touchdown or miracle fourth quarter away from starting the season 0-1.
One key to having a better week is doing a better job of containing the running game. The Detroit Lions pretty much had their way with the Chicago defense. They had 138 total yards rushing. Matthew Stafford had 23 yards on five carries, Kerryon Johnson 14 yards on seven carries, and D’Andre Swift had eight yards on three carries. None of those are awesome but 35-year-old Adrian Peterson was able to get 93 yards on 14 carries.
Petterson is a legendary running back but he isn’t what he was back when he was on the Minnesota Vikings. The Bears know all about him from those days but they still allowed him to dominate the game. With some of the names the Bears have on defense, you should be able to expect them to be better in that area.
Well, if they were that bad against an aging Peterson, how are they going to do against Saquon Barkley? That guy is one of the best running backs in the NFL and he has the ability to dominate games for the Giants. If the Bears don’t play him better than they played Peterson, they are going to have a very bad time.
The Pittsburgh Steelers did almost too good of a job against Barkley’s running attack on Monday Night Football in week one. Giants quarterback, Daniel Jones, led the team in rushing with 22 yards on four attempts. Dion Lewis managed to have one yard on one carry. Barkley had an abysmal six yards on 15 carries. That is something the Bears would love to see happen again.
Hot. Ryan Pace makes the Bears worse every day. light
In order for that to be the case, you need to get to him before he even reaches the line of scrimmage. Numbers that bad is probably unrealistic but they can try and repeat the ability to keep him grounded. They are perceived to have a really good defense but they didn’t show it in week one. This is their chance to take advantage of a bad offensive line and show some life against the run game. If they do that, it could be the key to starting the season 2-0.