Chicago Bears: Atlanta’s wide receivers are a big problem
The Chicago Bears might have a problem containing the Atlanta Falcons’ wide receivers.
The Chicago Bears might be in trouble this weekend. They are about to face the best team that they will have faced to that point. They aren’t that good and they only reason that they are the best team the Bears will have seen is that the other two are the Detroit Lions and New York Giants. The Bears might be able to get somethings going offensively because the Atlanta Falcons aren’t good defensively. They are, however, good on offense.
The Bears have (what should be) a very good defense. They haven’t shown themselves to be world beaters yet but they have a lot of great players at every position. They are for sure going to have a tough time containing the wide receivers that the Atlanta Falcons can present to you.
They might be missing Julio Jones because of an injury. He didn’t practice on Wednesday or Thursday but he still might be able to dress for the game on Sunday in Atlanta. He was running his routes hurt last week against the Dallas Cowboys. He is known for playing through pain in his career but it is worth keeping an eye on.
They have another stud wide receiver on their team by the name of Calvin Ridley. He makes things a matchup nightmare for his opponents because he usually draws lesser competition thanks to having Julio on the other side. This is a duo that the Bears really need to contain as much as they can if they are going to have a chance to win. Even against a bad Atlanta defense, chances are that the Bears offense won’t be able to outscore the Atlanta offense if their wide receivers run wild.
Ridley has two touchdowns in each of his first two games this season. In the Super Bowl era, only Calvin Johnson has had two touchdowns in each of his team’s first three games. Ridley is probably going to look to be the second guy to accomplish that feat and the Bears will be in big trouble if he does.
With players like Khalil Mack, Akiem Hicks, and Robert Quinn putting pressure on Matt Ryan, it might be wise for them to run the football. They have Todd Gurley now and he might be getting a healthy dose of carries in this game as well. Whether Julio is healthy or not, they also have guys like Russell Gage and Hayden Hurst ready to get some targets as well. If the Bears want to win, containing this nightmare of a receiver core is a must.