Game Overview ::
By Mike Johnson >>
- The Chiefs narrowly escaped an 0-2 start by squeaking by the Jaguars in Week 1 and now look to get their offense back on track.
- The entire Bears organization is reeling right now, both on and off the field.
- The Bears have been using Justin Fields in sub-optimal ways through two weeks and given the putrid results we should expect some adjustments in Week 3.
- Kansas City likely needs to run the ball more often to increase the efficiency of their offense due to their lack of “matchup winners” in their receiving corps.
- This is likely to be the most lopsided outcome on this week’s slate.
How Chicago Will Try To Win ::
Chaos. That’s the best way to describe the current state of things in Chicago. The Bears entered the season with high hopes after “winning” the offseason with some free agent signings, all their cap space, and loading up on draft picks after trading the #1 overall pick. A little over a week after the first regular season snap, however, things are beginning to unravel. The defense continues to be put on notice on a weekly basis while the offense has regressed. They have stopped using Justin Fields on designed runs (only TWO through two games) and there have been several plays where film study will show he has missed wide open receivers on what should be elementary reads. The running game has also struggled, as the lack of designed runs for Fields is shrinking the running lanes for running backs and the offensive line is getting decimated with injuries that are making those running lanes few and far between. The end result of all of this is a passing game that strikes no fear in defenses and a running game that can’t consistently gain positive yardage to create favorable down and distance situations.
As we enter Week 3, the Bears are facing a litany of challenges. There are some things going on off the field that are concerning, but we won’t get into that here. The biggest thing to consider is what their offensive approach will actually be. Considering how poorly this season has started for the offense and the comments of Justin Fields to the media this week, smart money is on a change of approach that more closely resembles the late-2022 Bears offense that ran the ball with Fields and their backs, focused on easier reads, and let Fields play more “sandlot” ball by utilizing his athleticism to ad-lib. Chicago has to expect the Chiefs to score points here, which means they should enter with the mindset of maximizing points. However, they also have to be cognizant of being too aggressive and getting into a track meet. In an ideal world, they would eat up a lot of clock and shorten the game while minimizing turnovers. The reality is that they are likely going to struggle to stay on the field and sustain drives unless Fields is able to make enough off-script plays to keep them in the game. If they can get to halftime with both teams scoring under 14 points, they have a chance to muck it up in the third quarter and hope for some good bounces late.
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