Looking to build off their 29-10 win over the Browns in Week 1, Carson Wentz and the Eagles head into Soldier Field Monday night to take on the Bears. In what will be the Bears' home opener, Chicago will be going for its first win following a 23-14 season-opening loss to the Texans in Houston.
The last time these two teams met was at the tail end of the 2013 season, when the Eagles throttled the Bears at the Linc, 54-11.
Here's what they're saying about the Eagles' week two opponent:
Chicago needs to be more creative with its play calling
In their opener, the Bears were able to muster just 73 net yards on the ground on 20 attempts. But according to Brad Briggs of the Chicago Tribune, the Texans' defense wasn't the only thing holding back the Bears' running game, writing that Chicago needs to be more creative in its play calling to give the rushing attack the chance to succeed.
"Maybe it's worth a look at the play selection by offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains," writes Briggs. "The Bears snapped the ball 32 times in shotgun formation and did not hand off once. They had 24 snaps with quarterback Jay Cutler under center and ran 19 times. One game doesn't make a trend. The sample size is too small and it's just the first entry in a data bank for the season. But that lopsided disparity of pass/run calls by formation could explain some of the struggles against the Texans. After all, Houston defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel is in his fourth decade in the NFL."
Jay Cutler needs to stay off his back if the Bears want to compete
The Texans sacked Jay Cutler five times and hit him an additional 13 times in Week 1. Since joining the Bears in 2009 Cutler has been sacked 239 times, which is fifth most in the league during that span according to pro-football-reference.com.
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According to Jeff Dickerson of ESPN.com, if the Bears don't figure out a way to protect Cutler their playoff aspirations will dwindle fast.
"The Bears worked hard to revamp the offensive line, signing veterans Josh Sitton and Bobby Massie, drafting Cody Whitehair, who just shifted to center, and rewarding Kyle Long with a four-year, $40 million extension," wrote Dickerson. "Blitz pickup is not solely the responsibility of the line. The Bears let veteran Matt Forte walk in the offseason; he happened to be their most consistent blocking back. Forte’s loss is expected to be felt on many levels in 2016.The receivers also have roles protecting the quarterback. The point is not to cast individual blame. Collectively, the Bears better figure out how to keep Cutler upright. For all the consternation over Cutler, the Bears have almost zero shot of achieving their 2016 goals without him."
The Bears will try to bring Carson Wentz back down to Earth
It was hard to find a single flaw in Carson Wentz's NFL debut against the Browns. The rookie quarterback completed 22 of 37 passes for 278 yards and two touchdowns, both of which came off perfectly thrown balls.
Wentz got a lot of love this week, from his jersey being the highest-selling in the league following his debut, getting a shoutout from the President and being named the Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Week, but the Bears are looking to give Wentz his first taste of failure in the NFL. Bears defensive coordinator Vic Fangio might be just the right man for that job, according to Rich Campbell of the Chicago Tribune.
"The Bears will try to test that toughness and resolve. Eagles coaches have emphasized to Wentz the need to protect himself, specifically when to throw the ball away, when to slide and the danger of setting up to throw outside the pocket but inside the numbers," Campbell wrote. "Fangio will try to exploit all of that. He has won five of the seven games he has coordinated against a rookie quarterback since 2011. In those games, the quarterbacks have combined for a 57-percent completion rate and an 84.3 rating, according to profootball-reference.com. If he can help coax numbers like that out of Wentz, the headlines Tuesday in Philadelphia probably will tell a different story."
Predicitons
The Bears could very well finish in the basement of the NFC North for the third consecutive year, but, even with that said, a majority of the national experts aren't high on Carson Wentz leaving Chicago with the first road win of his career.
Chicago Sun Times: All seven experts picked the Bears.
CBS Sports: Six of eight experts picked the Bears.
ESPN: Five of nine experts picked the Bears.
Fox Sports: Three of five experts picked the Bears.
