The Chicago Bears (1-1) will battle the Houston Texans (0-1-1) on Sunday where Chicago will be looking to rebound after a brutal Week 2 loss.
Chicago is coming off a brutal loss to their rivals the Green Bay Packers (1-1), where their deficiencies in run defense and pass defense were exposed. The Bears will look to get back on track against a Texans offense that’s as unimpressive as Chicago’s.
As the Bears prepare to face the Texans, here’s what Chicago’s defense needs to do to slow down the Houston offense in Week 3.
Stop the run
The Bears have the worst run defense through the first two weeks of the season, where they’re allowing 189.5 yards on the ground per game. Stopping the run will be a focal point this week for Matt Eberflus’ defense, where tackling will be key. The Texans are only averaging 78.5 rushing yards per game, but their game plan will feature a healthy dose of rookie running back Dameon Pierce. Chicago is going to need to shore up its run defense and force quarterback Davis Mills to beat them.
Bring the pressure on Davis Mills
After getting steamrolled by Aaron Rodgers last week, the Bears defense catches a break when they face second-year quarterback Davis Mills. As is the case with young quarterbacks, bringing the pressure on Mills will be key. Chicago is among the teams that blitzes the least in the league, so it’ll be up to that pass rush to make things uncomfortable for Mills. The Bears have five sacks this season, which is tied for the 12th most in the league, and they’ll be looking to add to that this week.
Force turnovers
Speaking of pressuring Mills, the Bears defense has an opportunity to force him into some mistakes. Chicago’s defense has three takeaways this season, which have come on self-inflicted mistakes by the opposing offense. The Texans have only turned the ball over once this season, so they could be difficult to come by. We’ll see if this Bears defense can force Houston into the kind of mistakes they’ve managed to avoid through the first two weeks. This game might come down to which team makes the fewest mistakes. So if there are mistakes by the Texans, Chicago needs to capitalize.
