The New Orleans Saints built their team to lean on its strong defense, but the unit isn’t perfect — and the Chicago Bears could be a concerning matchup for them, at least in one respect. Chicago can’t throw the ball very well whether it’s Justin Fields or Tyson Bagent under center, but they’ve run consistently ran well this season. That explosive running game could be a problem for the Saints on Sunday.
Just one team has more rushing attempts of 10 or more yards than the Bears, who have done so 34 times (being the Baltimore Ravens, with 35). Two of Chicago’s top three running backs have posted success rates over 50%, with rookie draft pick Roschon Johnson (45.2%) closing in on Khalil Herbert (51.0%) and D’Onta Foreman (60.0%), who has gashed the Saints before.
The Saints’ run defense appeared to have improved over last year’s results (improving from 24th to 15th in rushing yards allowed per game) going into Week 9’s game with the Indianapolis Colts, but they benefited from a schedule missing many effective rushing offenses. Look at where each opposing offense ranks in rushing yards per game:
- Tennessee Titans: 13th
- Carolina Panthers: 24th
- Green Bay Packers: 25th
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 30th
- New England Patriots: 27th
- Houston Texans: 23rd
- Jacksonville Jaguars: 16th
- Indianapolis Colts: 9th
Indianapolis was the best rushing team the Saints faced all season, and they ran for 164 yards against New Orleans (a season-high). Enter the Bears, who rank sixth-best, trailing the fifth-ranked San Francisco 49ers by less than one rushing yard per game. Chicago does a great job winning at the line of scrimmage and opening lanes for their rushers to knife through and pick up chunks of yards.
But they’ll be shorthanded on Sunday. Their top running back Khalil Herbert is out with an injury, as is quarterback Justin Fields, whose efforts on the ground have done a lot to keep the offense moving. That could make enough of a difference for the Saints to slow them down, but this isn’t an opponent they can take lightly.
