Bears vs Saints – 5 Questions with Who Dat Dish
It’s a Week 2 matchup between a couple of NFC contenders, as the Chicago Bears march into the Superdome to take on former Bear Olin Kreutz, Drew Brees and the Saints. New Orleans suffered a tough loss to the champion Packers in the NFL Kickoff last Thursday night, so they’ve had plenty of time to stew over their loss and get ready for the Bears, who put on an impressive show in their 30-12 win over last season’s #1 seed in the NFC, the Atlanta Falcons.
In this week’s Blogger Exchange Program, we sent 5 questions to Keith Null, the editor of WhoDatDish, to help get acquainted with this week’s opponent.
1. The Saints suffered a tough 42-34 loss against the Packers way back last Thursday in Week 1. Are you concerned about the 42 points the Saints gave up to the Packers? Any chance the Bears, who put up 30 against the Falcons in their Week 1 win, could put up some points against Gregg Willams’ defense?
It’s too early to be concerned with the defense. Let’s face it, the Green Bay Packers offense is potent and can score on anyone. Early on they picked on Roman Harper and nickel corner Patrick Robinson — it was good game plan — scoring them 21 points in the first quarter alone. Good news is the defense came back strong in the second half surrerdering only one touchdown, and also letting the Packers convert on third down only once. Gregg Williams is not going to overlook the Bears offense, and you can bet he as tailored a game plan specifically for Jay Cutler. I don’t see the Bears scoring as much as the Packers did this Sunday.
2. The Saints are a little banged up at wide receiver. Which offensive player(s) might we expect to step up in Colston and Moore’s absencce?
Lance Moore has a good shot at playing which is great news for the Saints as he has proven to be one of the teams best and most reliable receivers. The Saints have great depth at receiver and any one of their guys — Devery Henderson, Robert Meachem, Adrian Arrington, Courtney Roby — can step up and have a great game considering it’s Drew Brees delivering them the ball. Montez Billings was also brought up from the practice squad, and he proved in the preseason this year he can be a play maker, although I don’t expect him to see the field against Chicago.
3. Who is an under the radar Saints player that could sneak up on the Bears?
Defensive tackle Shaun Rogers was only in on fifteen snaps against the Packers. The plan for the Bears is to have him much more involved on the defensive line and I think he may have a pretty good game. Rookie defensive end Cameron Jordan split time with Turk McBride as the starter on the left side against the Packers. He played very well throughout and should only continue to improve as the season progresses. He too should have a great game against the Bears.
4. What is the biggest matchup that scares you about the game against the Bears? Which matchup most favors the Saints?
I would be foolish not to say the player that worries me the most is defensive end Julius Peppers. New Orleans is very familair with Peppers given his time with the Panthers when he terrorized the offensive line two-times a year. I like the Saints defensive line against Bears offensive line, as well as our secondary against your receivers. I feel the Saints can be successful getting to Cutler and the secondary should have no problems keeping Roy Williams, Devin Hester, and Johnny Knox in check. Hester on special teams is a different story.
5. Predict the score of Sunday’s game.
I never make predictions on scores, I am superstitous like that. I will say I like the Saints chances at home in the Superdome to get back on track with their first win of the seaason.
Be sure to head over to WhoDatDish to look for my responses to Keith’s questions.