The Bengals have a clear team weakness at the tackle position. Can the Chicago Bears expose it?
The Chicago Bears and the Cincinnati Bengals will meet in a game on Sunday that is somewhat meaningless. The Bengals just went all-in to beat the division rival Steelers and came up short, all but ending their postseason dreams. The Bears, well, we know.
However, when breaking down the matchups in this game, and looking for something to look forward to, the matchup between the Bears pass rushers, and the Bengals tackles stick out. It may end up being one of those situations where it feels like staring at the sun too long, but something has to give in this game.
On the Bengals side, their tackle situation is suspect to say the least. Their tackles have allowed 15 sacks so far this season. Seven have been due to left tackle Cedric Ogbuehi, who has a plethora of issues to work on.
On the other side, the Chicago Bears pass rushing situation is questionable, to say the least. Leonard Floyd and Willie Young are on the injured reserve. Pernell McPhee has yet to practice this week. This could leave the Bears rushing Sam Acho, Lamarr Houston, and Howard Jones on Sunday.
Acho is the leader of that group and has a whopping half of a sack this season. Lamarr Houston, who was cut in the offseason, and brought back to play in one game so far will lead those three in sacks this season with two, one coming last week in his Bears debut. Then, there is Jones who has brought up from the practice squad, played for snaps, was sent down and was brought up again.
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Something has to give here. Bears fans will say this is the game the Bengals tackles will finally look good. Bengals fans will tell you Acho is in for the first full sack of this season. Who wins this matchup may be the difference in this game, and at this point, it is totally up in the air.