Chicago Bears: Biggest Key to Beating Seattle Seahawks
If the Bears want to contain Russell Wilson and take out the Seattle Seahawks on Monday Night Football, this is what they need to do.
Once upon a time, the Seattle Seahawks were an elite franchise that ran like a well-oiled machine. With an all-time great defense on one side, and Russell Wilson and Marshawn Lynch on the other, they inflicted fear on their opponents just by showing up.
That Seahawk team seems like a fairly tale now, or at least something a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. The 2018 Seattle Seahawks are nothing like that team from yesteryear. This season’s Seahawks team is one searching for an identity. They are a team of Russell Wilson and not much else.
The Seahawks are rebuilding the franchise, but with Wilson at the helm, the team is trying more of a “reload” approach. The defense is average at best and has holes that can be exploited by Matt Nagy and Mitch Trubisky but the key to this game will be on the other side of the ball.
Russell Wilson is this team’s best player and it’s not even close. Not only is Wilson the best player, but he plays the most impactful position. If there was ever a player who could win a game on his own for a bad team, it’s Wilson. The Bears must contain him if they want to be successful.
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The good news is that Chicago’s front seven looks elite, and Seattle’s offensive line is dreadful. That matchup should be phenomenal for Chicago and should provide them plenty of opportunities to get to Wilson, but at that point, it’s not so simple.
If Wilson was an immobile QB, the Bears could sack him probably in the double digits, but Wilson is something else back there. Not only is he very mobile, he has great pocket awareness. He feels the pressure before it’s on him and is able to subtly move around in the pocket to buy him an extra second or two.
If the pocket has significant problems, Wilson can move outside the pocket to buy himself a lot more time and open up the offense with his ability to use his feet, buy his receivers time to get open, or launch the ball down the field.
The key for Chicago is going to be to apply steady pressure on Wilson, but keep him in or near the pocket. Yes, Wilson’s awareness will still buy him a little time, but if the Bears prevent him from escaping the middle of the field, there’s only so much he’s going to be able to do before the likes of Eddie Goldman and Akiem Hicks get to him with interior pressure.
Khalil Mack can do whatever he wants on the one side, he’s a human wrecking ball and you just have to let him go at it. But Leonard Floyd has to be more careful. He can’t overcommit when going after Wilson, it’s going to be almost as important for Floyd to keep Wilson contained compared to registering actual sacks.
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Floyd can’t recklessly go at Wilson and let him slip to the outside and damage the Bears’ defense. Keep him inside and trust your teammates to get him the rest of the way.
The Bears are in a great position to record their first victory of the year and build up some momentum during a very manageable part of the schedule. They just need to put it all together and it starts with stopping Russell Wilson.