Chicago Bears: Do not sleep on Bills defense

The Chicago Bears should go into Buffalo and win on the road. However, their offense has to prepare for a tough test against the Bills defense

The Buffalo Bills offense is historically bad. You would have to go back into the early days of the Super Bowl era to find passing attacks less potent than the Buffalo Bills.

Yes, they are in a rough spot regarding a quarterback. However, when you look at their offensive line and skill players, you tend to buy into the idea that this is a one through eleven effort to combine for the worst offense in the NFL.

With that in mind, and with the Chicago Bears defense seemingly getting back into the swing of things last week, a lot of fans are starting to get ahead of themselves when thinking about what the Chicago Bears can do in this game. It shows in the fact that the Bears are nearly ten point favorites despite being on the road.

However, it also shows in the total being at 37 that oddsmakers do not see the Chicago Bears necessarily pouring it on Buffalo either. The projected score would set up to about 24-14 in favor of the Bears.

With that in mind, this game is not necessarily a walk in the park. We saw with the New England Patriots last week that their defense is going to keep them in games. They beat the Tennessee Titans at home off of that defensive mindset.

When breaking down the group, it is an active defensive unit. Sean McDermott is a defensive minded head coach who has put together strong units and has a small coaching tree of his own across NFL circles.

In DVOA, they rank fourth in weighted success rate on a play by play basis. Of course, the Chicago Bears rank first in that area.

More from Bear Goggles On

Still, the Bills also rank 10th in sacks and 10th in adjusted sack rate. They are a competent defense that lives off of getting pressure. Mitch Trubisky has had his issues when under pressure this season. They cannot take this opponent lightly.

One thing in favor of Mitch Trubisky is that his most significant issues with pressure have been a result of the blitz. He has struggled to find where defenders are coming from and adjust with his reads.

However, with the Buffalo Bills pressure, their idea is that they can rush four men consistently on their defensive line and that they do not need to blitz often.

Lorenzo Alexander and Jerry Hughes each have 4.5 sacks. Kyle Williams has 3.5, and Trent Murphy has three. Shaq Lawson has one, and Eddie Yarborough, Jordan Phillips, and Star Lotulelei are all pieces which add depth and can occupy blockers that free up the pass rushing threats.

The fact is that the Bills can rotate eight of these with different variations and looks that it is more valuable than a blitz. They wear you down with bodies and a relentless attack. Add in a team at home with everybody in the world doubting them and the Chicago Bears will have a big game in front of them.

So while the Buffalo Bills offense is likely so bad, it does not matter how the offense does, this is a huge learning moment for the offense. They have a great chance to show that they are a competent unit that can go on the road and put away a good defense because their offense cannot keep up.

Home/Chicago Bears News