3 Chicago Bears who dominated Bucs last year

Bilal Nichols

This may be the most important name on the list. Bilal Nichols started his ascension last season, and he broke out against the Buccaneers. Nichols did not record a sack, but he added three pressures and a hit. Beyond that, his value was most important.

Beating Tom Brady means coming at him straight up the gut. When you pressure him up the middle, he struggles to move laterally and often will throw the ball away. The issue is that if you blitz him, he will see it and kill you.

So, you have to pressure the middle but have to do it organically. That means relying heavily on Akiem Hicks, Bilal Nichols, and the rest of the gang.

The Bucs have a deep interior but will need that same Nichols performance to hang with Brady. The good news is that while the Bucs have a strong interior, the same three interior linemen that Nichols beat up on last year are the same three that will protect Brady this year.

This is a huge game to track the progress of Nichols and see if he can be one of the players that makes this a close match.