4 matchups to watch for as the Chicago Bears take on the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 3
The NFL season is only two weeks old, but the Chicago Bears are already feeling a sense of deja vu. The team that ended last season with 10 consecutive losses to clinch the worst record in the league has opened this season in much the same position, outcoached and overmatched against the Packers and Bucs.
Life in the Windy City is only going to become more difficult because the Bears are traveling to Kansas City to take on Patrick Mahomes and the defending Super Bowl champions. The Chiefs haven't looked as sharp in their first two games of the season as their fans are accustomed to, but their problems are more akin to a supermodel having a bad hair day, as opposed to the Bears, whose issues may not even be salvageable with a full makeover and cosmetic surgery.
Is there a way for the Bears to make a game of this? It's going to take an effort that we haven't yet seen this year. Though it's only a matter of time before the Chiefs offense shakes off its slow start and wakes up, there are no such assurances for Justin Fields and company. The Bears have struggled to score, struggled to protect the football, and struggled to stop opposing offenses. Here are the most important matchups in a game that, on paper, looks like a mismatch.
Matchup No. 1: Chris Jones vs. the Chicago Bears interior offensive line
The Chiefs defense got a big boost with the return of Chris Jones from his holdout last week. The star defensive lineman sacked Trevor Lawrence 1.5 times and was a big reason why the Jaguars failed to score a touchdown all day.
Time will tell how good the Jaguars offensive line is, but what's indisputable is that it's better than Chicago's. The Bears have allowed ten sacks in two games, and there is plenty of blame to go around. Braxton Jones has disappointed as the starting left tackle, while the injury to Tevin Jenkins and the absence last week of Nate Davis have decimated the interior of the line, thrusting Lucas Patrick, Cody Whitehair, and rookie Ja'Tyre Carter into roles for which they are not prepared.
Checking the Pro Football Focus grade on Patrick, Whitehair, and Carter should come with a parental warning for explicit content. Nate Davis should be back this week, but the former Titan looked rustier than Virginia McCaskey's Great Depression tea kettle in his Bears debut.
How can the Bears stop Jones from blowing up the entire offense? Offensive coordinator Luke Getsy will need to innovate beyond once again calling the same screen pass three plays in a row. Doubling Jones on the interior and using multiple tight end sets that allow Robert Tonyan and Marcedes Lewis to stay in and block on the outside would be a good start.
Justin Fields will need to make his throws on time, otherwise, Jones will be all over him. Fields has hesitated in unleashing the ball in the season's first two weeks, but that lack of conviction will prove fatal this week if it happens again.