Windy City Gridiron
The NFL season is an evolving state of affairs, and week 10 finds your 5-3 Chicago Bears on the verge of making a run and solidifying their playoff chances. This week’s battle against an NFC foe will be huge for playoff standings at the end of the year.
In this weekly series, I’ll be featuring one player from each team on each side of the ball who I believe to be integral to their respective team’s success. It’s not always about the quarterback or superstar defensive players like Myles Garrett and Brian Burns. Importance is all relative, and while the “star” players are obviously important each week, this series will also highlight some of the other guys.
Because let’s face it, often, the unsung players are just as critical to the team’s success.
Here are the players that I will be keyed in on in this one.
The “Canadian Eagle” settled back into his groove last week against the Bengals, helping Chicago accumulate nearly 600 yards of total offense en route to a 47-42 victory. Granted, the Bengals Defense is bottom 5 in sacks, bottom 3rd in passing yards allowed and dead last in rushing yards allowed.
The Giants will pose a different sort of challenge. Though they are middle-of-the-pack in terms of sacks as a defense, more than half of their 21 total sacks have come from one player: Brian Burns. Burns has 11 total sacks on the season and has proven to be an elite edge rusher that opposing offenses need to gameplan around. Add that to the fact that the Giants also have two former first round edges on the roster in Kayvon Thibodeaux and Abdul Carter and both Theo and RT Darnell Wright will have their work cut out for them this week.
Don’t be surprised if behemoth DT Dexter Lawrence II lines up outside on occasion over top of Benedet to mix things up. How Theo handles the heat and holds the pocket for Caleb Williams will be key this week and Chicago’s offense will go as far as he will allow them to. If he falters, it could be a game similar to week 4 when Maxx Crosby single-handedly won the game for the Raiders. Burns is having an even better season than Maxx. And he has high-quality surrounding talent.
This season, the Bears have faced 3 QBs with an above-average ability to scramble, much like their opponent does this week in Jaxson Dart. In week 1, they faced the Minnesota Vikings with J.J. McCarthy. In week 6 they were on the road against the Washington Commanders with Jayden Daniels and in week 8 they played the Baltimore Ravens with Tyler Huntley. The Bears went 1-2 in those games and won the only game in which Edmunds had more than 7 total tackles.
With Dart averaging 8 rushing attempts per game (McCarthy averages 5; Daniels, 9),...
