Chicago Bears: 3 X-factor players for Week 2 vs. Giants
Chicago Bears X-factor No. 3: Bilal Nichols, Defensive Tackle
One of the fears the Chicago Bears and their fans had when defensive tackle Eddie Goldman opted out of the 2020 season was how it affected the running game. Peterson raised those fears as he just tore up the defense.
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One thing to keep in mind, however, is that Peterson just loves to tear up the Bears. While he’s done it to many teams, he’s at his best against the Bears. Also, as mentioned earlier, Stafford’s success throwing the ball helped Peterson.
For the Bears defense to stop Barkley everyone has to be in on it. The Pittsburgh Steelers made a commitment to stop Barkley and everyone went at him. The Bears need to do the same.
However, there needs to be one main guy to lead the rushing defense, and that is Bilal Nichols. If he could stuff up the middle, Barkley would need to bounce to the edges where the others can gang up on him.
In Nichols’ defense, this was his first start on the inside. There is a learning curve. He needs to make that curve a small one. In Week 2, Nichols is going up against center Nick Gates, a newcomer to New York. He struggled in his first game. Having no preseason games really hurt him. Nichols needs to take advantage of that and continue the lineman’s struggles.
Fair or not, Nichols takes the brunt of the blame for the Bears ranking 24th in rushing yards allowed and 22nd in average yards per run. Yes, it’s only one week of stats, but the 138 yards they gave up would’ve been the fifth-highest total last season. They face a stiffer challenge this week, bt if Nichols can take care of the middle the Bears should be fine.