Chicago Bears: 5 Players who need to play well to beat Browns in Week 3
2. Pressure Mayfield and he’ll give you opportunities for turnovers
One of the best aspects of the Chicago Bears win in Week 2 was the defense’s redemption. The secondary was awful and the front seven put absolutely no pressure on the Rams backfield.
That changed last week. The Bears’ defense recorded five sacks. The much-maligned secondary came up with three interceptions on three straight drives (three straight passes to be exact). The interceptions were impressive since Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow had gone 199 passes without an interception.
The Bears defense needs to have more of the same this week. Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield is a similar player to Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre. No, he isn’t as good of a quarterback as Favre was, but Favre was a gunslinger. He had no fear of throwing the ball. When that happened, he gave the opposing defense more than a few opportunities at forcing turnovers.
This is what happens with Mayfield. When he’s pressured, he’ll force bad throws. That happened in the Browns’ loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 1. On the final drive, Mayfield dropped back and got pressured. Instead of throwing the ball away or taking the sack to live another down, he tried to make the big play. He wasn’t able to throw an accurate pass and it was intercepted.
Akiem Hicks is key here. When he goes off and wreaks havoc on the opponent’s backfield, it helps in other areas. His big game frees up space for Khalil Mack to do his thing. Also helping, Robert Quinn, who already has more sacks this season in two games (2.5) than he had in 15 games last season (2).
Hicks is another player trying to earn another contract. This will likely be his last contract so he wants a good one. He’s in the final year of his deal and wants to stay in Chicago.
Hicks missed some practice this week but it wasn’t due to an injury but sickness. Hopefully, he plays and plays well. If he does, the Bears have a chance at winning.