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It will be broken down in greater detail this afternoon in the Game Preview, but this week's keys to a Bears victory will fall directly on the ability to:
- Run the football against the Browns porous rushing defense, and
- Put pressure on Cleveland QB Derek Anderson.
Matt Forte and the Bears offensive line have struggled to put together any sort of running game this year, despite the deceptive yards per carry average that mirrors last year's efforts. Anyone who has been watching the Bears over the last two seasons know that if you take away 2 carries from Forte's 2009 season thus far, his performance has been significantly lower than 2008.
The Browns have a terrible rushing defense, giving up over 170 yards per game on the ground. Expect to see Matt Forte early and often against the Browns.
Over the last 2 games, the Bears have registered 0 sacks. With a pass rush that started out strong in 2009, Rod Marinelli will have to do something differently this week if the Bears are going to see success in shutting down Anderson and rookie WR Mohamed Massoquoi.
If the Bears are not able to disrupt Anderson, we can expect the soft Tampa-2 defense of Chicago to get picked apart.
Stay tuned for the official Windy City Gridiron Game Preview coming this afternoon.