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Chicago Bears Six-Pack Keys to Victory Against the Ravens

We have our six keys for the Bears to beat the Ravens on Sunday.

Matt Marton-USA TODAY Sports

1) Don't Let Torrey Smith Beat You

Torrey Smith leads the Ravens with 753 receiving yards and over 18 yards per reception. If you can name that Marlon Brown is second on the team in receiving, give yourself a cookie, because his 307 yards and 5 touchdowns are second and first, respectively, on the team. That's not very impressive (well, the yardage at least - 5 touchdowns is still a pretty solid year). The Ravens aren't completely devoid of weapons, but Smith is heads and shoulders above the rest of the cast. Schematically, take away Smith's big plays and don't let him behind.

2) Stay In Gaps, Keep Ray Rice Stopped

Rice hasn't had a good year. In fact, the Ravens haven't been able to run much at all this year. They've had one game this season of over 100 yards rushing. The one thing the Bears haven't been able to do all year is stop the run - if they can do so here, they can force the Ravens to be one-dimensional, and that hasn't really worked out for them to anyone not named Torrey Smith.

3) Know Who's Rushing

The Ravens have sacks from eleven players this season. Matt Forte will be as big in pass protection as he hopes to be on the stat sheet, because the Ravens blitzing linebackers, with Terrell Suggs and Elvis Dumervil, are fierce in their pass rush. The two combine for 17.5 sacks this season.

4) Someone You Can McCownt On

... That was bad, and I do indeed feel bad.

Josh McCown's done pretty well in his limited sample size. It doesn't hurt he has the currently-most-productive receiving duo in the NFL in Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery. And with the pass rush of the Ravens, the Bears may well be looking to get the ball out fast and get things moving underneath, making plays after the catch. On this defensive unit, that might actually work really well.

5) Haloti Ngata

Ngata might well be the top defensive tackle in the NFL, period, which is something considering it's the anchor point of the 3-4. He's disruptive, he has a sack and a half on the year, and could be a handful for Matt Slauson, Roberto Garza and Kyle Long.

6) Julius Peppers

Remember when Julius Peppers was awesome, and got moved around to take advantage of a good matchup at a good time? Well, he's not quite as awesome, but he still gets moved around, and a prime target this week is Michael Oher, who's just not that good at right tackle. The Ravens have allowed 30 sacks this season, a good number if you're a Bears fan - and for a unit that hasn't gotten much pass rush, getting some on the edges this week could further be a boost for the unit after coming up blank last week.