Bears Vs Dolphins: Six-Pack Keys to Victory

1) Slow down Lamar Miller and the Dolphins' run game

Miller is a huge part of the Dolphins' offense, even more so now that Knowshon Moreno is on injured reserve, and as our esteemed colleague Lester pointed out, the Dolphins can mix in some read-option concepts quite frequently with Ryan Tannehill. Stopping that game and keeping Tannehill in the pocket takes away some of his as well as the Dolphins' offensive options. The first couple weeks of the season, the Bears did an acceptable job of it, and with the improved play of the defensive line and linebackers as of late, the Bears can keep the run game suppressed. In both of the Dolphins' wins, they ran for over 150 yards.

2) Welcome to the NFL, Brock Vereen

Vereen gets his first NFL start this week against the Dolphins, and you can bet the Dolphins will be trying to get to him. He's had some flashes this year in an extremely limited sample size, but it'll be interesting to see how he performs in extended action.

3) Getting Healthy and Helping Jordan Mills

The Bears could start this game with their full starting offensive line for the first time since week 1. Against a fierce pass rush like the Dolphins and Cameron Wake, this seems like it's a very good thing. If Jermon Bushrod is Jermon Bushrod, the Bears can afford to help out Jordan Mills against Olivier Vernon, who's matched Wake's performance so far this year.

4) Force Turnovers

The Dolphins are an odd bunch. In four of their five games this season, they've given the ball away at least twice; that includes three games of three turnovers, of which they've won two. The Bears have a takeaway in five of their six games, including three games of at least three takeaways (of which they've won two) and are 3-0 when winning the turnover battle.

5) Willie Young

He gets his own bullet point, because he's been that good - pressure is always important, and the Bears need to get it against Tannehill, but Young's been exceptional most times he's been in, with seven sacks in his six games so far. With Jared Allen finally on the board and Lamarr Houston picking it up in the run game, the defensive line play should be huge on Sunday.

6) Don't Give the Dolphins a Short Field

Yes, I'm going to mention field position, because the Dolphins have 8 takeaways, a returner with a 5.7 yards-per-punt-return and 31.8 yards-per-kick-return, and a punter who boomed a 60-yarder and averaging 43.9 per punt. Their offense has a miserable 5.5 NY/A (net yards per pass attempt), but they're still in the top half of the league in scoring points. With the Dolphins having an actual running game, you don't want to give them fewer yards to score points. Take care of the football, punt well, and cover well against Jarvis Landry.