Three Key Bears for Colts game

The Bears are hitting the road against this weekend with a short trip to Indianapolis to face the Colts as they look to build upon their maiden win of the 2016 season.

The Colts have struggled as well, stumbling to a 1-3 start. While this appears to be a match up between two bad football teams, it is closely matched in many regards.

While Chicago has struggled to score points, the Colts have struggled to stop opponents and Indy has been putting up 27 points per game.

The strength of the Colts is their passing attack, while the Bears have defended the pass pretty well. Ideally the Bears can slow down Andrew Luck but a lot of that depends on their ability to get pressure on him, something they have failed to do too often in four games.

Let’s look at three players that will have to show up big for the Bears to win their second straight:

Adrian Amos, S - The Colts have a dangerous, speedy WR corps led by T.Y. Hilton and Phillip Dorsett. Andrew Luck is very good at finding them downfield when he has the time and the WRs are good at getting yards after the catch when he doesn’t. Amos, as well as fellow S Harold Jones-Quartey will have be disciplined in their coverage and stay on their assignments. If one of the speedsters gets by their CB, Amos will have to be in a position to make a play. Amos gets the nod because he is more experienced and is a better tackler than his counterpart.

Jordan Howard, RB - Yes for the second week in a row, the rookie RB makes the list but it is the reality of this Bears team. Howard is coming off a 100-yard performance and faces a struggling rushing attack that just allowed T.J. Yeldon to average 5.1 YPC. The Bears will want to keep that deadly Indy offense on the sideline by building a lead and not allowing Luck a chance to build one of his masterful come backs.

Jerrell Freeman, LB - The ex-Colt is not only going to be a key in the run game, slowing down Frank Gore, but also falling into coverage. Freeman can play the pass very well and will be key in defending Gore when he comes out of the backfield, against the Indy tight ends Dwayne Allen and Jack Doyle or any other WR that comes across the middle on a short flat route. Freeman sounded like he was bitter about the way he was treated on his way out of Indianapolis and I think he’s had this one circled on his calendar. Look for a big revenge game out of the LB.

Who are your key players?