By Clint Brooks / Billswire.usatoday.com
The Buffalo Bills (2-6) will host the Chicago Bears (4-3) at New Era Field in Week 9. The Bills will play their final game before they’re off on their bye in Week 10, so it’ll be imperative for them to put together a strong performance and build momentum as they head down the back stretch of their schedule.
The Bears currently sit atop of the NFC North. So far, Chicago has surprised many experts, as the team’s young and talented roster has kept up with its talented divisional foes in the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings. With that being said, the Bills do not match up well from a talent or an X’s and O’s perspective against Chicago, but with home field advantage and the unpredictability as the underdog in the contest, Buffalo may have enough in the tank to upset another NFC North team in 2018.
Here are three keys to victory for the Bills in Week 9:
Contain Jordan Howard and Tarik Cohen
The Bears’ tenth ranked offense (382.7 yards per game) is propelled by their rushing attack. Chicago currently boasts the league’s third-best rushing offense (137.6), and running backs Jordan Howard and Tarik Cohen have proved to be an exceptional duo in Matt Nagy’s scheme.
Howard is the Bears’ No. 1 running back and has consumed the bulk of the carries in the running game. The third-year running back has totaled 392 rushing yards and three touchdowns on the ground this season. Of the two, Cohen is Chicago’s more versatile and dangerous weapon. Cohen currently leads the team in receiving with 398 yards and is second with three touchdowns receptions as well.
The Bills’ run defense ranks 15th in the NFL (106.4 yards-per-game). Their defensive front will have to eliminate Howard and Cohen’s impact and force quarterback Mitchell Trubisky to beat them with his arm. Trubisky has made significant strides in his second season as a passer, but Buffalo coach Sean McDermott is known to fluster and pressure quarterbacks, and he’ll have to continue the defense’s aggressive agenda in Week 9 against a raw quarterback like Trubisky.
Lean on the running game
Derek Anderson suffered a concussion against the New England Patriots on Monday Night Football in Week 8, which officially paved the way for Nathan Peterman to once again prove his worth as a starting quarterback in the NFL. Although, McDermott had yet to commit to a starting quarterback as of Friday.
Peterman will be tasked to upend the Bears’ seventh-best defense (329.6 yards-per-game) at home. In order to penetrate Chicago’s stingy defense, offensive coordinator Brian Daboll must design a game plan will play to Peterman’s strengths and take the ball out of his hands. Peterman excels with short-intermediate passing concepts that are located within the hash marks, so not only should Daboll organize the passing attack around that idea, he should also continue his creative, out-of-the-box approach in the running game.
Running backs LeSean McCoy and Chris Ivory found success operating out of the wildcat formation against the Patriots. Although it wasn’t sustainable, the wildcat formation brought an element of surprise and innovation to a bland Buffalo offense. So if the Bills want to gather any sort of success on offense versus Chicago, they’ll have to rely on their veteran running backs to make enough plays on the ground and hope that Peterman can play mistake-free football.
Get off to a fast start
It is obvious that Buffalo doesn’t possess the offensive firepower to comeback from any sort of deficit. So if the Bills truly want to upset the Bears in Orchard Park, arguably their biggest key will have to be to grab an early lead and jump out to a fast start.
Buffalo owns the sixth-best defense in the NFL entering Week 9 (329.1 yards-per-game). Combining home field advantage and a shutdown defense, the Bills have the recipe in place to compete and take down Chicago. That’ll all be dependent on Buffalo’s offense being opportunistic in the early stages of the game and capitalizing on possessions to get out in front of the Bears.
By setting the tone and building a lead in the beginning of the game, the Bills can utilize the strength of their defense and the crowd to take the wind (no pun intended) out of Chicago’s sails to close out the contest and secure their third win of the season.