NFL Preview: Chicago Bears at New Orleans Saints

Can Chicago build on its win over Atlanta or will New Orleans bounce back after the Saints’ opening day loss at Green Bay? Frank Doyle previews the action!

The NFL odds see Chicago as a seven point underdog at New Orleans on Sunday afternoon. For a team coming off a serious smackdown of Atlanta, the Falcons having been seen as a Super Bowl contender prior to the beating, that line seems scant reward for a good win.

It’s got to do with the team the Bears are playing of course. The Saints suffered a bad beat against Green Bay on the Opening Day, and they’ll want to bounce back from that. New Orleans also has home field and three more days’ rest. Drew Brees is a superior quarterback, New Orleans won the Super Bowl twenty months ago – New Orleans is demonstrably one hell of a team, while question marks remain over the Bears.

The Bears’ offensive line did a far better job protecting Jay Cutler than many expected and, as was pointed out here last week, handicappers under-estimate Matt Forte at their peril. Forte plays the same role in Mike Martz’s Bears offense as Marshall Faulk played for Martz’s “Greatest Show” Rams, and Forte can be a difference maker in this game.

Both teams have personnel concerns. The sad passing of Brian Urlacher’s mother makes his participation questionable, while Saints’ wide receiver Marques Colston suffered a broken collarbone late in the loss at Green Bay and could be out for four weeks.

So what’s going to happen? The Saints will come out with all guns blazing. The Saints know the Bears will blitz but elite quarterbacks like Brees can beat the blitz and punish secondaries for big gains. On defense the Saints will go after Cutler, just like every team in the NFL will, but they will not have done their homework if they have not prepared properly for Forte as well.

If the Bears can protect Cutler enough to allow him to either use his arm to scorch New Orleans deep, or else use Forte as a dangerous checkdown receiver who can rack up yards after the catch, they’re in with a chance of a 2-0 start. Brees will do damage, because he’s Drew Brees, but the Bears’ defense reconfirmed its status as one of the premier units in the League. While they may bend under Brees’ pressure, the Bears will not break.

The over/under for the game is set at 47.5, but that seems on the high side. The game might be fought more in the trenches than in the air, with the Saints winning but not covering, thus giving supporters on both sides something to take from the game.