4 Keys to a Chicago Bears victory over the Denver Broncos

With an 0-3 start to the 2023 NFL season, the Chicago Bears are in the thick of a franchise-worst losing streak. They’ve dropped the last 13 regular season games, their last win coming in late October of last year against the New England Patriots. The enormous hopes and excitement for this season have already been completely washed away by unacceptable performances at all levels of the game, from the players to the coaches.

So here we are at Week 4, with what feels like a “must-win” scenario for the Bears. Starting off 0-3 is bad enough, 0-4 is a death sentence, especially against a team like the Denver Broncos, who are also 0-3 and just gave up 70 points to the Miami Dolphins.

There’s not a lot of good news for the Bears these days, but facing a struggling Denver team at home qualifies. Despite their struggles, this is a winnable game for Chicago as long as they do things correctly.

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Sack the quarterback

Somehow, in some way, a historically bad Chicago Bears pass rush from 2022 got worse. In three games, the Bears have just one sack. They’re on pace for 5.5 sacks this season. They’ve played some really good offensive lines so far, but that is still unacceptable.

Getting sacks will keep being a key until the Bears actually make it happen. You cannot win in the modern NFL without getting to the quarterback. Packers quarterback Jordan Love, who just got exposed on Thursday Night Football against the Detroit Lions, looked like a future Hall-of-Famer against this Bears defense because he was never under pressure.

Imagine what Russell Wilson will do if given a clean pocket every down.

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Take the ball away

Like the previous point, this will remain a key to victory until it happens regularly.

The Bears have just two takeaways all season, something that is supposedly part of Matt Eberflus’ H.I.T.S. principle, and both of those came in garbage time against Kansas City and their backups.

This is simply unacceptable, the fault lies with the players and the coaching. If they can’t take the ball away from Denver, who’s actually playing fairly well on offense, then the Broncos will be the team that “gets right” on Sunday.

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Make big plays on offense

Denver’s defense has been an unmitigated disaster this year. The only defense worse than theirs so far, unfortunately, has been the Bears.

This is Chicago’s first game of the 2023 season against a lousy defense, and they must take advantage of it.

Denver will put up points, especially if Jaylon Johnson and Eddie Jackson miss Week 4 with injuries. It feels like this game is set up to be a semi-shootout, which means the offense needs to end its hibernation.

Luke Getsy and Justin Fields must shake out of whatever funk they’re in and bring their A-game. Explosive plays that go for touchdowns will be needed in bunches to keep pace with Russell Wilson and Denver’s quality skill players.

This has to be a DJ Moore breakout game. A Roschon Johnson breakout game. The Bears’ young stars on offense need to step up, or it’ll be a long day.

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Be willing to make changes to the game plan

This means two things. One, Getsy must change his ways. His playcalling has been the laughingstock of the NFL so far this season, with former players and analysts ripping the All-22 film of his strategy and play designs. Something has to give for this offense, starting with Getsy making some serious changes.

Second, and this hurts to say, if Justin Fields continues to struggle against the second-worst defense in the league, if he is throwing inaccurate balls, taking bad sacks, and not seeing open receivers, you need to be willing to bench him even if it’s just for the second half.

Getsy and Eberflus, as well as the rest of this Bears team, deserve the vast majority of the blame for the hole the Bears have found themselves in, but Fields deserves his share of it, too.

If a defense that just gave up 70 points doesn’t serve up a breakout game for him, then Eberflus should strongly consider putting him on the bench for the final 30 minutes.

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Final Prediction: Bears lose 31-21

Maybe the Chicago Bears prove me wrong, but I can’t pick them to win a game until they actually win a game.

I don’t think Fields will be bad enough to warrant benching, but I still have no faith in this offense. Twenty-one points would be an improvement, but sadly, not nearly enough.

If it gets to this point — an 0-4 start with no real progress — then team president Kevin Warren will have to have some serious talks with the front office about the immediate future of this franchise.

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