Bears and Packers battle for division lead

The stage is set for one of the most anticipated games of Week 3. The Chicago Bears and the Green Bay Packers will continue the NFL’s oldest rivalry on Monday Night Football. Both teams will enter the game with 2-0 records, but only one will leave atop the NFC North.

The number one focus for the Bears’ offense will be the offensive line. With the hamstring injury to Chris Williams, it is uncertain who will start at both tackle positions. In the Week 2 victory over the Dallas Cowboys, Frank Omiyale was moved to left tackle, while Kevin Shaffer filled the right tackle position after Williams’ injury. Regardless of who starts, they will have to figure out a way to keep second-year linebacker Clay Matthews away from Jay Cutler. Matthews leads the NFL with six sacks in just the first two weeks of the season, and as a team the Packers have 10 sacks. Chicago just might go back to the quick three-step drops against the 3-4 defense that they will face. This strategy worked against Dallas’ 3-4, and it just might have the same effect against the Packers. If so, Cutler could be the first quarterback this season to have a big game against a Packers pass defense that is ranked third in the league with 116.5 yards per game. But the Bears’ passing attack is ranked third in the league with 316.0 yards per game.

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The strength of the Bears’ defense is their ability to stop the run. Chicago is allowing a league best 28.0 yards per game. The Packers’ leading rusher of the past two years, Ryan Grant, is out for the season, meaning that Green Bay might have to rely strictly on their passing game. As great as the Bears’ defense has looked at times, they are still struggling on third downs, which is why many are predicting that this game will be very close.

This Monday night showdown just might be the game of the week, if not, the year. The Chicago Bears are averaging 385.5 total yards per game, and the Green Bay Packers are averaging 253.0 yards allowed per game. For the Bears, this will definitely tell everyone if they are for real, or if they are just a team that was lucky in the first two weeks of the season.

By Clyde Speller
ProFootball-fans.com Chicago Bears Correspondent