The Chicago Bears are playing the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday Night Football with the odds likely stacked against them. There is no indication who will be the team starting quarterback, while Caleb Williams and Tyson Bagent are nursing injuries, possibly leaving veteran Case Keenum as the lone option, calling for an adjustment in the offensive plan, if needed.
Last year, Chicago defeated the Eagles in Philadelphia behind a powerful run game, led by both D'Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai, and with questions at the quarterback position, it is clear that may be the best plan this week. No matter who is out on the field at quarterback, the Bears have to clean up the offensive operation as a whole as they look to bounce back from their Week 2 loss
to the Minnesota Vikings.
Here are the offensive keys for the Bears. as they welcome the Philadelphia Eagles to Soldier Field on Monday night:
Clean up the first half
In the first two games of the season, Chicago has been penalized a total of 16 times in the first half, which is going to hold back any offense, no matter if they put up 59 points (Week 1) or three (Week 2). Not only have the penalties shown an undisciplined football team, but they are considerably stalling out drives which leaves plenty of questions on what their true offensive identity is. Last season, the Bears were a team that had plenty of entertaining fourth quarter comebacks, but this year they're shooting themselves in the foot and the self-inflicted wounds are hard to look over.
Lean on the run game
When the Bears beat the Eagles last season they did so by putting together 281 total rushing yards as a team, with both D'Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai both surpassing 100 yards each. That recipe should be the same coming into this matchup, no matter who is under center at quarterback for Chicago. Since Ben Johnson took over as head coach, the Bears have had considerable success on the ground and the win last year over Philadelphia felt like an identity showcase of how good the team can be if successful running the ball.
Short-field passing game
No matter who the quarterback is, Chicago is going to have to change things up in their passing attack, as neither Tyson Bagent or Case Keenum should be considerable the deep-ball threat that Caleb Williams is. Tight end Colston Loveland has yet to leave his impact on a game through the first two weeks, so whoever is at quarterback, it could serve as a great opportunity to utilize him in a short-field passing attack. Minimize the deep ball plays, and put together consistent drives with smaller chunk plays, and Chicago may be able to shock the Eagles once again.
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This article originally appeared on Bears Wire: 3 keys for Bears offense vs. Eagles in Week 3 matchup
