Bear Digest

Most feared matchups for Bears Monday night against the Vikings

Analysis: Some Bears are facing more difficult matchups in one-on-one situations against Minnesota and the list includes a few surprises.
Gene Chamberlain|
Jonathan Greenard sacked Caleb Williams last year after beating Braxton Jones.
Jonathan Greenard sacked Caleb Williams last year after beating Braxton Jones. | Daniel Bartel-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

Football might be the ultimate team sport because of the planning that goes into each and every play.

Ultimately, individual matchups can make a huge difference within the team play, and the Bears on Monday night have to worry about this. Especially against the Vikings' blitzing defense, there is danger in matchups.

"I think that the beauty of the (Minnesota) defense, once again, I said it yesterday, is that they create a lot of 1-on-1 matchups," Bears coach Ben Johnson said. "When you have guys that they feel good about winning their one-on-ones,  it puts a lot of stress on our guys."

There are some who they have to worry about losing those more than they can feel good about winning.

Here are the most feared matchup issues for the Bears in the season openerwith Minnesota.

Jonathan Greenard vs. Braxton Jones

Greenard is being talked about like a defensive edge who can average a sack a game this year. This might be a stretch, but his start to the season couldn't be a bigger problem for the Bears unless they were forced to put a rookie or Kiran Amegadjie out on the field against him. Or maybe they'd be better off doing that. In the game at Soldier Field lost 30-27 in overtime, Jones gave up two sacks and Greenard made four tackles for loss. They didn't have Jones available in the second game at Minneapolis because he had a concussion and at the last second they went with Amegadjie, who yielded one sack to Grenard.

The Bears spent the week building up Jones' confidence but ultimately they know this is their weak link on the offensive line and he's going against the greatest Vikings strength.

Ivan Pace Jr. vs. Kyle Monangai

Considering Roschon Johnson's foot injury has kept him away from practice since Aug. 7, there seems little doubt their seventh-round rookie from Rutgers is going to not only need to provide tough running but also pick up blitzers at times. Pace, the Vikings' undersized linbacker, last year blitzed only half as much as Blake Cashman but he had the best win percentage on his pass rushes of any regular player on the Vikings defense (27.9%). He blitzed 73 times on the year and it's a good bet defensive coordinator Brian Flores will challenge Monangai to protect Caleb Williams by sending his most effective inside blitzer. If not, it will be Cashman blitzing and he had just below a 9% success rate.

Monangai was supposed to be a willing blocker who needed polish. He got in for only one preseason game before an injury and in that game he had the worst pass blocking grade on the entire team, according to Pro Football Focus. PFF had him at six pass block attempts, a sack and two pressures allowed.

Christian Darrisaw vs. Dayo Odeyingbo

Like with some of the other matchups, injuries could impact this. Darrisaw is coming back from an ACL tear and the offseason and early training camp outlook had him back just after the opener or around that time. In practices this week, the feeling has been Darrisaw has a chance to play. The 6-foot-5, 315-pound left tackle for the Vikings was dominant for his first seven games last year in his fourth season until his season-ending injury at mid-season.

The Bears have touted Odeyingbo as the stout defensive end who can maintain the edge against the run but push in the pocket off the edge. He received a bigger free agent deal at three years and $48 million than any Bears free agent. The 6-5, 282-pounder has had only one season in four with more than five sacks and this included 2023 with the Colts when he had a career-high eight sacks. The Bears gambled that he is coming on even after he had only three sacks last year when he remained

Justin Jefferson vs. Jaylon Johnson

Normally this is a tough matchup but Johnson has been effective. He held Jefferson to two catches for 27 yards last year in the first game and then gave up seven or 75 yards in the second game. Either would probably be acceptable to the Bears this game but it seems unlikely the Pro Bowl Bears cornerback would be as effective matched up one on one against probably the game's best receiver. Jefferson had 100-yard efforts in four of his first five starts against the Bears but then it became tougher for him when they matched Johnson on him after Johnson had gained experience doing this shadow tactic by facing Davante Adams and other top receivers.

Now Johnson hasn't had training camp due to a groin injury. It's a long time to go without meaningful action and expecting similar effective play by him against Jefferson seems unlikely as a result. Jefferson had an injury situation of his own early in camp but that's ancient history now. Johnson even hinted this week he might not even be in a shadowing situation this week with Jefferson as a result of his health issue.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.