Mandatory Credit: Douglas DeFelice, USA TODAY Sports
5 Saints to Watch vs. the Chicago Bears
The (5-1) New Orleans Saints will be seeking their 5th straight win tomorrow evening, when they travel to the Windy City at Soldier Field to face their NFC rivals, the (3-2) Chicago Bears.
The Black and Gold impressively have won four straight games without their future Hall of Fame and starting #1 QB Drew Brees. The 19th year NFL veteran is likely still at least a few weeks away from returning to action, while his throwing hand continues to heal from recent surgery. Brees initially tore the thumb ligament in his right hand in the team’s Week #2 loss to the Los Angeles Rams.
But since that time, the Saints have still won games behind the efforts of a strong coaching staff, an emerging top-caliber defensive unit, and the steady leadership in Brees’ absence by back-up #2 QB Teddy Bridgewater.
However, the Saints will be facing what seems like overwhelming odds, as they will enter tomorrow’s contest minus two of their key offensive weapons: superstar #1 RB Alvin Kamara, who is nursing injuries to both his knee and ankle, and starting tight end Jared Cook; who also has been dealing with an ankle issue.
Mandatory Credit: Chuck Cook, USA TODAY Sports
Besides that difficult task, the Saints must deal with a tenacious Bears defense led by a stellar Front 7 that features All-Pro edge pass rusher Khalil Mack, and an opportunistic secondary that’s earned a notable reputation for creating turnovers.
However, Chicago won’t be without their own deficiencies, as they will be without Pro Bowl defensive end Akiem Hicks, who was placed on injured reserve earlier this week; while starting #1 QB Mitchell Trubisky will make his return to action against New Orleans after suffering a dislocated left shoulder (his non-throwing arm). Trubisky will wear a protective shoulder harness to avoid risking further aggravation to the injury while he’s on the field.
With all of that in mind, here are 5 players for the Black and Gold that Saints fans will want to watch closely tomorrow, once the contest gets underway against the Bears at the venerable Soldier Field in downtown Chicago.
Starting with....
#5. LATAVIUS MURRAY
Mandatory Credit: Douglas DeFelice, USA TODAY Sports
With Saints starting #1 RB and 3rd year superstar Alvin Kamara now ruled out for tomorrow’s early season match-up which likely could end up having implications down the line regarding playoff seeding within the NFC, the Black and Gold will turn to back-up Latavius Murray to shoulder most of the load of the Saints running game.
New Orleans needs Murray at the very least to have a solid performance tomorrow to keep the ultra-aggressive Bears defensive unit honest, so it will lessen the huge amount of pressure that will be upon back-up QB Teddy Bridgewater and the Saints passing attack (more on that coming up).
Last week at Jacksonville in the Saints’ 13-6 win over the Jaguars, the 29-year-old Murray filled in admirably after Kamara exited the game and carried the ball 8 times for 44 rushing yards and additionally added another 35 more yards receiving on 3 catches out of the backfield.
Murray isn’t anywhere near the “threat” on offense in the manner that Kamara is, but the Black and Gold only needs him to use his very effective power-running style to prevent the stellar Bears Front 7 from teeing off on Bridgewater.
That said, the Bears plan on focusing a majority of their efforts upon stopping Murray tomorrow (particularly with their stellar pair of inside linebackers Roquan Smith and Danny Trevathan), and Murray will need to have one of the best games of his 6-year NFL career if the Saints hope to escape the Windy City with yet another victory that not many people are expecting them to.
#4. MARCUS DAVENPORT
Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth, USA TODAY Sports
Davenport is having a “break out” season in his 2nd year in the NFL so far (3 sacks. 20 combined tackles, and 12 QB hits), and with what most analysts would consider a favorable match-up, could end up having a huge impact on the eventual outcome of tomorrow evening’s contest at Soldier Field.
He, along with fellow defensive end Cam Jordan and the rest of the stout Saints defensive line, are now the top-ranked defense in the entire League at pressuring quarterbacks. This could spell trouble for Bears QB Mitchell Trubisky; who will get his first start back under center for Chicago since dislocating his left shoulder nearly a month.
The 3rd year signal-caller will wear a protective shoulder harness and, with somewhat limited mobility, could be vulnerable in the pocket. That could prove very beneficial for the emerging young Saints’ defensive end and edge pass rusher Marcus Davenport, who will be matched against Bears starting left tackle Charles Leno.
The 6-foot-4, 304 pound Leno has 8 penalties already this season (2nd most in the NFL) in the first 5 games, and figures to have his work cut out for him with stopping Davenport; who with a solid performance could become a huge difference-maker in this contest for the Saints pass rush.
#3. RYAN RAMCZYK
Mandatory Credit: Chuck Cook, USA TODAY Sports
In what could be the most important one-on-one match-up of them all tomorrow evening, the 3rd year Saints starting right tackle will have the mission to block the player who is one of the League’s #1 premier edge pass rusher in stand-up outside linebacker / defensive end Khalil Mack.
Ramczyk has emerged as one of the finest pass-protectors in the NFL and has had a top-notch efforts already this season against notable pass-rushing specialists such as Texans defensive end JJ Watt, Seahawks linebacker / edge rusher Jadeveon Clowney, and Cowboys defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence; but will have his hands full with the relentlessly aggressive Mack.
The Bears like to move Mack all around the line of scrimmage and put him in a variety of different positions to take advantage of his elite pass-rushing skills; and while other Saints O-Linemen such as Terron Armstead and Andrus Peat could also end up taking him on; it’s expected that Mack will spend a majority of snaps rushing off the outside edge that typically is the right defensive end spot. That will put Ramczyk directly in the proverbial cross-hairs of Mack, who in 5 games has 4.5 sacks and a whopping 19 QB pressures already.
While it’s likely that he will get some welcomed help from back-up tight end Josh Hill (who will start in the place of the injured Jared Cook) with a few well-executed “chip blocks”, the onus mostly will be upon Ramczyk to stop Mack so that Bridgewater can remain upright; and still be able enough to give the Saints a legitimate chance to pull out a win.
#2. DEMARIO DAVIS
Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle, USA TODAY Sports
Another Saints defensive stalwart this season, the 30-year-old Davis is having one of the best starts to his entire 8-year career; as the Brandon, Mississippi native has tallied 3 tackles for loss, 3 PBU’s (pass break-ups), 4 QB pressures, and 1 QB “hit” to his credit. Davis undoubtedly has been very solid in pass coverage so far, but has been even more impressive up to this point at defending the run; particularly with his notable capability to meet opposing RB’s head-on directly at the line of scrimmage and stop them “dead in their tracks”.
Given that the Bears will have limits in what they can do offensively tomorrow in the passing game with a hurt Trubisky and only one player with “star potential” at the wide receiver in Allen Robinson (who will face the prospect of trying to get open against elite Saints cornerback Marshon Lattimore), Chicago will rely heavily upon the running game of RB tandem rookie David Montgomery and 3rd year veteran Tarik Cohen to have any real chance of success.
But that will be difficult for Chicago since the Saints defense is one of the League’s very best units at defending the run; and to that point they haven’t allowed a single RB to gain over 100 yards rushing against them in an incredible 31 straight games. The last time a RB rushed for over 100 yards against the Black and Gold run defense was back in November of the 2017 Season, when then-Redskins RB Samaje Perine gained 117 yards.
If the Bears want to avoid the uncertainty of what type of performance they’ll get from Trubisky, they must establish the run against that stout Saints defensive Front 7 with Montgomery and Cohen; but more often than not, it’s more than likely that they’ll first have to get past Demario Davis. Ultimately, it’s a mission Chicago might not accomplish.
#1. TEDDY BRIDGEWATER
Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay, USA TODAY Sports
Make no mistake about this much: in order for the Saints to overcome the most overwhelming amount of odds at winning tomorrow’s game with the absences of Drew Brees, Alvin Kamara, and Jared Cook on offense, they need a solid effort from Bridgewater, who while leading New Orleans to four straight wins since taking over at QB, has still had his share of “difficulties”.
In the 5 games (and 4 starts) since he took over for Brees, the 26-year-old Bridgewater has completed 109 passes out of 157 attempts for 1,089 yards with 7 TD’s and 2 interceptions; which isn’t bad by any means. Bridgewater ranks within the Top 10 of the entire NFL in game-winning drives (2 times, which ranks 3rd overall), QBR (98.4 percent, which ranks 10th overall), and pass completions (69.4 percent, which ranks 8th).
However, the former University of Louisville star hasn’t always been as accurate as some have hoped; and he is still prone to indecisiveness or making poor throws when facing pressure in the pocket. And nobody pressures the QB better than the Bears defense can do.
All week long heading into tomorrow evening’s highly anticipated showdown, both the Bears coaching staff and their players to a man have openly expressed their intentions to make Bridgewater the focal point of their chance at winning this contest; by making him uncomfortable in the pocket and putting as much pressure on him as humanly possible.
Bottom line: the Black and Gold will need to rely upon Teddy B to manage the game effectively while playing mostly mistake-free football with a steady-if-not-spectacular performance, and perhaps even the very best of his entire 6-year NFL career; if they want to leave Soldier Field in Chicago tomorrow evening with a 5th straight win against what seems to be overwhelming odds.
