FanPost

Week 1 Preview Bills @ Bears - Because Why The Hell Not

Starting to take a look at the this season opponents, the season opener really intrigues me. Buffalo will inevitably be the underdog in Chicago to open the year, as they probably should, as its young team with a poor road record as of late. Both teams have elite talent at the offensive skill positions, though Buffalo has the decided advantage on the defensive side of the ball. Below are some quick thoughts on how I think the units will match up in this game. Let me know your thoughts on how you think the opener will play out below.

Bills Offense vs Bears Defense - Advantage Buffalo

Buffalo gets the advantage almost by default as Chicago comes off a season in which they had by far the worst run defense in the NFL giving up 161.4 yards per game last season, and finished 30th overall in both points(29.9) and yards(394.6) allowed. They have only marginally improved on Defense with the return of a couple aging veterans coming off injuries and the addition of Jared Allen on the line, and rookie Kyle Fuller as the nickle corner.

- Running The Ball

Chicago faced a top ten rushing offense 6 times last year and gave up an average of just over 200 yards per game and two rushing TDs. Barring disastrous injuries on the Buffalo offensive line between now and the season opener, Buffalo should be able to run the ball almost at will and set the offensive tone for the game. Buffalo has a distinct size advantage against the projected starting front 4 for Chicago, that average 291 lbs vs Buffalo's 325 per man. Buffalo shouldn't need to get too fancy hear and just run power all day with the occasional run outside or a draw.

- Passing The Ball

Chicago has some play makers in the secondary with Tim Jennings and Charles Tillman, as well as rookie 1st round corner Kyle Fuller. But as good as the corners can be, the safety position is d glaring weakness. Chicago's pass rush was also sub par last year, and swapping Jarred Allen for Julius Peppers in not a huge upgrade. With Allen as the only legitimate pass rush threat, he will be much easier to account for even if Cordy Glenn is not available by the opener. The poor safety play coupled with a anemic pass rush should lead to ample opportunities for big plays in the passing game when Goodwin and Watkins get open deep, which they will. This is still dependent on EJ Manuel being able to deliver the ball in these situations, but with the ability of Sammy Watkins to adjust to poorly thrown passes early in camp, chances are good that he and Manuel should be able to connect at some point during the opener.

Overall Buffalo's offense should be able to run the ball effectively with their fast paced attack, and hit a few big plays in the passing game when Chicago's back seven begin to inevitably cheat up to help in the run game. Buffalo should be able to score 24 to 30 points even on the road against this defense.

Bears Offense vs Bills Defense - Advantage Push

This should be a good matchup with a talented set of skill players for the Bears and an underrated offensive line that gave up the 4th fewest sacks last year, going against the strong Buffalo pass rush. Strength vs Strength. Chicago had three players eclipse 1300 yards last year with Forte, Jeffery, and Marshall. Forte was 67 yards short of 2000 all purpose for the season. Buffalo has enough talent on defense to slow them down at times, but will be hard pressed to shut down the big 3 of Chicago for and entire game especially in a new scheme with virtually an entire new starting LB this year.

- Running The Ball

The running game of Chicago begins and ends with Matt Forte. Chicago finished in the middle of the pack rushing last year, and will likely have similar production this season with no proven backup behind Forte to pick up the slack. The line is generally solid run blocking unit after years of ineptitude. I would expect Chicago to try to run early to test run stopping ability of Buffalo's revamped LB corp. I expect some breakdowns in the run game early in the year for Buffalo until the front seven settles in with their new alignments and roles within the defense leading to some chunk plays similar to last year. With that being said Buffalo still has enough talent to a fair share of play for little or no gain forcing Chicago into some unfavorable down and distances. Overall I wouldn't expect Chicago to exceed 125 yards in this game just because they likely wont run the ball more than 25 to 30 times with only Forte getting significant carries.

- Passing The Ball

The passing attack is were this game will be won or lost for the Bears as was largely the case a year ago. Whether it was Cutler or McCown last year running the offense, the passing attack was very productive totaling nearly 4500 passing yards and 32 TDs. The Chicago duo of Alshon Jeffery and Brandon Marshall will win most one on one matchups against even top level corners with there elite size and body control along with being difficult to jam at the line. Martellus Bennett is another big target that may be able to exploit the Buffalo defense when matched up against a LB or the whoever starts at strong safety. Buffalo can limit their effectiveness of the pass game with a strong pass rush, but Chicago will likely be running a lot of quick drops to limit the pass rush opportunities in obvious passing situations. If Cutler in on his game the Bears will be able to move the ball through the air. Chicago gave up less than 2 sacks per game last year, to tie for 4th fewest in the league and the entire unit remains intact though an aging Roberto Garza may be able to be exploited by the strong interior rush Buffalo can bring which could really disrupt the timing. Both units are likely to make a fair share of plays but Chicago may have a slight advantage just because of the experience in the offense going against a reshuffled secondary and LB corp that will need time to gel.

Special Team Units - Push

Both teams teams have experienced reliable kickers, but beyond that have a lot of question marks throughout the rest of the special teams units, especially in coverage and punt teams.

Prediction - Buffalo 27 - Chicago 24

Overall I expect this to be a close game. Both teams strengths generally offset one another, with the exception of Buffalo's clear advantage when running the football which I think will give them the advantage in this game leading to a 27 - 24 victory to kick off the season.

Just another great fan opinion shared on the pages of BuffaloRumblings.com.