First Look : New Orleans Saints

As the Bears finish watching tape of the game against Atlanta, the time has come to begin preparing for the New Orleans Saints. In a recent power ranking that was release by ESPN, the Bears moved up six spots from 13 to 7. This coming off an impressive victory over a team that is considered an NFC elite. However, after a high scoring shoot out, the New Orleans Saints still are one spot ahead of the Bears. The Bears head down to New Orleans to face a team that is very comparable the Atlanta Falcons. The Saints send out Drew Brees to control their high powered offense that includes weapons such as Darren Sproles, Mark Engram,Devery Henderson and Robert Meachem. This offense is a bit more dynamic than that of the Falcon's simply because Drew Brees has more experience running it. As he showed against the Packers, he can torch a secondary like the best of them in the NFL. On the defensive side of the ball, the Saints will present the Bears offense and Jay Cutler with a variety of blitz and cover looks. The Saints tend to rely on the blitz more than the Falcons do which could pose a problem for the Bears young, inexperienced line. However, there are weaknesses on the Saints defense. Against the Packers, they showed little to no ability to pressure the quarterback and stop the run. They also showed some weaknesses in the secondary, by allowing Aaron Rodger to throw for over 300 yards. Look for the Bears to come out in a similar fashion as they did against the Falcons, with a solid mix of passes to soften the defense up so that they can mash it out on the ground. The return of Marion Barber should also help the Bears running game. He will soften up the defense after Matt Forte comes out and should allow for some bigger runs towards the end of the game. I would also look for the Bears to try to jump out to an early lead to quite the Saints crowd down and so that the defensive line can go straight after Drew Brees and the Saints passing game. My prediction for the game is a 24-17 victory for the Bears. This would send the Bears to 2 and 0 and the Saints would be 0 and 2. Kick off against the Saints is only 5 days away, so until next time Bear Down Chicago.