Week 6 Preview: Miami Dolphins vs. Chicago Bears
By Sean Moon
The Miami Dolphins will be getting some heavy hitting company this weekend when Khalil Mack and the Chicago Bears visit Hard Rock Stadium.
Alright Miami Dolphins fans, as we erase the bad memory of the last two weeks from our minds and began to muster up the courage to turn the NFL back on, this Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium with the 1:00pm early game, the Aqua and Orange are set to defend they’re home turf again. This week, week 6 of the 2018 season rolls around and they’ll find the Chicago Bears at they’re house knocking at the front door.
These two-storied franchises have met each other 12 times throughout the years . The Miami Dolphins hold a 8-4 series lead and how could anyone forget their biggest match up that took place the night of December 2nd 1985, when the highest rated offense of the year matched up against perhaps the greatest defense ever, in a game that had perfection stopping and historic significance all over it. I know every Miami Dolphin fan knows the tale. (Goosebumps!)
After such a strong and promising start to this season the Miami Dolphins started 3-0, but after two embarrassing losses, the team now find themselves in an almost must win match-up. Sitting at 3-2 and now in second place in the division, this match-up will either drop the Dolphins to .500 or keep them in the race with a winning record a top the division.
Where to start? Well lets understand one thing, this injury plagued season will definitely test the ability of the Miami Dolphins to fire on all pistons, unfortunately for the team that statement goes for both sides of the ball. The banged up offensive line fell on even harder times after last weekends loss of starting left tackle Laremy Tunsil, who was knocked out of the game with a concussion and has yet to pass the concussion protocol to be able to return to action. So, with that injury the Dolphins have a patchwork of reserve offensive line players in front of Ryan Tannehill. This is going to challenge the units pass protection and running schemes, and make Ryan Tannehill rush at all decisions to prevent himself from becoming a new strain of Bermuda grass.
When asked about the injuries to the offensive line, starting right tackle Ja’Wuan James said,
"“I know they don’t want us to talk about injuries much. They tell us to refer that to Coach (Gase). But the mentality he’s had the last three years he’s been here is the next man up, and I feel like that’s on us and the guys that are in there to pick it up even more with those guys out. We’ve got to put the onus on us as a group and whoever is going to be in there.”"
We will see if that can translate in the game for the Miami Dolphins.
The Miami Dolphins offense has been very inconsistent this season. The Dolphins come in ranked 28th in points scored, 30th in total yards (192.2 passing yards/96.0 rushing yard) a game according to the NFL.com rankings. This has not been a very impressive offense and frankly unless the Dolphins are able to establish a running game these statistics will be hard to improve on if they remain a one-dimensional team.
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The running game, when used, can be very effective, but it seems to get lost in translation as the game proceeds. The passing attack will need to be utilized with quick throws due to the pass rush the bears defense will produce. Luckily, the Dolphins specialize in the dink and dunk style passing game and it could very well be productive.
Kenyan Drake out of the backfield should produce a few headaches for this bears defense that seems to rush heavy and maybe a little softer on the back-end. I’m not going to even mention the Miami Dolphins tight ends at this point because truthfully, why? I mean watch any game this year, their irrelevant and yes I know A.J.Derby caught a touchdown, but you know what I’m saying and you know that group is just awful.
The Miami Dolphins defense will have their hands full with the Chicago Bears offense which is led by second year quarterback Mitchell Trubisky and a solid running back unit. The Chicago bears coming off a bye week, enter Hard Rock Stadium with a ranking of 7th in points scored, 24th in total yards (219.5 Pass yards/121.5 rush yards) a game, according to NFL.com rankings.
The rushing attack has nearly doubled that of their opponents this season and they do a very good job of a pounding the rock with Jordan Howard and then going with the change of pace back in Tarik Cohen.
Mitchell Trubisky is a very athletic quarterback and can use his feet when needed. He’s a big armed guy that does not fear throwing at anyone. Mitchell Trubisky is still young and if you get him under some pressure he will tend to try to force some throws, which for the Miami Dolphin defense could lead to some turnovers, something they have excelled in so far this season.
Trubisky had his break out game of the season two weeks ago against Tampa Bay, throwing for 354 yards and 6 touchdowns, but unfortunately for him, his next week was the Chicago Bears bye week. I’m not sure if Mitchell Trubisky was so much on fire or if the very poor Tampa Bay defense had more to do with the stellar performance. Miami Dolphins defense is not the Tampa Bay defense and will certainly bring a big reality check his way.
The story of this game however will most likely be the overall #2 ranked Chicago Bears defense according to NFL.com rankings, which of course everyone knows has Khalil Mack, the 2016 NFL defensive player of the year. This defense can get after the quarterback and has a knack for causing fumbles. The Chicago Bears defense comes in ranked #1 so far this season against the run according to NFL.com rankings and have been excellent in only allowing a league low of 64 yards a game.
This game should be a defensive battle and should be a tightly contested between these two teams. If the Miami Dolphins offense can sustain a few drives throughout the game and score points off the gifts from the defense, the Dolphins should get back on track walk away victorious.