Dolphins week 9 opponent preview: Da Chicago Bears

Continuing on with their NFC North tour, the Miami Dolphins travel to the windy city to take on the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field. The Dolphins (5-3) are coming off two straight wins as the Bears (3-5) look to bounce back from a 20-point loss in Dallas last weekend.

Here is what you need to know about the Bears:

Chicago hopes Chase Claypool can spark their stagnant offense

The Bears were very active during the trade deadline this week.

Chicago sent disgruntled linebacker Roquan Smith to Baltimore for some draft capital, then turned around and used said draft capital to go out and get their WR1, Chase Claypool from Pittsburgh.

In terms of total offense, the Bears rank sixth-to-last in the league.

They have a young and talented quarterback in Justin Fields, but the first-round pick from a year ago has not had much offensive talent surrounding him, especially in the wide receiver room. The Bears hope acquiring Chase Claypool in exchange for a second-round pick will add another dimension to their offense and finally give Justin Fields a receiver to work with.

Other than the newly acquired Claypool, the Bears do not have much in the way of offensive arsenal. Their top receivers are Darnell Mooney with 364 yards on the year, then Equanimeous St. Brown with 164. Running back David Montgomery has struggled this season with only 361 yards on the ground so far.

And that’s it. The Dolphins hope to pick up where they left off defensively in Detroit — and it seems pretty possible.

How will the Roquan-less Bears’ defense look?

As previously mentioned, the Bears traded away their star linebacker, who leads the league in tackles, at the deadline. That leaves a pretty big gap in the center of their defense.

With Smith, the Bears were a middle-of-the-pack defense, allowing just under 23 points per game, good for the 19th ranked defense in the league. Without Smith? We will have to see.

The bright spot for the Bears’ defense is their secondary, where there are some pretty talented and underrated guys. Eddie Jackson is their premier defensive back, with four interceptions already on the year. Young and budding contributors such as safety Jaquan Brisker and cornerback Kyler Gordon both look like solid defenders so far.

The biggest weakness on this Bears defense is the front seven. The Dolphins must take advantage of the lack of talent on the defensive line and linebacking corps of Chicago. This is a unit that has traded away Roquan Smith and Robert Quinn — two of its best players. The Dolphins have to game plan around that.

The bottom line

The Bears are a young, frisky team playing with nothing to lose.

They have a bright and upcoming quarterback in Justin Fields, who was absolutely slinging it last week against a tough Dallas defense. He completed 17 of his 23 attempts and added 2 touchdowns with no interceptions. He can be electric at times, so the Dolphins cannot sleep on Fields.

They are a defense that is in the middle of a rebuild, as the veteran stars are being shuffled out for the young future of the team. This is absolutely something the Dolphins should consider in their favor. If Tyreek Hill or Jaylen Waddle are one-on-one with one of Chicago’s young corners, you can bet the house that Tua will try it.

On Sunday, in Chicago, it’s supposed to be a nice sunny day in the 60’s. However, wind gusts of up to 28 mph are to be expected, so that may end up being a factor. The Dolphins may need to rely on the ground game and get some push on the offensive line against the young and unproven Chicago front seven to win this game.

Kickoff is scheduled for 1:00 ET at Soldier Field. The Dolphins open up as 5-point road favorites for Bradley Chubb’s Dolphins debut!