The Chiefs’ secondary has poor depth, so teams have forced them into nickel and dime sub packages and attacked them from the slot. KC is putting up 25 points and 385.5 yards per game on offense, but giving up 31.2 points and 412.5 yards per contest defensively. But they lost their other top cornerback, Phillip Gaines, in Week 3 for the season to an ACL injury. Ron Parker leads the Chiefs with 24 tackles, Justin Houston has three sacks and Marcus Peters has seven pass deflections. In fact, in 16 of the last 20 years, their first pick in the draft has been 19th-overall or later.
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Dickerson covers the Chicago Bears for ESPN’s NFL Nation.
Not only does this front rush the passer well, but it fits the run aggressively downhill and is disciplined with backside contain. The Chiefs did manage a season-high 461 total yards, including a career-best 348 through the air by Alex Smith, but the defense endured a second straight rough week. He also set an National Football League record for most receptions in a season by a running back with 102, and finished with 805 yards and four touchdowns.
The depth of the Bears’ offensive line has been tested early on. And with the injuries the Bears are now facing on offense – including possibly starting rookie center Hroniss Grasu for the first time Sunday – it’s hard to give them the benefit of the doubt in a tough road environment.
Running backs tend to be multifaceted in Reid’s offense, though, so the number of carries that Charles gets is only part of the equation. “We just didn’t execute”, Charles said.
“Winning has cured more ills than penicillin and winning just feels better”. Bears lead series, 6-5. “Whether it’s coaching, or playing we’ve got to do a better job”. However, he can’t drive the ball down the field and is most comfortable with half-field reads. Since then, the Chiefs have been outscored 88-56, exposing problems on both sides of the ball.
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So while a few fans would rather see the Bears tank the rest of their season for a No. 1 overall pick they could easily blow, it would seem that successfully developing talent now on the roster and establishing a winning culture inside Halas Hall is a much more useful strategy as Ryan Pace and John Fox try to put together a Super Bowl victor. Cutler has a touchdown pass in nine of his last 10 games. Both players can take a short throw and turn it into an explosive gain. Starter Antrel Rolle (ankle) missed practice Wednesday, and the Bears brought back Sherrod Martin and activated Demontre Hurst from the practice squad roster.
