Bears Keys to Victory

This week has been one of the longest weeks of my life waiting for the game on Sunday. The Bears and Packers have not met in the postseason since a week after Pearl Harbor. This matchup is for the right to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl in Dallas in 2 weeks. They split the season series, with each team winning at their place. If the Bears are going to make it to Dallas, here is what they are going to have to do win:

Continued Balance on Offense: OC Mike Martz has done a good job since the bye week in including the running game more in his offense. He realized that the offensive line is not good enough to have Cutler passing 35 plus times. The O-line has gotten better each week in the run game and Matt Forte is one of the better backs in the league. Forte has only carried the ball 26 times against the Packers this year, but if Matt is around that number for the game on Sunday that bodes well for the Bears.

Turnovers. This goes for both the offense and the defense. The Bears defense thrives on the turnover. The Bears ranked 2nd in the NFC during the regular season in takeaways with 35. In both games this season the Bears forced 2 turnovers in each game. The Bears need to try to force 2 or more turnovers in this game as well. As for the offense, it's all about Jay Cutler and ball security. It is not just about him throwing the interception, but also fumbling when he gets sacked. Jay does not do a good job of protecting the ball when he gets hit from behind. The Bears can probably get away with only one Jay giveaway.

Special Teams. This is where the hidden yardage is. It is a significant advantage to start drives near the 40 instead of the 20. Devin Hester is going to be the biggest x-factor in this game. Green Bay did a nice job in week 17 of not letting Hester beat them in the punt return game. Danieal Manning is also a dangerous return man. He finds the hole on kickoff returns and he just goes hard through it, not stopping for anyone. He had one nice return in week 17 and I expect him to have another good return this week.

There are plenty of other keys I can write about, but since this is a prodominantly Packer fan read blog I will not bore you with more. Let's hope Sunday is one of the best football games of all-time with no injuries to the players and also to the fans in the stadium (I have a feeling things may get testy.). GO BEARS!

-Michael