WaPo: Smarter Stats: Week 7 NFL Preview

Washington Redskins at Chicago Bears

The Bears' offensive line issues are clear - and potentially disastrous. But who's at fault for a situation in which quarterback Jay Cutler has taken 18 sacks in his last three games? You can probably start with line coach Mike Tice. Tice has recently blamed some of Chicago's younger linemen for not knowing what they're doing, but how were they supposed to know when Tice held his protections back in the preseason, and didn't use them during practice? The Bears allowed 3 ½ sacks to free blitzers against the Seahawks last Sunday, and there are far too many examples of unaware linemen failing to pick up obvious blitz concepts. One would expect that Brian Orakpo will be walking around Redskins HQ with a big smile on his face after watching the film.

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The Giants' pass rush was unbelievable against the Bears. Seldom, though, do the Skins seem to find a way to follow suit. Mike Martz found a way to counter the opposing pass rush by using more running, three-step drops and play-action. If we get up on them early though, it could open things up for Rak and company.

I have a feeling we'll try to get to Cutler early and keep Matt Forte tied up as a blocker. It will be interesting to see if Martz will try to run the ball on us like the Colts did. The guy is just NOT FOND of running the ball but he'll try to get Forte in space. Not sure if Haslett will put a spy on him or not. I would. Make Cutler beat you with his arm. When he gets hot, he's certainly capable of doing it but I'm betting he won't because we won't let him go downfield the way he likes. This means he'll force passes he shouldn't and that could be a good thing for us.