The Bears, who customarily gain most of their yardage in the passing game, only had four passing attempts in the first half (17 total) of last weeks game against the Panthers.
Chicago finished with 224 yards rushing and two touchdowns on the ground and just 102 yards passing with zero touchdowns.
Their run heavy 34-30 win against Carolina was uncharacteristic of a Mike Martz offense, and is something that the Lions defense will be prepared for heading into Monday night’s game.
“We’re going to have to stop the run,” said defensive tackle
“It’s going to be a big test for our defense and I know that we’re going to be prepared and we’re going to be ready.”
A big part of Chicago’s running game is Matt Forte, who finished against the Panthers with 205 yards rushing and a touchdown.
On the season, Forte has a total of 60 carries for 324 yards (5.4 avg.) which ranks third in the NFC and seventh in the NFL.
“He’s a tremendous back,” said linebacker
With Detroit’s front four being a ‘get off’ defense, they’ll continue to be focused on pressuring the quarterback and disrupting the pass, but they also know that Chicago may scheme against that and come in looking to have another successful day running the ball.
“I definitely think Chicago is going to come in here and run the ball to try and slow us down on the front,” said Williams. “I think they’ll mix in some screens and hard counts and things like that to try and slow us down.
“But Coach (Schwartz), he has it in practice for us to work on all of those different things and we’ll be prepared and ready when they throw it at us.”
