The Chicago Bears have a tall task coming up this week on Monday Night Football against the Philadelphia Eagles. Everyone is rightfully discussing Chicago’s ever-evolving quarterback situation but there’s much more to this game than that.

Frankly, I see Ben Johnson’s offense bouncing back regardless of who’s at QB. He wants to send a message this week after how his unit looked last week and all of concerns at quarterback. I believe that will happen and the ground game will dominate again.

On the other side of the ball, it’s looking like a matchup of weakness vs. weakness.

How can the Bears run defense attempt to limit Saquon Barkley and Eagles run game?

On paper, running back Saquon Barkley is a massive challenge for any team he faces. Through two games, however, Barkley has struggled this season totaling just 92 yards on 19 carries and enters this game as a question mark after suffering a stinger last week.

Barkley returned to practice and seems to be ready to go on Monday. Even if Barkley plays, though, this Eagles run game has struggled just as much when he’s out there.

After two games, the Eagles have the eight-most (26) runs hit at the line of scrimmage and the sixth-most (13) stuffs in the NFL. Barkley and Tank Bigsby rank 53rd and 44th (of 54 RBs) in yards before contact/attempt, according to Josh Norris.

However, this is a solid matchup for the Eagles. Chicago’s run defense has struggled so far allowing 244 rushing yards, but only 2.0 yards after contact/attempt. Which means the Bears are rallying to the ball with the back seven but they are struggling up-front.

Chicago’s defensive line only has two tackles for a loss this season, tied for the fourth-fewest in the NFL. They’ve got to be better there and can’t let Barkley or Bigsby get up the field. For the Bears, I’d like to see Jordan van den Berg more looks this week because something’s got to change to get more push up-front. Grady Jarrett and James Lynch are the only defensive linemen in Chicago above a 65.0 PFF run defense grade.

Eagles’ OL no longer looks like a strength, and there’s a way for the Bears to get after Jalen Hurts

When looking at the Eagles’ offensive line, this unit no longer looks like one of the league’s best offensive fronts, as we’ve grown accustomed to seeing. A big reason why is because the Eagles made the questionable decision to part ways with arguably the best offensive line coach in football in Jeff Stoutland this offseason, and clearly that move has come with some negative side effects.

Beyond that, the Eagles also suffered a big injury when three-time Pro Bowl left guard Landon Dickerson suffered a bone bruise in his right knee in Week 1, forcing the team to place him on the injured reserve. In his absence, the Eagles shuffled the offensive line last week, moving two-time Pro Bowl center Cam Jurgens to left guard and then slotting Drew Kendall in at center, in his second career regular season start.

Here’s how the numbers looked with that new starting five against the Titans defensive front last week, via PFF.

Player	Sacks/Pressures Allowed	Pass Block Grade	Run Block Grade
Jordan Mailata	0/3	68.2	73.5
Cam Jurgens	1/3	21.9	43.9
Drew Kendall	0/2	58.0	41.1
Tyler Steen	0/2	70.9	69.4
Lane Johnson	0/1	84.0	62.2

It’s worth noting that Hurts was sacked three times on Sunday, with two of those sacks being credited to the quarterback (both were scrambles out of bounds against a four man rush). However, when Hurts was blitzed in that game, he was at his best completing 8/9 pass attempts for 72 yards and a touchdown with four pressures.

When he wasn’t blitzed and faced a four-man rush, Hurts went 18/28 passing with 192 yards, one touchdown, two interceptions, and 13 pressures (along with the two runs out of bounds at the line of scrimmage that listed as sacks).

Chicago has to get after Hurts with a four-man rush, which can be a challenge for this unit and Dennis Allen loves to dial up the blitz to help his pass rush. However, with a four-man rush last week, Chicago did record four pressures and two sacks on Carson Wentz. Austin Booker recorded one sack, while Dayo Odeyingbo got the other after Montez Sweat forced Wentz to step up in the pocket.

The key to this game for Chicago’s defense, to me, is attacking the left guard and center and doing it by sending four. We’ll see what that plan ultimately looks like.