The Chicago Bears have a massive challenge coming up on Sunday when it comes to the defensive side of the ball. Dennis Allen’s unit is coming off a tough performance in Week 5, severely short-handed, and going up against one of the most dangerous weapons in the entire NFL.

Everything about this spells disaster for Chicago’s defense. But, being an optimist about this matchup, what an opportunity this could be for this unit to step up and prove they have what it takes to win this kind of battle.

“The expectation is that we play a better brand of football than we’ve done,” head coach Ben Johnson said. “We’ve got a big challenge coming up in terms of the running game. This is an elite running game in the NFL led by a guy that might be leading the charge for MVP right now. That’s first and foremost. Then, of course, we’ve got to clean up some of the issues that we put on tape last week with the explosive plays. It’s not going to be a talent-level issue or anything like that. We’ve got plenty of guys, and now we’ve just got to play together as one unit, and all 11 on the same page, and we’ll take it from there.”

The Bijan Robinson problem is only one issue, but it’s certainly the biggest one

The Bears have a lot of things to worry about defensively going into this game. Quarterback Michael Penix Jr. appears good to go after dealing with a rib injury earlier in the week and this offense has been totally different with him on the field. Drake London also presents another big-play threat for the Bears to watch out for in the secondary.

But, the biggest challenge this unit has to be prepared to face is easily running back Bijan Robinson. He has the ability to take over any game, whether it’s by making explosive plans to consistently churning out positive yards to control the clock. He’s a monster who can literally do it all at an elite level.

“He’s a bigger player than you think when you watch it on tape,” Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen said. “But just his speed and his transition, his ability to make cuts and accelerate is exceptional. You watch him play, and when there’s space in the defense, he can really exploit that. It’s going to be a hell of a challenge for us. I certainly think he’s, if not the, one of the best backs in our league right now. And when he’s going, they’re playing at a really high level.”

If the Bears have one goal going into this game, it’s preventing Robinson from dominating. It’s a tough ask, and the Bears will be without two starting defensive linemen, and a starting linebacker, going into this game.

“I’m sure coach with have a wonderful plan for us this week,” defensive team captain Grady Jarrett said. “I’m fully confident in whatever he calls for us and our plan going forward. I’m sure he’ll have everybody in the right position and where they need to be to be effective.”

We need to set some expectations on what containing Bijan Robinson actually looks like

The idea of “containing” a player like Bijan Robinson looks a lot different than many expect when hearing the word containing. This is a guy that more often than not is going to pile on yardage. Containing a player like this means limiting the explosives.

Only one team has successfully managed to do that this season when looking at stats such as yards after contact and yards after catch. That team was the Carolina Panthers, who held Robinson to 29 yards after contact and 8 yards after catch. In the other four games, Robinson has averaged 62.25 yards after contact and 39.5 yards after catch.

Even in that Week 2 game, Robinson still totaled 81 yards. He’s going to get his yards regardless of what you plan is. Containing him means preventing the extra yards.

Under Dennis Allen, the Bears have given up some big games to running backs by allowing those extra yards. Ashton Jeanty for example had 131 yards after contact last season against the Bears, and Christian McCaffrey who had 97 yards after contact.

Where the defense has been solid at is allowing yards after the catch against running backs. Chase Brown has recorded the most yards after catch among running backs against this defense with 68 and only one other running back recorded 50+ in that span.

This season, the Bears have only allowed four missed tackles in the run game, the third-fewest in the NFL. That’s how the Bears win this game and win the battle against Robinson. You can’t allow extra yards. Even if he ends the game with 80-100 yards, that’s fine as long as he’s under four yards per touch and you’re bringing him down at first contact.

Again, it’s a big challenge and it’s going to take a full team effort (offense, defense, special teams) to win a game like this. But, the Bears are capable of doing it as long as they rally to the football and prevent Robinson from creating extra yardage.