The Chicago Bears are going into an extremely difficult matchup later tonight against the Seattle Seahawks. This is one of the most hostile environments in the NFL and a team that’s fielding one of the most dangerous defenses in the league.

It’s going to be a tough one for head coach Ben Johnson and his team, who already said it’s going to have to take a full team effort to knock off the defending Super Bowl champs on the road.

“It’s a good opportunity against a really good opponent at their place,” Johnson said on Saturday. “We’re going to have to handle this crowd that’s going to be wild for a Monday night, and I know guys are going to be up for it, and we’re going to give them our best shot. We’ve been saying all week long that we’re going to have to coach the best that we’ve coached all year. We’re going to have to play the best that we’ve played all year.”

There’s going to be talent all over this field, including two new All-Pros battling in the trenches in Bears new defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons and Seahawks new left guard Quenton Nelson each making their debuts with their new team. Yet, the true X-factor for the Bears is an unlikely candidate that will play a massive role later tonight.

Garrett Bradbury is going to be the key X-factor for the Bears against the Seahawks

One could easily argue that Simmons and/or Nelson are going to be the biggest X-factors of this game. Or even quarterback Caleb Williams, who’s 2-0 since his return from injury. How about D’Andre Swift, who’s leading the league’s top rushing attack? The chess-match between Johnson and Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald will also be a key matchup to watch.

Yet, when looking at this game and how things could go in Seattle, the top X-factor in this game is going to be Bears center Garrett Bradbury, at least that’s how the Bears coaches see things playing out going into such a hostile environment.

“I think it’s huge,” Johnson said of Bradbury’s impact in this game. “He’s loud, he’s fearless. I think he’s a big part of getting us all on the same page. That’s what we’ve been harping on as a coaching staff is communication needs to be area number one that we nail this week. And that’s easier said than done. You can play all the crowd noise at practice that you want until you’re in that environment in real time. You’ve got to be able to handle it. And so keeping our poise, keeping our composure, and being able to communicate in all three phases is going to be huge for us.”

It’s easy to see where this logic is coming from. Bradbury handles all of the communication up-front for the Bears and gets the offensive line on the same page. With how loud Seattle’s home crowd will be later tonight, Bradbury will have to be LOUD to make sure everyone gets the correct call on every play and avoid any mistakes.

“We’ve got to be on our mess, and we can’t shoot ourselves in the foot with turnovers or penalties or things of that nature,” Johnson added. “We need to play a clean football game, and let’s see where it goes from there.”

Outside of his role in helping avoid pre-snap penalties playing in front of a ruckus crowd, Bradbury will also have a tough matchup blocking against Leonard Williams and Byron Murphy on the Seahawks’ defensive front, who each have 20+ pressures and 3 sacks this season. Meanwhile, Bradbury has allowed 11 pressures and one sack with a 52.1 pass-blocking grade, the lowest among Chicago’s starting five.

“The leadership has been there. (He) has played hard,” Bears OL coach Dan Roushar said, via Adam Hoge. “At times he’s played really well and then there’s other times we want him to play better than he has… We’re going to have to play with poise and we’re going to have to communicate at a high level and he’s going to have to drive that for us.”

All of this to say, Bradbury is going to be a very unexpected X-factor going into tonight that will easily decide how this game goes for Chicago’s offense. Keep your eyes on him.