Phins Get Another NFC North Road Test
Phins will face da’ Bear in Chicago
The Miami Dolphins had another spectacular come from behind victory against the Detroit Lions, which was their second double digit come from behind victory on the road this season. While it’s great that Miami has the weapons and offense that can come from behind, they must stop digging a hole for themselves to start the game. At some point, usually at the worst time, the hole will be too deep and it will lead to a critical loss. BUT, thankfully, so far that has been the case. The great news of these poor starts is Tua has shown a ton of magic with a 89.2 QB rating when trailing, which is the best in the league for any QB when trailing.
Good teams find a way to win in adversity, especially against bad teams on the road. But, excellent teams take the lead early and never look back. This is a young team though, so the hope is this 2022 team matures into the latter before that critical six-game stretch to end the season.
This game against the Bears is a perfect time to make the transition happen.
A win over the Bears moves Phins to 6-3!
Miami is on the road again in the NFC north in Chicago with the Bears a subpar 3-5. The various pay per head services had the line before the 1PM games last week with Miami -3.5 on the road against the Bears. On Monday afternoon the line has moved up to -4.5 for the Dolphins. Once again there will be a lot of action coming in on the Dolphins, which is never a great sign. But, all Miami has to do is win to make us happy, they don’t need to cover as well.
The Bears offense has lacked consistency this year and is putting up only 19.4 points per game, which is in the bottom half of the league this year and behind Miami’s 22.3 points per game. The Bears have a young QB in Justin Fields who has thrown 7 touchdowns this year but also 6 interceptions and has been sacked a whopping 31 times! Miami needs to get a steady pass rush on him, but also contain him because he can do damage on the ground with his legs, where he has 424 yards rushing and 3 rushing touchdowns. Miami often struggles with running QB’s, so this will be something they need to do a better job of in Chicago.
On offense, Tua and Miami showed what they could do when they get a reasonable amount of time to get in sync. There is no surprises with our offense: we feed the ball to Hill and Waddle, and utilize the big bodied and long armed Gesicki in the red zone. It’s a formula that few in the league can even limit, much less stop. However, this will be an interesting matchup for the Dolphins because the Bears have one of the top ranked defenses against the pass this season. The Bears have only allowed 188 yards per game through the air this season, which is 5th best in the league.
Crazy to say but Hill had that many yards himself against the Lions.
Bears weakness on defense is the running attack
Bears though are one of the worst rush defenses in the league this year allowing 156 yards per game on the ground which is second worst in the league.
The Lions were too and Miami did have on of their best days on the ground last week. It will be interesting to see if Miami tries to run the ball more this week to take advantage of that matchup or just tries to overpower the Bears secondary with Hill, Waddle, and Gesicki.
While roads games are always tricky, this is definitely a very winnable game for the Dolphins. If Miami wins and moves to 6-3 on the season, they’ll likely only need 4 or 5 more wins with 8 games left to make the playoffs! The post season is slowly becoming a reality considering Miami has the Texans, Browns, and Jets at home in those last 8 games. It’s not there yet, but a win this week would make it a lot closer.
What are the rest of the Miami Dolphins news fans thoughts about this upcoming game in Chicago, where it could also be very cold?
