How Bears can upset Saints in Wild Card game
Peter King explains how the Bears can pull off a shocking upset of the Saints on Wild Card Weekend by leaning on David Montgomery.
Video Transcript
PETER KING: Hi, Peter King looking ahead at the wild card weekend. And of the six match ups, the one that I think is going to be toughest for the underdog team and the road team is the Chicago Bears going into New Orleans. Now, you might say, well, of course it's going to be tough. Drew Brees, Alvin Kamara-- Alvin Kamara coming back, maybe even Michael Thomas coming back-- of course, it's going to be hard for the Bears.
But I think there are two hopes that the Chicago Bears have in this game. Number one is feed David Montgomery. He got hot near the end of the year, finished with 1,070 yards after in midseason basically being a nonfactor. So I think they've got to feed David Montgomery consistently throughout this game. I think that's number one.
Number two, put Mitchell Trubisky in manageable situations. And so what I mean is, if it's third and long, you know what, do a pitch out. You know, do a reverse. Do something like that. Don't force Mitchell Trubisky into situations that have given him trouble in the past.
Look, Trubisky has had a good last four to five weeks of the season. He was exposed against a good defense with the Green Bay Packers on Sunday. And that's why I say it's so important to have David Montgomery have a very big game in this game.
And lastly, I'm reminded of something that Bill Parcells once said to the offensive coordinator of the New York Giants when they were really outgunned personnel-wise before going into the Super Bowl against Buffalo three decades ago. And Parcells said to Ron Erhardt, play clock ball. In other words, don't try to be explosive and be huge on first and second down and be throwing the ball all over the place.
Get the ball in manageable situations. Run it. Keep the clock moving.
You know, if I were Matt Nagy, I'm telling all my receivers-- I'm telling Allen Robinson, Jimmy Graham-- you know what-- even if it costs you a couple of yards, stay in bounds. Do not go out of bounds.
And so I think those are the kind of things that the Bears have to be thinking about. Only give the Saints maybe 9 or 10 possessions in this game and make sure that David Robinson has a lot of chances to bleed the clock in New Orleans on Sunday.
