The New York Giants head to Chicago on Sunday to face the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field, one of the most hostile environments in the NFL.
The Giants’ season has been dismal at best, and while the Bears aren’t faring that much better, it’s still unlikely that Big Blue will make a turnaround this week. That said, there are three things the Giants can do to help ensure a victory.
Stop Khalil Mack
Mack has just one sack over the last six games, and didn’t appear on the stat sheet at all in the Bears’ loss to the Los Angeles Rams last week. Pat Shurmur and Mike Shula had better be watching that film very closely to implement a similar strategy to stop Mack on Sunday.
Double- and triple-teams, extra protection, holding, whatever it takes. The Giants season is a wash, so the goal now is to protect its assets, primarily Daniel Jones. Whatever the offensive line has to do to protect the future of the organization, that’s what needs to happen against the Bears defense this week.
Keep Mitchell Trubisky in check
Don’t make it easy for Trubisky. He’s the 28th-ranked quarterback in the league, near the bottom of the pack. Do not make him look like a superstar, as the Giants have done so many times this season. Trubisky has been sacked 23 times for a loss of 139 yards, largely because he hangs on to the ball. He’s thrown just four interceptions and fumbled the ball twice.
That said, pushing through his offensive line and taking him down is going to be key. Losing those yards gives the Giants better field position when the offense takes over, giving them a better shot at scoring.
For the love of… Stop the turnovers!
It’s been said repeatedly over the last several weeks, but the turnovers have to stop. It seems like such a simple thing to do, but the Giants have not figured out how to keep the ball in the hands of its offense.
The Giants have fumbled the ball 23 times, tying them for first most in the league with the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikings, though, have lost just nine of those fumbles, while the Giants have lost 14. Add in Jones’ eight interceptions and you have a recipe for losing.
It goes against the grain of what the Giants have been doing, but maybe they try it this week and see what happens. Who knows, maybe the 2-8 Giants can beat the 4-6 Bears.
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