The Bears, who clinched the NFC North after Monday night’s win in snowy Minnesota, have the inside track on the No. 2 seed in the NFC. They need to stay ahead of the Philadelphia Eagles and are two games behind Atlanta for the top spot in the NFC.
For the Jets, a win would wrap up a playoff spot and would keep their small chance at winning the AFC East alive, as they trail New England by two games with two to go in the regular season.
This is just the 10th meeting all-time between the two teams, and Chicago has won six of the first nine, including the last meeting in 2006. But a lot has changed since then though.
Chad Pennington was the Jets quarterback back then—Mark Sanchez was just a freshman at USC—with Eric Mangini at the helm in his inaugural season.
Meanwhile, Bears starting quarterback, Jay Cutler, was a rookie with the Broncos, while All-Pro defensive end Julius Peppers was still in Carolina, which is where Jets head coach Rex Ryan probably wishes he still was.
“Julius Peppers is an unbelievable player. It’s ridiculous. A guy shouldn’t be that big, that fast, that athletic,” Ryan was quoted on www.newyorkjets.com
Making Peppers an even greater concern is the fact that Mark Sanchez’s shoulder is injured to the point where he was only able to throw lightly in practice on Wednesday.
Said Ryan, “That’s how he threw the ball today, but he’s moving around great. I think if we had to play a game, he would play now, like today. Again, he is sore so we’re being cautious and letting him heal.”
Sanchez, who injured his shoulder early in the game against Pittsburgh, didn’t seem too concerned about it either, “I practiced well today. [I] was limited, just as a precaution and I’ll be ready to go for Sunday.”
Another Jet with a new injury (turf-toe) is wide receiver Santonio Holmes.
“During the game, I guess he [Holmes] had a toe injury and never thought it was that bad. I never knew that we would have to hold him out today,” said Ryan.
Holmes should be able to go Sunday. Ryan said, “I don’t think he’s out by any stretch of the imagination. I just think it was sore today and he felt like he couldn’t practice.”
Others who didn’t practice due to injury were safeties James Ihedigbo (knee and ankle) and Eric Smith (concussion) as well as tackle Damien Woody (knee).
Woody’s replacement, Wayne Hunter, will start at tackle this week and will be charged with the task of helping block against a Chicago Bears defense that boasts not only the aforementioned Peppers, but also All-Pro linebackers Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs.
They form a tough defense that has allowed fewer points this season than the stingy New York Jets (242–259).
To make matters even worse, waiting in the wings for those who have to punt the ball, is the speedy, shifty, impossible-to-catch Devin Hester. Hester, who also returns kickoffs, broke the NFL record for most career punts returned for touchdowns on Monday. He is all of 28 years old. Clearly, the Jets will have their hands full.
Fortunately, the Jets blitz-happy defense matches up well with the Bears pass-first offense and quarterback Jay Cutler. Cutler doesn’t always move too well; the Giants sacked him an incredible nine times in one half and he leads the league in times sacked at 44.
Cutler doesn’t have a consistent enough running attack (ranking 26th out of 32 teams in yards per carry with 3.8) to keep the pressure off him.
And the Jets will definitely bring pressure this week. It may help alleviate the one defensive statistic they’re dead last in—most phantom first downs.
