Overview

On Octorber 4th, 2020 the Indianapolis Colts will travel north to take on the Chicago Bears In this Week 4 match-up, I sought to understand our opponent and get a better idea of how they may attack our Colts.

No matter what happens with the Bears the first thing I will always think of when I think of this team is Super Bowl XLI. Since that fateful, rainy, evening in Miami, these two teams have met three times, the Bears winning twice. The Colts won their last meeting back in 2016. This season we think we have an idea of who both these teams are after just three games, but how will both teams look when facing each other?

Let’s see what we can expect in week four.

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Special Teams

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Kicker:

Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images

Cairo Santos is 4 of 6 on his field goal attempts for the season and 8 of 8 with extra points. He’s missed his lone try from 40-50 yards and his lone try from 50+. In fact the longest field goal Cairo Santos has made this season was from 35 yards.

I’m not saying he’s going to miss every attempt from beyond 35 yards but I will say that I will feel much more comfortable this week if the game comes down to kicks at the end of the game.

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Punter:

Photo by Nuccio DiNuzzo/Getty Images

Pat O'Donnell is averaging 46.8 yards per punt. He’s punted 12 times and has a long punt of 64 yards. Back in 2017 he attempted one pass that went for 38 yards and a touchdown and he had one rush attempt in 2014 where he was stopped for a loss of 12 yards.

In 4 out of 6 seasons as a pro he’s had a punt blocked. I’m not saying this is the week he’s going to have one blocked in 2020, but I am saying it wouldn’t surprise me.

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Returner:

Cordarrelle Patterson is a unique individual. In this clip you can see that he’s running, fast, sees an opening and proceeds to run even faster. Patterson’s career hasn’t gone the way many expected it to but he’s big, he’s fast and he’s really good at returning kicks. The Colts have been very good covering kicks this season and they’ll have to keep that up this week because Patterson is a serious threat to take one to the house, every chance he gets.

Returning punts will most likely be Anthony Miller as Tarik Cohen was lost last week to an ACL tear. Miller hasn’t ever returned a punt before this season so we don’t have much to go on. That said with the way Rigoberto Sanchez has been kicking the ball this year, he probably won’t be much of a factor either way.

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Final Thoughts for The Week:

The Chicago Bears aren’t a bad football team, but they’re probably the worst 3-0 team in the league. If the Colts are who most of us seem to think they are, they should beat the Bears this weekend. If the Colts come out and play their game, get the ground game going against a bad rush defense and finish some drives inside the red zone, the Colts should be in a great position to finish this one off and head into week five sitting at 3-1.

The Bears offense isn’t great. Nick Foles might give them a shot in the arm but considering Frank Reich’s history working with him, he knows Foles strengths and weaknesses, well. If the Colts can slow down David Montgomery and not allow themselves to get beaten by the play action pass, the Colts defense has the talent to have a decent day against a revamped Bears offense.

These two teams are close from a talent perspective but the Colts have the better quarterback. If this game were being played at Lucas Oil Stadium I would pick them to win by more than a touchdown. Chicago is a short trip and there won’t be fans in the stands but it’s an away game all the same.

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Predictions

• Jonathan Taylor will go over 100 yards on the ground and it won’t look difficult.
• Philip Rivers will lean on T.Y. Hilton and the pair will have a big day statistically.
• The Bears will find a way to keep this one interesting until late in the fourth quarter.
• Final Score:

Colts 24

Bears 21