The Chicago Bears take on the Houston Texans in week 3 as we have our keys to victory

The Chicago Bears enter week 3 locked in a 4-way tie in the NFC North at 1-1. With their matchup against the Houston Texans looming the Bears have a chance to get to the top of the North with a win in Houston. Here are 5 keys to ensure a Chicago Bears W.

Slow down the run game

With unproven QB David Mills at the helm for Houston, the Texans will most likely try to run the ball and run the ball often. Last week the Chicago Bears defense allowed two huge performances from the Packers running backs and in week 1 they lost the rushing game greatly to the 49ers despite a win. In order to have success in this week 3 matchup, the Bears must shut down the run game and force the ball into David Mill’s hands. If they don’t slow the Texan’s run game down it will ultimately open up the field for Mills and his receivers.

Let Fields throw the ball more

Last week in a 27-10 loss to division rival Green bay the Bears threw the ball just 11 times. I’m sure the Bears plan was to win the game on the ground but that is no excuse to limit your second-year QB to barely even 10 pass attempts. Fields needs to find a connection with the Bears top receivers in Darnell Mooney and Cole Kmet and in order for this to happen the Bears need to throw the ball more.

If the Bears come into this matchup against Houston with the same game plan as last week they will find that moving the ball downfield will become increasingly difficult as the offense becomes incredibly predictable. It is so important to have a balanced offense in today’s NFL in order to be successful and if the Bears come into Houston with a balanced offense, they should have no problem putting up points against a subpar defense.

Kyler Gordon must have a bounce-back performance

Last week was a week to forget for Chicago Bears rookie CB Kyler Gordon. Gordon allowed 10 catches on 13 targets for 162 yards and 2 touchdowns. Gordon had the right attitude after a nightmare perfromance.

It’s frustrating but I’m not mad at it because I’m going to learn from it,” Gordon said. “It’s an experience that I want and I will learn and grow from.”

Hopefully Gordon learned from his mistakes from last week because he will have his hands full once again in this week’s matchup. The Texans receiver core features speed demon Brandin Cooks and Nico Collins. While these matchups present yet another test for the Bears rookie, it is also and more importantly a chance to bounce back and prove that he belongs in the NFL.

Exploit the poor run defense of the Texans

Expect another big game from Bears running back David Montgomery. The Houston Texans feature one of the worst run defense units in the entire NFL. While it is important that the Bears employ a balanced offense this week, it is also equally important that the Chicago bears give David Montgomery plenty of touches. Montgomery is off to a fast start in the young 22′ season and is currently on a 1500 yard pace. Expect the Bears to lean on Montgomery and Herbert early and often.

Keep Justin Fields upright

In order to give Fields more reps and the rest of the Bears an opportunity to click and get going it is absolutely vital that the Bears protect fields at all costs. With Chicago Bears starting center Lucas Patrick possibly returning the Bears O-line will receive a nice boost. Though Chicagos O-line has performed relatively well through two weeks with Fields only being sacked 5 times, Fields holds the highest pressure percentage at 56% so there’s room for improvement. The Bears will need to watch for Texans pass rusher Jerry Hughes whom has exploded out of the gate in 22′ with two sacks, an interception, and a forced fumble.

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General manager Rick Hahn wasn’t ready to deliver a post-mortem on the White Sox’ underachieving season, but center fielder Luis Robert’s injury-plagued season has ended.

The Sox put Robert on the 10-day injured list before their game Saturday after he tried to play through a sprained left wrist for the last six weeks.

”Given the fact the discomfort seems to be persisting — I think you’ve all seen it as various at-bats and games have gone on — and the way games have played out the past week, we feel it’s better just to shut him down and get him completely healthy, which is expected to occur with the passage of time,” Hahn said before a 7-2 loss to the Tigers that extended the Sox’ losing streak to five games and dropped them to .500 (76-76).

Former Cubs shortstop Javy Baez smacked a three-run home run against reliever Jake Diekman during a four-run seventh inning. A Sox loss or a Guardians victory Sunday officially would eliminate the Sox from the American League Central race.

”There are 10 more games, and you have to challenge yourself to go out there and do your job,” acting Sox manager Miguel Cairo said.

Robert initially injured the wrist on a slide Aug. 12, but it gradually seemed to heal until he got hit by a pitch from the Mariners’ Logan Gilbert on Sept. 6.

Robert was 1-for-28 since Aug. 25 and often swung with one hand late in games because of the increasing pain.

Right-hander Michael Kopech and shortstop Tim Anderson also might be shut down. Kopech, who is on the 15-day IL with inflammation in his right shoulder, has experienced knee problems because of a cyst that might need to be removed, Hahn said.

Anderson suffered a tear in the middle finger of his left hand six weeks ago, and accelerating his rehab might not be worth a potential setback.

OK with Eloy

Eloy Jimenez hasn’t played left field since Aug. 26, and it appears he’ll finish the season as the designated hitter while coping with a sore right hamstring.

”I think, given the success he’s having in the DH spot, we’ll just let that ride for the next few weeks,” Hahn said before Jimenez hit his 15th homer Saturday.

Celebrating 700

Cairo sent a congratulatory text message to Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols after Pujols hit his 700th career homer Friday. Cairo and Pujols were teammates with the Cardinals under Tony La Russa.

”He was intense,” Cairo recalled. ”He wanted to be the best, and he did it.”

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The White Sox have entered a dreadful free fall after recent struggles

The Chicago White Sox had a chance to climb back into the postseason race with their most important series of the year against the 1st place Cleveland Guardians and in true 22′ White Sox fashion, they blew it. After this, gut-wrenching essentially season-ending series, the White Sox have fallen to 7 games back(now 8) in the Central and 6.5 games back of the last wild card spot in the American League. This year’s Chicago White Sox team will be remembered as one of the biggest disappointments in recent memory.

The White Sox were coming off a season in which they won the AL Central and were the easy favorites to repeat as division champs. With essentially returning the same team that won the division last year how could they not be? The Guardians have a roster of Jose Ramirez, Shane Bieber……and a bunch of no-names. The Tigers and Royals are still years away from contending, and as for the Twins, though they signed Carlos Correa, they just didn’t have the pitching prowess to contend.

What went wrong against the Guardians?

The White Sox had one last chance against Cleveland to clean up the mess they made by stinking it up the entire season. In game 1 of the series, the White Sox couldn’t touch newly reinstated from the IL Aaron Civale until errors let the Sox back into the game. The game went all the way up to the 11th inning which was the point in which the Sox bullpen imploded again, you know the same bullpen that GM Rick Hahn threw money away at instead of filling other, much larger needs. Yup, that’s the one. The Sox now put themselves in a position in which they couldn’t afford any more losses after dropping game 1 of the set.

In game 2 the Chi Sox didn’t even show up, dropping the game 8-2. Lance Lynn gave up 9 hits and 3 runs over 6 innings. As for the offensive side of the ball, the Sox could not touch Triston Mckenzie. Mckenzie went 8 strong innings striking out 13 White Sox batters along the way.

The Chicago White sox proceeded to drop the final game of the series against the Guardians 4-2 and have entered total free fall. Last night the Sox dropped the first game of their final series against the Tigers 5-3. This team just seems done with no life whatsoever. In what was supposed to be an exciting season full of potential turned quickly into a nightmare season that never got back on the rails. The White Sox are all but eliminated at this point and should turn their sights forward to the 2023 season and beyond.

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Chicago White Sox’s Tony La Russa will not be returning as manager this season, doctor’s orders.

According to ESPN, Chicago White Sox manager Tony La Russa will not be returning as manager for the rest of the 2022 season. The Chicago White Sox announcement on Twitter is as followed,

After undergoing additional testing and medical procedures La Russa, 78, has been advised by his doctor to not return for the rest of the 2022 season due to the heart ailment that has kept him out since August. La Russa came out of retirement to rejoin the White Sox last season; he has one year remaining on his contract.

Tony La Russa shared the specifics of the procedure with the Associated Press earlier this month stating,

“Health is nothing to mess with, so I got checked in Chicago and the reason that I flew to Arizona is that’s been the place since the ’90s I’ve had my physicals. They addressed it, they fixed it and now it’s just a question of regaining strength.”

Miguel Cario will continue to be the acting manager for the White Sox’s 2022 season. He has steered the White Sox in a 13-10 record since taking over as acting manager. The team will be entering Sunday’s game against the Detroit Tigers, having lost four straight games three of them being to the Cleveland Guardians.

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I don’t want to overreact here, but I’m beginning to suspect the White Sox might not win their division after all.

Take all the time you need to process that bombshell.

So much has gone wrong with the Sox — free-agent misses, a parade of injuries, a team-wide power outage, repeated blunders on the field — that almost no one escapes blame. There’s a bunch of it, of course, for Tony La Russa, who will miss the rest of a lost season as he tends to his health. He never got these Sox to play for him, a very bad look for all involved.

We could debate to what extent the Sox gave away the division and to what extent the Guardians took it, but a Guardians edge that has been unmistakable throughout the season is how hard they play for their manager, Terry Francona.

“We would all run through a brick wall for him,” outfielder Myles Straw said. “And you know what? He would do the same for us. That’s why we are where we are, because we get to play for him. It’s awesome. It’s unbelievable. It’s an honor to show up and play for him every day.”

In his 22nd season as a major league manager — and his 10th in Cleveland — Francona, 63, is as good as ever, and that includes his two World Series years in Boston and his two American League manager of the year campaigns in Cleveland. He has squeezed more from the youngest team in baseball than anyone imagined he could.

Veteran reliever Bryan Shaw admits he had his own doubts about how good such a young team would be. In his seventh season playing for Francona, he has been “blown away” by the impact the skipper has had during a period of heavy roster transition.

“He’s the staple here,” Shaw said. “Our brand of baseball starts with him. Everything we’ve done on the field is a testament to him. Without him, there’s zero chance this group gets to the point we’re at.”

Terrific rookie Steven Kwan had his come-to-Tito moment early this season after an easy win against the Twins during which he’d failed to take an extra base he could’ve reached had he been more alert. Francona called the outfielder into his office and said, “That won’t be happening again.”

“And he was right,’ ” Kwan said. “It was just blunt honesty, and that’s Tito. He’s not here to play games. If he’s talking, we’re listening to every word. I’d never question him. We never question him.”

Talk about a manager who’s fully in charge.

THREE-DOT DASH

Is the Cubs’ season over or are they still playing? I keep losing track. …

North Carolina took the opening kickoff, drove 76 yards in 12 plays and grabbed an easy-peasy 7-0 lead on Notre Dame, and I started counting potential Irish losses, an old habit. Five? Six? Seven?

But I was wrong about pretty much everything in college football Saturday, as anyone who used my picks for recreational purposes knows all too well.

Instead, the Irish, on the way to winning 45-32, took charge of the game with a second quarter that had to mean a lot to coach Marcus Freeman and quarterback Drew Pyne, especially. Four straight drives totaling 276 yards and adding up to 24 points? Impressive. …

College football keeps eating itself alive when it comes to protecting rivalries. Just the latest example: The annual “Bedlam” series between Oklahoma and Oklahoma State will go away when Oklahoma moves to the SEC in 2025. There’s no such thing as a more charged football environment than Boone Pickens Stadium when the Sooners are in Stillwater. What a bummer. …

The bar for thoughtfulness has been set by Louisiana Tech’s football team, which sent letters — one from each and every player — to Clemson star defensive lineman Bryan Bresee, who lost his 15-year-old sister, Ella, to cancer. …

A gambling site emailed odds on the first NFL quarterback to be benched this season. The Bears’ Justin Fields was listed as the sixth-likeliest. We’re not buying that for a second, are we? …

After hitting his 700th home run, Albert Pujols can stop saying he dislikes the nickname “El Hombre” because it’s disrespectful to Stan “The Man” Musial. One assumes Musial would have been delighted to have the company.

THIS YOU GOTTA SEE

Red Sox at Yankees (7:08 p.m. Sunday, ESPN): Aaron Judge wouldn’t dare miss this prime-time chance to hit No. 61, would he? If he comes through, Shohei Ohtani should have to deliver the MVP award himself.

“Yankees-Dodgers: An Uncivil War” (8 p.m. Tuesday, ESPN): Let’s go back to 1977 and ’78, when the Bombers won back-to-back World Series against an outstanding opponent that really, truly couldn’t stand them. We’re sure Steve Garvey, Ron Cey, Dusty Baker and pals have almost gotten over it by now.

“Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” (9 p.m. Tuesday, HBO): An investigation into the World Anti-Doping Agency has revealed — shocker alert — a repeated, ongoing failure to police international sports for the use of performance-enhancing drugs. Follow the damn money, people.

ONLY BECAUSE YOU ASKED

From emailer Mark:

“This White Sox rebuild started six years ago, and this is the third year of the ‘contention window.’ It’s not even on the same planet as the Astros’ and Cubs’ rebuilds, is it?”

The same planet? Sure. The same ballpark? Definitely not. The Sox acquired a bunch of good prospects, took a couple of big swings with Dallas Keuchel and Yasmani Grandal, traded for a serious dude in Lance Lynn. In an alternate universe, it could have worked. But we’re still waiting for a postseason series victory that — just imagine — might never come.

THE BOTTOM FIVE

Blackhawks training camp: What did Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane do to deserve this punishment?

Bears-Texans: What did the rest of us do to deserve this punishment?

Faded superpowers: Middle Tennessee State 45, Miami 31 was a real head-turner of a score. The Hurricanes should trade rosters with Nebraska just to see if anyone notices.

Mel Tucker: Two straight lopsided losses for Michigan State’s $95 million man. Hey, didn’t he used to work for the Bears?

Miguel Cairo: La Russa could’ve managed this terrible homestand in his sleep.

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Saturday did not play out how York junior Jake Melion figured it would, at least not for him personally.

Senior Kelly Watson, the Dukes’ top running back, was helped off the field with an apparent right leg injury midway through the first quarter of the matchup with fellow West Suburban Silver unbeaten Lyons and did not return.

“I felt bad for him because he’s a key part of our team,” Melion said. “I was upset but I knew I had to stand up.”

Indeed, Melion took over as the Dukes’ RB1. And he lived up to the role, running 24 times for 117 yards and three touchdowns in a 27-14 win over the Lions in Western Springs.

“No, I was not expecting that at all today,” Melion said. “But when they call on me, I’m always gonna be ready and I just felt like it was a great team win for all of us.”

“That is a strength of this team,” York coach Mike Fitzgerald said. “We do have some good depth. Jake Melion is a very talented back and we have 100% confidence in him. … We knew his time was coming and there were going to be games where he would have a breakout like this. He did it at the lower levels and he does it in practice.”

Melion added some welcome balance to a York offense led by senior quarterback Matt Vezza, who completed 14 of 19 passes for 208 yards and one score.

“Hopefully he’s doing well,” Vezza said of Watson. “We’re going to need him moving forward. But just a credit to the O-line and Jake Mellion for stepping up. … He’s a competitor. He works hard every day and totally believed he would do exactly what he did. It was just a great performance in the run game.”

All the same, the play of the game for the Dukes came courtesy of Vezza’s arm. Lyons (4-1, 2-1) had just scored to cut its deficit to 19-14 and had York (5-0, 3-0) facing third-and-19 from its own 11 midway through the fourth quarter,

Vezza, who earlier threw a 43-yard TD pass to Charlie Specht, found Luke Mailander for a 44-yard gain down the left side. Seven more running plays later, Melion punched it in from 14 yards out for his third TD and it was a two-score game with 2:19 remaining.

“We’ve been really good on third down this year and even last year we were good on third down,” Vezza said. “So we have a lot of confidence. … I trust my guy Luke Mailander, he went out there [and made] a very physical catch and moved the chains.”

Lyons had a productive game from its mobile junior quarterback, Ryan Jackson, who was 15-of-23 passing for 137 yards and a TD and also ran for a touchdown.

No. 24 York, meanwhile, will turn its attention to its third straight game against an unbeaten conference opponent. The Dukes, who escaped with a 24-17 overtime win over Downers North last week, host No. 5 Glenbard West on Friday. York’s win over Glenbard West last season was the Dukes’ first in the series since 2007.

“It’s gonna be wild.” Melion said. “I didn’t want to say it, but this is a game the whole York team has been looking forward to because we know that they want to come beat us … just as bad as we want to beat them.”

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PITTSBURGH — Cubs pitcher Wade Miley pointed to his left side as he walked off the field, in the fifth inning of a game against the Pirates on Saturday. The team later announce he has exited with a tight left oblique.

With no outs and a runner on first, Pirates outfielder Greg Allen laid down a bunt to the first-base side. Miley charged, scooped up the ball and fired to second base. His throw sailed wide and into center field.

It was almost immediately clear that something was wrong. Head athletic trainer PJ Mainville went to check on Miley, and the veteran southpaw exited the game.

Miley’s season has been plagued by arm injuries. Saturday marked his eighth start this season and fourth since returning from the 60-day injured list (strained right shoulder) on Sept. 6.

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