Cincinnati Bengals Week Seven Preview: Ethereal Smack Talk

(Photo by Larry French/Getty Images)

Somewhere in the cosmos, football demigods Paul Brown and George Halas spent the last few days arm wrestling and taking cheap digs at one another in preparation for this week's game. They're still at it; purple-faced and winded, but unrelenting in spirit.

Late Sunday night, they will go back to sit in their armchairs, share a bottle of something bubbly, and laugh at how little football matters, but for now, it's war.

The first issue with the Bears that simply cannot be ignored is their blatant thievery of the exact design of the letter “C” that the Cincinnati Reds donned long before the Chicago Bears ever existed.

“Get your own logo, you thieving miser!” Brown shouts across the arm wrestling table to Halas.

“You're one to talk. Weren't those Cleveland helmets with the word “Bengals” stenciled on the sides? Real original, P.B. Besides, look at your kid; the cheapest man in the galaxy.”

“You keep him out of this!” Brown yells and punches Halas in the nose with his free hand.

Back on earth, Marvin Lewis said this week that Chicago is a lot like an AFC North team, and to some degree that's true.

Aside from their base defensive sets, I see a lot of the same brutish characteristics in the Bears as I do in Baltimore: both have a rugged defensive front seven, a play-making and burly-armed quarterback, and a halfback and tight end with speed and good hands.

However, Chicago runs a 4-3 set, and the Bengals may not have the same outcome as they enjoyed against the Ravens.

Last week, Cincinnati faced a 4-3 defense for the first time and struggled in their run blocking zones.

The hope was that center Kyle Cook would be able to move out into the second-tier of the defense and block linebackers, allowing Benson to have space past the line of scrimmage.

Houston negated that by going with a smaller, quicker D-line that zoomed around the blockers before the plays could develop.

Chicago's line is better than Houston's, but defensive tackle Tommie Harris is injured and didn't practice yesterday. Also out are linebackers Pisa Tinoisamoa, and of course, their warrior-chief, Brian Urlacher, who was injured Week One and will miss the entire season.

Harris isn't like the behemoth nose tackles of the AFC North; he's strong, but lighter on his feet. Defensive ends Adewale Ogunleye and Alex Brown, mixed in with another quality pass rusher in Mark Anderson, can do plenty of damage on their own terms, but if Harris is unable to suit up, it can only help make Cedric Benson's day easier.

The Bears are eighth in the league against the run and if the Bengals' offensive line doesn't adjust better to the 4-3, it might not matter if Harris plays or not.

The good news is that, also like Baltimore, teams can throw against Chicago's secondary.

In that case, the game plan should sound the same as it did in Week Four: use spread formations that stretch out the defensive front seven, look for one-on-one matchups with receivers (or, God forbid, the tight ends), and when they go to the zone to cover three or more receivers at a time, Bob Bratkowski should hit them with runs up the middle on draws and delays. Pretty straightforward.

Instead, what I expect to see are stretch handoffs on first down in tight formations that feature a fullback and two tight ends, for a first half rushing average of 3.3 yards per carry, in order to “establish the run.”

It's likely to see screens on second-and-long or deep in Bengal territory or any other time you'd most likely expect one.

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?