Seattle Seahawks at Chicago Bears: NFL Divisional Round Preview

Seattle performed admirably on their home turf on Saturday in knocking off the defending Super Bowl champion Saints 41-36.

Now the Seahawks need to prove themselves on the road, as they face the Chicago Bears.

Those wishing for a competitive game will be quick to point out that one of the Seahawks' two road wins this year was a 23-20 win over the Bears at Soldier Field in Week 6. This, however, was back when Chicago was seen as a pretender in terms of competing for a playoff berth.

The big problem with the Bears was obvious: they couldn't protect Jay Cutler. The Seahawks, using multiple blitzers on several occasions, sacked Cutler six times.

Including two sacks by safety Lawyer Milloy.

Part of the problem was that Chicago was too one-dimensional. While Cutler completed 17-of-39 passes for 290 yards, running backs Matt Forte and Chester Taylor ran the ball a combined 12 times for 42 yards.

In their hot streak since midseason, the Bears have, for the most part, done a good job of mixing in some runs in their offensive game plan. If they keep the offense balanced in Sunday's matchup, Seattle's defense will be forced to stay honest and be unable to blitz as freely as they did in Week 6.

They could also call some screen passes, as both Forte and Taylor are capable pass receivers out of the backfield.

If they do at least one of the two things suggested above, Week 6's loss to the Seahawks will be nothing more than an academic memory.

Bears 28, Seahawks 10

This article, and previews of the other three Divisional Round matchups, can also be seen on Drew Rosten's Sports Thread at http://drewrosten.blogspot.com.

Check out the Sports Thread later to see how I did with my predictions and for the scheduled times of the NFC and AFC Championship Games.