After playing at Glenbard West High School and the University of Iowa, Matt Bowen spent seven seasons in the NFL as a strong safety with the Rams, Packers, Redskins and Bills, including playing for Lovie Smith and Mike Martz in St. Louis.
With the ball in the red zone, quarterback Jay Cutler and the Bears can use the pick route to create a one-on-one situation for running back Matt Forte on the quick rail concept versus the Vikings man-coverage scheme.
Calvin Johnson once again can go to work on the Bears secondary if Mel Tucker's defense fails to identify the pre-snap alignment of the Lions wide receiver and the route concept designed to beat the top of the Cover-3 defense.
When the wheels start to come off the team bus in an NFL season, the good teams make corrections, fix the problem and continue to buy into the coach despite signs of adversity.
The Bears should prepare for the Saints defense Monday night to send pressure in passing situations with Rob Ryan's unit disguising coverages in the secondary to set some traps for quarterback Jay Cutler.
The Bears can continue to use five-man zone pressure on third-down situations against the Cowboys, but they need to win one-on-one matchups on the edge and take away the intermediate throwing lanes to limit quarterback Tony Romo and receiver Dez Bryant.
The Lions and quarterback Matthew Stafford can challenge the Bears Cover-3 defense in the strike zone (20-35 yard line) by running the double-post concept to target Calvin Johnson while also creating an opportunity for rookie tight end Eric Ebron on the wheel route.
Jay Cutler and the Bears can take some shots down the field to target the top of the Buccaneers Cover-2 defense by creating vertical opportunities out of a 3-by-1 formation on the "Seattle" concept.
The Vikings and offensive coordinator Norv Turner will test the eye discipline of the Bears defense with packaged plays that allow rookie quarterback Teddy Bridgewater to target the middle of the field off the mesh point read.