Alex Brown had it right on Monday at Halas Hall when he was asked about the resurgent pass rush the Bears broke out in St. Louis.
It’s not about the pass rush this week and getting to statuesque quarterback Gus Frerotte. It’s about Adrian Peterson and stopping Minnesota’s talented running back. Peterson has wasted no time in his short career becoming the thorn in the Bears’ side that Randy Moss used to be. He’s run for at least two touchdowns in all three meetings with the Bears and the numbers are a little staggering:
Adrian Peterson in three games vs. the Bears
*** 423 yards (141 per game)
*** 6.8 yards per carry
*** 7 touchdowns
“I think it’s different,” Brown said. “I think St. Louis throws the ball a little more, they don’t have Adrian Peterson. When you’ve got Adrian Peterson in the backfield, you’re going to run the ball, when you have an offensive line like they have, as big as they are, they’re going to run the ball. We’ve got to stop the run first and foremost.
“[Peterson] is a monster. He’s good. He runs hard. His offensive line, I don’t think they get enough credit. They play really well and he runs off the blocks from them and then they got play action off of it. We have to do our job. I believe that the defense starts with the defensive line. If we can have a pretty good day, then we should have a chance to win.”
If you missed Peterson’s first encounter with the Bears last season, or you want to relive it, the NFL Network will show Peterson’s 224-yard effort from last season on Friday. The Oct. 14, 2007, game will be shown in its entirety in HD on Friday at 8 p.m. on NFL Network. The Bears made a furious rally with Devin Hester hauling in an 81-yard touchdown catch but eventually fell on Ryan Longwell’s 55-yard field goal as time expired.
