Broncos vs Bears preview: Can Denver get its first win of the season?

The best way to overcome a 50-point beatdown is to play a bad team.

And the Chicago Bears are a bad football team. The problem is the Denver Broncos are a bad football team. As the old saying goes, whenever you get two horrible teams on the field you usually get a good game.

DraftKings Sportsbook has the Broncos as the favorite for Sunday’s game in Chicago. Not sure what to make of this game, but the line makes sense. The total sits at 46. I see no way the over hits, but stranger things have happened.

The good news is it’s an early kick off and we’ll get this game out of the way.

Offensive Rankings

Denver: Fifteenth in overall offense (340.7 yards per game), 20th in rushing offense (95.0 YPG), eighth in passing offense (245.7 YPG), tied for 15th in scoring offense (23.0 points per game).

Chicago: Twenty-ninth in overall offense (250.0 yards per game), 17th in rushing offense (101.7 YPG), 31st in passing offense (148.3 YPG), 27th in scoring offense (15.7 points per game).

Defensive Rankings

Denver: Thirty-second in total defense (458.3 yards per game), 32nd in rushing defense (177.7 YPG), 29th in passing defense (280.7 YPG), 32nd in scoring defense (40.7 points per game).

Chicago: Tied for twenty-ninth in total defense (407.3 yards per game), 20th in rushing defense (121.7 YPG), 30th in passing defense (285.7 YPG), 31st in scoring defense (35.3 points per game).

Here are the MHR staff’s keys to Sunday’s game.

At least pretend to care on defense

I still can’t believe the Broncos allowed 70 points to the Miami Dolphins. The stat that’s even worse is the 24 missed tackles. Denver has had issues tackling all season, but you have to try to be that putrid. The Broncos have to at least pretend to put forth an effort on Sunday. If they get run over by Justin Fields and the Bears, that truly is rock bottom for this franchise. — Ian St. Clair

Score 50 points

With the performance on defense against the Dolphins, it’s clear that this team will have to win shootouts. That’s a confusing place for Broncos Country to live. After watching professionals collapse and lose heart, and seeing their daddy’s tweet about how disappointing the game was for their sons, just give up on any semblance of defensive accountability. It’s all offense now. Drop 50 or get dropped. — Adam Malnati

Give up less than 250 passing yards to Justin Fields

This is a quarterback that has been rocked and ruined by coaching and his confidence has been utterly drained. There is no reason that the defense should make him look good this week. They’ll probably do just that, but we can hope. — Ross Allen

Just win the freakin’ game

The Bears defense is giving up a whooping 35+ points per game to start the season and while that is better than the Broncos defense, they are consistently giving up a lot of points where Denver’s defense had a very historic bed wetting last week. Meanwhile, the Bears offense has consistently gotten worse scoring 20, then 17, then 10. The Broncos offense has looked much better and that should give them the edge in this game. If Denver loses this game, I’ll be going all in on the Caleb Williams sweepstakes. — Tim Lynch

Open Up The Passing Game

The Chicago Bears aren’t a good team and their defense is one of the worst in the National Football League. Opposing quarterbacks are completing nearly 69-percent of their passes, 8.7 yards per pass, and nearly 290-yards a game against their woeful secondary. This seems like a prime opportunity to unleash an aerial assault on the Bears. Russell Wilson might just be in store for his best game of the season if Sean Payton’s able to dial up some great calls on offense. Zip it and rip it! — Christopher Hart

Fill up the scoreboard

Coming off the most embarrassing loss in team history, the team is in need of a confidence boost, and in particular the offense, seeing as nothing they do seems to matter. Yet, the unit is capable of putting up points. The Bears are not good. They should not intimidate like the Dolphins clearly did. Create an exciting offensive game plan that will generate points and highlight reel plays. Make football fun again. — Nick Burch

What are your keys to Sunday’s game?