The Dolphins haven’t won a road game all season and head to the snakepit known as Soldier Field in Chicago.  The Bears have destroyed every team that has stepped on their turf, going 4-0 and outscoring the opponent 152-20!

The Dolphins will have to play an error-free game to have any shot of keeping this game close.  The Fins should try to run the ball and stick with it instead of abandoning it too early, like they’ve done in previous games.  Ronnie Brown (464 yards rushing) will take on the tough Bears defense that is allowing only 82.4 yards rushing and 3.7 yards per carry this season.  If the Fins get a running game going, then they can go to the air.  They had better be careful though, because the Bears already have 8 interceptions this season.  Joey Harrington must limit his mistakes and his receivers need to catch the ball when it hits them in the hands.  A few of Harrington’s interceptions were caused by the brick hands he hit perfectly with passes.

The Bears would like to run the ball with Thomas Jones (543 yards rushing) and Cedric Benson (174 yards rushing), but the Dolphins are tough against the run, allowing only 3.3 yards per carry!  The Bears should have no problem attacking the Dolphins secondary that is awful.  Opposing QBs have a QB rating of 93.7 against the Dolphins and already have thrown 12 TD passes against them.  Grossman should be able to carve up the Dolphins short with throws to TE Desmond Clark (26 rec, 391 yards) and Mushin Muhammad (32 rec, 401 yards).  Then Grossman will throw it deep to Bernard Berrian who has caught 26 passes for 485 yards (18.7 avg) and 4 TDs.

This could be a bloodbath in Chicago.  I don’t see the Dolphins having a prayer in this football game!

The good news for these two teams is…..someone has to win this week.  The Packers (1-4) and Dolphins (1-5) have been two of the worst teams in the league this season.  It was expected that the Packers would struggle, but many had projected the Dolphins to be a Super Bowl dark horse.

The Dolphins have a stingy defense, but they can be passed on and I think that will be the Packers gameplan.  The Dolphins only allow 171.7 yards passing per game, but opponents are very efficient against them posting a QB rating of 94.3.  The offensive line has blocked much better than Brett Favre could have imagined in his wildest dreams, only allowing 7 sacks so far this season.  If they block that well against the Dolphins and keep Jason Taylor (5 sacks) away from Favre, he should have a good game throwing the ball.  WRs Donald Driver (26 rec, 343 yards) and Greg Jennings (20 rec, 364 yards) will cause major match-up problems for the Dolphins secondary.  RB Ahman Green should be back this week, which should also help Favre, because he likes to throw to him out of the backfield.

Look for the Dolphins to lean towards the pass more this week than the run.  The Packers defense is allowing 275.8 net yards passing per game!  Joey Harrington just needs to relax and hope that when he hits his receivers in the hands that they catch the ball.  Two of Harrington’s INT bounced right of WRs hands.  Chris Chambers could have the breakout game the Dolphins have been waiting for.  Chambers is only averaging 10.4 yards per catch, which is weak for him.  Look for Wes Welker (33 rec, 355 yards) and Randy McMichael (24 rec, 269 yards) to have good games too.  RB Ronnie Brown needs to balance the offense out and keep the clock running.  Brown has 405 yards rushing and 153 yards receiving so far this season.

I think the Dolphins are the better team, but that doesn’t mean they will win.  The Packers do have a huge edge at QB, so you never know. 

The Dolphins are wasting great defensive play (263.6 yards per game) because of their pathetic offensive play (284.2 yards per game) so far this season.  The Dolphins must win this game, because if they fall to 1-5 they might as well play young players and get ready for next year.  The Jets on the other hand are on the fast track in their rebuilding effort.  The Jets are 2-3, but they’ve been in every game except the last one (41-0 loss to Jacksonville).

If the Dolphins don’t have a good game on offense this week….they might never have one.  The Dolphins should come out running Ronnie Brown (278 yards rushing) against the porous Jets run defense.  Teams are averaging 148.6 yards rushing and 4.4 yards per carry against the Jets defense.  As soon as the run is established, Joey Harrington should go to the air.  The Jets are allowing 216.4 yards passing per game this season, but they do have 5 interceptions this year, so Harrington will have to be careful.  Chris Chambers (21 rec, 210 yards) needs to get going this season and this is the perfect team to get it started against.  Wes Welker (27 rec, 299 yards) and TE Randy McMichael (16 rec, 197 yards) should be able to get open against the Jets too.

The Jets will try out their newest weapon on the Dolphins defense.  Rookie RB Leon Washington might be small, but he’s fast.  Washington has 159 yards rushing this season and he’s a good receiver out of the backfield and will challenge the Dolphins OLBs.  If the Jets protect Chad Pennington well, he will have a good day throwing against the Dolphins.  The Dolphins haven’t given up alot of yards passing (172.2 per game), but opposing QBs have been very efficient (93.2 QB rating) against their defense.  WRs Laveranues Coles (33 rec, 431 yards) and Jerricho Cotchery (22 rec, 333 yards) could have field days against the Dolphins secondary.  Watch TE Chris Baker if he draws Zach Thomas to cover him, because Baker will have a tremendous speed advantage in that case.

The Dolphins have the more talented team on paper, but games aren’t played on paper.  I’m going with the Jets until the Dolphins do something this season.

The Dolphins have wasted great defensive efforts this season because their offense can’t score (12.8 points per game).  The Patriots have reinvented themselves into a power running team (154.0 yards rushing per game) and are off to a good start to the season.

The Dolphins offense has the talent to challenge the Patriots, but they will have to protect the football.  Daunte Culpepper looks like he’s still hurting a bit, but that is no excuse for not getting rid of the ball sooner (21 sacks) or fumbling the football.  Teams have been effective throwing the ball against the Patriots (222.8 yards passing) and the Dolphins have been quick to abandon their running game this season.  The Dolphins would be smart to throw short passes to Wes Welker, Randy McMichael and Ronnie Brown to move the Patriots defense closer to the line, and then go over the top to Chris Chambers and Marty Booker.

The Patriots will not change their offense, even thought the Dolphins have been stingy vs. the run only allowing 3.0 yards per carry.  The Pats will pound the Dolphins with rookie running back Laurence Maroney (294 yards rushing) and Corey Dillon (236 yards rushing).  After the run is established, Tom Brady (891 yards passing) will spread the ball around as he really doesn’t have a favorite receiver.  This is really a testament to Tom Brady’s greatness. 

The Patriots never lose games against inferior teams at home, and they won’t start today.  The Pats will win by at least 10 points.

This game pits two low-scoring teams against each other.  The Dolphins only average 12.0 points per game and the Texans only average 16.3 points per game.

Look for the Dolphins to come out running the football with Ronnie Brown (190 yards rushing) against the Texans who are allowing 163.0 yards rushing per game.  Daunte Culpepper should be licking his chops, as the Texans are allowing 74% of their opponents passes to be completed.  Chris Chambers should have a huge game against this secondary.

The Texans should go after the Dolphins secondary right at the start of the game.  Andre Johnson (309 yards rec.) and Eric Moulds (154 yards rec.) should be able to get open against a Fins defense that allows a 93.1 QB rating against.  The Texans haven’t run well, but always start the game trying.  If they throw the ball 40+ times, they will have a shot at winning this football game.

The Dolphins should win this game, but I have a feeling it will be close.