LAKE FOREST, Ill., — Eleven weeks of football are in the books for the 2023 Chicago Bears, and Week 12’s Monday night matchup against the Minnesota Vikings will conclude their primetime slate of games for this season. While the Bears have grown accustomed to playing their NFC North foe under the lights before, this week’s matchup presents a new challenge as they will be tasked with trying to stop an unexpected rising star in journeyman quarterback Joshua Dobbs.

Dobbs was traded in-season from the Arizona Cardinals to fill in at QB1 following Kirk Cousins’s season-ending achilles tear just under a month ago. Despite having mere days to learn the Vikings’s playbook, Dobbs was able to orchestrate two straight wins against the Falcons and Saints, as well as keeping things close against a tough Denver Broncos team that has also been on the rise recently.

Bears cornerbacks coach Jon Hoke spoke to the media on Friday and praised the former Tennessee Volunteer’s intelligence and mobility ahead of Monday’s matchup.

Atlanta game – I think that was the first one, right?” Hoke responded when asked if he was impressed by Dobbs’s recent performances since being traded to Minnesota. “[Cousins] gets hurt. [Dobbs] had been there since Wednesday and then he does what he does. He’s very mobile. Obviously we all know how smart he is. Crazy. I was at South Carolina in 2015 and he was at Tennessee and played against him. He was doing incredible things then. And what he has been able to do for their team right now is really remarkable. You have to give the guy a lot of credit.”

One of Dobbs’s most impressive attributes since his time at Tennessee has been his mobility. Since clocking in a relatively impressive 4.64 40-yard dash at the 2017 NFL Combine, Dobbs has used his time starting in 2023 to display his mobility. Including his time in Arizona to start this season, Dobbs has registered 389 rushing yards on 70 carries, as well as six rushing touchdowns, three of which have come in the three starts he has played in with the Vikings.

Dobbs’s mobility presents a unique challenge for the Bears to game plan against, as for the past five seasons they have had to defend against a traditional pocket passing quarterback in Kirk Cousins. Hoke spoke about preparing for Dobbs’s scrambling ability when he spoke to the media on Friday.

“[Cousins] is a true pocket guy. It stresses your defense in different ways,” Hoke explained when asked about the Dobbs’s ability to scramble compared to Cousins. “Now your rush lanes have to be really, really good. We always say four equals one. And you have to have that mentality with the rush lanes. You have to be smart with how you play man coverage when you do because now you have (defenders) running with people and they’re going to have their eyes back to him. So you have to have people who are responsible for him as best you can and still be able to rush the passer. That always complicates things.”

It’s safe to say Hoke will be preparing his Bears secondary to keep a watchful eye for when receivers are covered and Dobbs opts to run to gain yardage, which is something that was not as big of a factor when Cousins was under center for Minnesota. Being able to contain Dobbs within the pocket while exploiting a Vikings receiving corps that is down All-Pro Justin Jefferson will be critical to giving head coach Matt Eberflus his first divisional win under his tenure.

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Arizona Cardinals running back Kenyan Drake is unsure where he’ll be during the 2021 season after playing last fall under the transition tag with a team that utilized his versatility, but knows he brings value to a backfield as a featured option.

The Cardinals are allowing Drake to ponder his future if he wants a deal that isn’t team-friendly.

““I know my team specifically, they’re doing their job diligently working in that degree to put me in the best position from that standpoint. [Working out] is my main focus right now,” Drake said on Tuesday when asked about free agency via “Good Morning Football”. “It hasn’t really been too much dialogue right now. I know the league and the teams are trying to figure out the cap room, that type of situation. So like I said, once we cross that bridge, we’ll get there. But as of right now, I’m just kind of focusing on making sure I put my best foot forward in this offseason, get to that 1,000 yards.”