FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- In the Patriots’ narrow 27-25 victory over the Jets, the defense was gashed for 218 yards on the ground by Chris Ivory and Chris Johnson. The task doesn’t get any easier this week against one of the best running backs in the league: the Bears’ Matt Forte.

Vince Wilfork sees tackling -- an area he feels the defense has struggled with -- as the key to slowing down Forte and the Bears’ offense.

“That’s the biggest thing defensively -- being able to tackle,” Wilfork said. “And that’s part of our problem, too; sometimes we miss tackles, we overplay some things and it costs us. It costs us big.

“No matter how you slice it, we have to be able to tackle. We have to be able to get off the field on third down, in the red area, just make them kick field goals. The team has played good football in the red area. I think that’s one of those things that helped us last week was in the red area they kicked field goals instead of us giving up seven points. That’s big. That’s probably the only thing we did well.”

The last time the Patriots played the Bears, New England’s defense held Forte to a mere 25 yards rushing on nine carries. The Patriots also limited Forte in the receiving game as he only had two catches for 36 yards.

Wilfork, however, knows that game was back in 2010 and this is a different Bears’ team -- one with a strong offensive identity.

“Last time we played them they were totally different,” Wilfork said. “They probably have a couple guys that are still there but for the most part it’s a different team. A team we don’t play a lot. We have to do a lot of study on those guys on tendencies and what they want to do and how they do it, formations, situations in the game, understanding what they want to do.”

Wilfork gave high praise to Forte’s versatility and the balance he provides the Bears’ offense.

“There’s not a lot [of backs Forte compares to] because he is a big running back,” Wilfork said. “The way he catches the ball out the backfield you would think he is a receiver. And he can run the ball well, too.

“I could see them doing a lot more of [giving Forte the ball] coming into this game, especially trying to get that running game started so it can open up the play-action passes and throw the ball vertically to his big receivers. So we have to do a real great job up front of trying to take away the run game.”

The Patriots will have to slow down Forte without the help of defensive end Chandler Jones, who has a hip injury. Jones is reportedly out for one month, but Wilfork shrugged it off.

“Who said we don’t have Chandler?” Wilfork said. “I don’t know if we are going to have Chandler or not, but when the time comes we will figure it out.

“I’m confident in everybody we put on the field because the way we practice around here, the way guys get taught the same way. We don’t change any type of defense because we lack a person, we don’t care who that person is. Just the next man up, he has to be able to step in and do his job and do it to the fullest.”