Bears Blitz

Published by Bear Heiser on December 12, 2014
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears

Since the MLB Winter Meetings began, the Bears’ struggles have become something of an afterthought in the city of Chicago, but that only will last until Monday, when the New Orleans Saints come marching in.

If the Bears organization hasn’t yet sent an enormous gift basket to the Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox for stealing a few days worth of headlines, someone at Halas Hall needs to get on that right away.

Perhaps the 10-plus day break will have provided head coach Marc Trestman and defensive coordinator Mel Tucker time to come up with a plan to right the ship as much as possible down the season’s final stretch.

The Saints provide an interesting matchup for this struggling Bears team. While both teams have the same 5-8 record, one team is somehow tied for the division lead, while the other is already out of the playoff race, yet they both are fighting for draft position.

What’s most interesting here is how each head coach has addressed their respective team’s struggles. Sean Payton is benching his starters who haven’t been performing, while Trestman is keeping the status quo. Payton is holding his players accountable. Trestman talks accountability but doesn’t seem to be practicing much of it.

Speaking of accountability, we’ve heard a lot lately about “buyer’s remorse” within the organization over Jay Cutler’s long-term contract extension, via a report from NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport. Despite what anyone says, barring a trade that sends Cutler elsewhere during the offseason, he’s going to be the Bears’ quarterback next season.

The question now is, should there be buyer’s remorse over hiring Trestman and Tucker? Based on what we’ve seen so far, the answer is yes. Chicago’s coaching staff has three games left to show a level of competence that hasn’t been seen this season.

The road to redemption starts at Soldier Field Monday night. So let’s take a few minutes to break down the Bears’ game plan for the visit of the Saints.

Run, Run, Run the Ball, Physically Down the Field

Suggesting the Bears run the ball more often seems pretty pointless these days. Trestman talks about offensive balance, yet there’s no offensive balance to speak of.

The Bears have been throwing the ball 63.2 percent of the time to only 36.8 percent runs. That’s not balance. The lack of balance is the main reason why the Bears’ run game ranks 26th in the NFL, averaging only 88.7 yards per game.

Rob Ryan’s defense has allowed at least 100 rushing yards in each of the last six games, which doesn’t even tell the full story. Take a look at the breakdown:

The Saints’ run defense ranks 29th in the NFL, allowing 133.5 points per game. Last week, the Panthers beat the Saints up and down the field, using a lot of misdirection from both the running back and quarterback.

If there was ever a time for Chicago to actually commit to the run game, the Saints would be a great team to do it against. Trestman needed to commit to the run last week against a Dallas rush defense that ranks 17th in the NFL, but the Bears ran the ball just 15 times, electing to chuck it 46 times.

The same mistake cannot be made this week. Go back and look at the table above, there are two key numbers that should matter to the Bears: 30 and 150. In each of the last four New Orleans losses, the opposition has hit the 30-carry mark and at least 150 yards on the ground.

If Trestman finds a way to ignore this trend, there’s really no excuse to be made—none whatsoever. Matt Forte has been frustrated with the lack of a run presence of late, so why not just make the man happy?

Plus, running the ball is necessary for what comes next in the Bears’ game plan.

Give Cutler Chances to Move the Pocket

When the Bears played the Lions on Thanksgiving, the Chicago offense used a lot of play action despite not running the football. It fooled no one. The Bears only ran the ball eight times for 15 yards. Cutler threw the ball 48 times for two interceptions, and the Bears lost by 17.

Clearly, that style of attack is not a winning formula for this or any team.

So after the Bears come out running, hopefully with success, the next step is to implement that not-so-successful play-action pass they tried using against Detroit.

Cutler is a better quarterback when using play action, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required). His completion percentage is better, and his quarterback rating is better. Combine play action with motion on a consistent basis and the Bears offense suddenly becomes something that hasn’t been seen from this team this season.

When Cutler moves in the pocket, the angle he sees the field from changes—something from which he clearly benefits. With Brandon Marshall now out for the season, the Bears’ passing attack will need every advantage it can get. The hope is to suck in the defense long enough to allow Alshon Jeffery or Marquess Wilson to get over top of the defense. 

The offensive line, in theory, will have an easier job to do if or when the pocket moves, which allows them to not be on their heels as much as they would if Cutler were simply to drop back.

Martellus Bennett has been hot of late, catching 20 passes in the last two games. He’d also benefit from movement in the offense, when he could stay in to block, then pop off a quick five-yard slant route to get him moving, making him harder to bring down in space.

Figure Out What You Have at Linebacker Without Letting Jimmy Graham Beat You

With both Lance Briggs and D.J. Williams now on injured reserve, the Bears have to shuffle the linebacker rotation for the billionth time this season, making the matchup with Saints tight end Jimmy Graham that bit more interesting.

When Briggs when on IR last week, the plan was to move Jon Bostic into Briggs’ spot at weakside linebacker. With Williams now gone too, Bostic is once again on the move. Trestman discussed the move Thursday, via ChicagoBears.com:

Well I think the most important thing is what [Bostic] can do today, tomorrow and Monday night to help us win a football game.

Part of the reason we moved him around during the course of training camp and early in the season is because if we did get in this position, he’d be able to handle it.

And if we decide that it’s in the best interest of the team for him to go to that position, that’s what we have to do. And Jon certainly understands that.

Bostic will play in the middle, calling the defensive plays against the Saints.

The Bears will likely start Bostic, Shea McClellin and Christian Jones, who carry with them a grand total of four professional seasons of experience at the position. So now is as good a time as ever for this group to get some reps together.

The Bears have so many problems to solve at the linebacker position. If this group could somehow string a few solid games together, it certainly would make GM Phil Emery’s job a lot easier.

Getting back to New Orleans. Even though Graham has struggled this season, failing to record a single 100-yard game, the Bears figure to be something of a slump-buster. And Graham certainly holds the edge over the Bears’ young group of linebackers.

When Aaron Rodgers told Packers fans to “r-e-l-a-x” prior to an early season matchup with the Bears, at a time when his offense was struggling, Green Bay went out and won 38-17.

The Bears have had problems defending the tight end, and they haven’t had problems defending the tight end.

Tight ends have struggled to win the downfield battles against the Bears; the problem lies with keeping the tight end out of the end zone in short-yardage situations. But the onus certainly doesn’t fall squarely on the linebackers. Safeties Chris Conte and Ryan Mundy need to step up and provide support if Graham gets going early. 

It will be interesting to see what this young group of linebackers can do to defend against Graham, who leads the team in targets, running back Mark Ingram and the Saints’ 9th-ranked rushing attack (123.7 per game).

While quarterback Drew Brees is still one of the NFL’s best, the options he has to throw to have not been living up to expectations this season. Rookie wide receiver Brandin Cooks is on injured reserve, Marques Colston looks to be every single bit the aging veteran his is and Kenny Stills has struggled to step up and be the No. 1 wide receiver Brees and the Saints’ offense so badly needs.

Wrapping Up 

Even though there’s little to play for in the standings, it will be somewhat exciting to see if the Bears can right the ship Monday night after everything that has gone on, especially in light of Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune‘s report that says offensive coordinator Aaron Kromer was Rapoport’s source for the “buyer’s remorse” story.

Cutler is going to play angry and lead the Bears to their first win in three weeks. 

Prediction: Bears 34, Saints 31

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