4th and Goal(s): Detroit Brings Bears Needed Chance At Regrouping
Step back against Cleveland should make future plans clearer for Bears
Roll tape…Chicago Bears, 2021 season, take two… and ACTION!
Yes, the Bears need another take cause that was a rough loss to Cleveland last Sunday, the type of loss which unfortunately brought up memories of past head coaches like Marc Trestman who were less auteurs than they were over their heads.
Things have completely fallen off the track and like with Noah on the Arc, a seagull has been spotted with the hope of land ahead to save us all, a seagull by the name of the Detroit Lions.
Sure, the analogy is a little dramatic — this Lions team will do more than poo on the Bears’ deck in order to keep the team’s ship from its wanted destination (a 2-2 record) and they themselves are hungry for their first win after coming tantalizingly close against Baltimore last weekend - Detroit may be just as happy to see their opponent this weekend as it is the other way around.
If anything, the Lions come in to Soldier Field as the team that is playing more sound top to bottom, and after watching the Bears’ tape from last week, they must be foaming at the mouth to play in Chicago.
What are the answers that the Bears will have to muster up in order to keep from falling deeper in this early season hole? They should follow the steps below for a possible season-saving win against the division-rival Lions.
Run what you need to run - It was stated in our game preview a week ago that a major key to the Bears winning in Cleveland is running an offense conducive to what quarterback Justin Fields can do well right now as a developing professional.
In perfect Bears manner they overthought themselves, tried to buck conventional thinking and tried to catch the Browns off-guard with a precision pocket passing game plan, which left Fields looking as mobile as a scarecrow in the middle of a field of wolves.
Enough, Matt Nagy, really, enough.
Stop trying to be cute and think you will out smart everyone at all times, you have to run an offense that fits your starting quarterback. Perhaps quarterback Andy Dalton will be back this week and the quick passing game of “read it, throw it” could work against a Detroit team that can’t possibly bring the pressure the Browns did with Miles Garrett and Co.
If it ends up being Fields starting under center then re-read what happened a week ago: move the pocket, bootlegs, screens, more RPOs, more run plays, and more max protects. Silly, silly, silly Football 101 mistakes are a good way to lose games against both good and bad teams.
Compliment the defense - Nothing is sadder than doing a game preview and having to write out the simplest things as a game plan — strategic items that should already be deployed by professional coaches and players yet are still not. Here is another simple Football 101 concept: when your offense stinks then you should be doing what you can to compliment the strongest unit of your team, which is the defense.
It’s truly mind boggling, but the Bears need to utilize the run game as much as possible to control more clock and give the defense more time to rest. Touchdowns are never being scored by the Bears passing game so it makes no sense to take the ball away from the run game because the head coach is bored. Hopefully the rock bottom performance of last week wakes up the Bears play caller (callers?) but it is time to call plays that will compliment the defense the most.
Play the game in front of you - A lot of these goals unfortunately have to be focused on game planning and scheme because of how terrible it has gotten for the Bears offense to do anything effective. Another horrendous mistake a week ago was the offense’s inability to adjust or use certain play calling techniques to the challenges presented by the Browns defense.
At no point, until it was way too late, did Nagy think about using tight ends to chip or call more max protects to help the offense or to even throw a curve-ball at Cleveland’s pass rush. It is honestly insane for a play caller not to call the game that’s happening right in front of them.
Clearly, whatever game plan the Bears had last Sunday was not going to work and adjustments needed to be made much earlier than the second half. Forget the game plan and the offensive script on throwing the football with five man protections when it is producing historically low levels of offensive output.
How is this even a thing to write about? Why does it have to be spelled out? It is pure lunacy for an NFL team to not bother to make even pee-wee football level adjustments. Forget this week, every week moving forward a goal for the Bears should be to adjust the offense based on what the opposing defense is doing. Simple as that.
Foundation needs to stay strong - By far the best positive of this season for the Bears has been the play of their defense, more specifically the defensive front. Controlling the line of scrimmage will be key against a Lions team licking its wounds after losing by a last second miracle field goal by the Ravens last week. Detroit should be aggressive and chippy in this game.
In fact, all the Lions’ losses this year have been close, with obvious entry points for improvement. No doubt that the Lions are feeling like they can steal one from the lakefront against a fellow NFC North underachiever.
Don’t let anyone sugar coat it, the Lions can win this game and this could quickly become a pick em’ in Vegas (Bears a -2.5 point favorite as of this writing) if the defensive front and defense overall doesn’t play well. A dominating performance by the pass rush featuring another impressive effort at stopping the run will give the Bears enough to win, even if the Bears offense once again fails to deliver.
Ryan Bukowiecki covers the Chicago Bears and professional football for WARR