Bears defeat Rams 23-6

Good to get out of Dodge with a win.

That's how I felt after today's game.  That game today is kind of how I would imagine the game would look if it were played in St. Louis.  The defense played very well but the offense just looked off, as if seriously affected by crowd noise in a dome.

In any case, we ran the ball pretty well today (you wouldn't know it looking at the box score, but it was a definite improvement).  Other than the win itself, that's the best news from the game.  Chilo Rachal needs to clean some things up (those penalties are unacceptable), but he did have a few impressive blocks today in the running game.  Hopefully, we'll have Matt Forte back for next Monday's game in Dallas. If not, though, I think that Michael Bush showed enough burst and power in the running game that Dallas would likely still key on stopping the run first and foremost and that should open up some opportunities in the passing game.

As always, we will have more analysis (including our personnel breakdown) as the week progresses.

2-1.  Bear Down!!!

First Sack Review

Here is the first play of the game from the Packers debacle on Thursday.  Let's analyze why the breakdown happened.  Here is the pre-snap look:

Now, watch the gaping hole created by Spencer's down block followed by Webb's kick-out:

Now, look back at where Forte started.  Look at his feet.  He's on the hashmark.  Notice here that after "taking" the play fake, he's practically in the middle of the field.  The point here is that his weight is moving to his left in order to take the play fake.  At the same time, the blitzer is able to immediately cut across Forte's body because of all the space created by Spencer's movement to his right.  Also notice in the next picture that Forte is unable to cut immediately to his right to square up the defender because Jay is still in the way.

The next three pics show the block itself.  We can see here why Forte led with his shoulder instead of remaining squared up at contact.

Lastly, this is where Forte needs to do a better job.  Even though he was put in a bad position, he needs to stick with the blitzer and drive him away from the pocket instead of getting cradled up as he does here:

So, though Forte does need to do a better job than this, I definitely expect Tice to put his guys in a better position to succeed than this.  Not helping the situation is that Chicago had 8 guys in to block while the 2 receivers both basically ran go routes.  Adding to the madness was that neither of the tight ends or the running back released as an outlet for Jay when (not if) he got pressured.

More analysis of the game (specifically on all of the sacks) to follow.

Packers debacle - personnel review

Well, as I anticipated, going back and watching that game for the second time was almost as painful as the first.  What a load of crap.  Before anything else, here's the personnel chart from the game:

A couple things to note regarding the chart:

• There were a total of 22 run plays and 36 pass plays.  Much of that was due to the fact that we were behind as we had 21 runs and 22 passes through 3 quarters.
• The disparity between runs and passes out of 11 personnel continues.  It's even worse when you consider that 2 of the 9 runs out of that grouping were draw plays on 3 and 19+.  I also noticed (I don't have an exact count) that many of the plays we ran out of 11 personnel were out of the shotgun formation.  All of this adds up to a near complete lack of unpredictability for an opposing defense to worry about.

Here are the rest of my notes from the game:

The lack of desire to establish a running game early was incredibly disturbing.  This offensive line in completely incapable of protecting Jay if the opposing D-Linemen are allowed to pin their ears back and attack.  How the Bears coaching staff was unaware of this (especially after 2 years of Martz) is amazing.

Evan Rodriguez needs to play more.  Kellen Davis needs to play less.  Matt Spaeth needs to play even less than that.  He is brutal.

Cutler needs to get rid of the ball.  It's tough enough that the line can't protect, but when they DO give time, he needs to find someone or get rid of the ball.  Eliminate these negative plays.

We'll be back in the next couple days after going over the "All 22" film with more analysis.  As always, please feel free to comment below.

Bears - Colts Personnel Review

Here's my review of the Colts game from a personnel standpoint.  First, though, to new readers of Bears Playbook and anyone unfamiliar with the terminology, let's go over a quick description of the different personnel packages.

Personnel packages are identified with a two-digit number.  Obviously, there are 11 players on offense.  One is the QB and 5 are the offensive linemen.  This leaves 5 skill players on the offensive side of the ball.  This group is composed of RB's, WR's and TE's.  In naming the personnel group on the field, we list the number of RB's followed by the number of TE's.  Adding these numbers together and then subtracting from 5 tells us the number of WR's on the field as well.  It sounds like a lot, but it's very easy in practice.  For example, if there is 1 RB in the game and 2 TE's, that is called 12 personnel (1 for the # of RB's, then 2 for the # of TE's).  Since there are 5 skill players on the field, this leaves 2 WR's on the field in this situation.  Got it?  What if there was 1 RB, 1 TE and 3 WR?  That's 11 personnel.  1 RB and 0 TE?  That's 10 personnel.  Lastly, a 5 WR set is called 00 personnel (0 WR, 0 TE).

Every NFL team tracks the personnel that the offense sends on the field.  They also track tendencies that a team may show about how often they will run or pass out of each personnel group.  In preparing for an upcoming game, they will track the other team's last 4 games personnel tendencies.  So, finally, here is the chart for this week's game.

The totals for the game were 40 passes and 29 runs.  This doesn't seem like too bad a balance.  Look, however, at what the Bears did out of 11 personnel.  With this personnel group on the field, the Bears passed 20 times and ran only 5.  This is a whopping disparity.  So, when the Packers see the Bears trot out this personnel group onto the field this week, you can bet they'll be anticipating pass plays.  I am very curious to see if Mike Tice tries to use this to his advantage by running more often out of this personnel.  This fact also helps explain some things that I saw during the game.

For example, at 6:15 in the 2^nd quarter, Bears faced a 3^rd an 11 at the Indy 24.  They ran a draw play to Michael Bush.  I hated the play call at the time but now, after charting the personnel packages, I like it.  At that point in time, the Bears had run 11 plays out of 11 personnel and EVERY ONE was a pass play.  On 3^rd and 11, Indy would be expecting a pass of course.  In addition, the Bears had shown that they love throwing the ball out of 11 personnel.  So, although it didn’t work in the end, that play had a great chance to catch Indy off guard and succeed (it almost did.  We gained 8 yards on the play despite poor execution by Bush who ran straight into Garza).  

So, while you watch the game this Thursday, pay attention to what the Bears do when you see 1 RB and 3 WR's on the field.  This may provide significant insight into Tice's ability to maintain (or exploit) balance in his playcalling.

FINALLY!!! Bears open preseason tonight.

The preseason is finally upon us as the Bears will take on the Denver Broncos tonight at Soldier Field.  In a game filled with side stories, Bears fans will get their first look at the Jay Cutler to Brandon Marshall connection since they were teammates with these very same Broncos in 2008.  While this is the biggest story for Bears fans, the biggest story for most NFL fans will be their first look at Payton Manning with the Broncos.  When it’s all said and done, however, the fact remains that this is still week 1 of the preseason and the starters on both teams will be expected to play less than one quarter of action.  What else should Bears fans watch for?

Other than watching Brandon Marshall in a Bears uniform, I’m most eager to get a look at the performances of the Bears left tackles; J’Marcus Webb and Chris Williams.  While Webb appeared to win the “competition” for the starting job, Offensive Coordinator Mike Tice has acknowledged that Webb hasn’t played great and he is not a lock to start week 1 of the regular season.  If Webb struggles (especially with mental mistakes, which Tice hates), it is entirely possible that Williams will be starting the next preseason game and this could turn into a legitimate competition.

I’m also looking forward to seeing our rookie draft picks in action.  Specifically, I’ll be watching out for Shea McClellin (#99), Alshon Jeffery (#17), Evan Rodriguez (#88) and undrafted free agent O-lineman James Brown (#78).  For McClellin, watch to see if he can effectively use counter moves when engaged with an O-lineman.  Look to see if Jeffery can beat press coverage.  With Rodriguez, I’m most interested in where he lines up and how the Bears utilize him.  While the gameplan will be very vanilla, it will still be interesting to see if he lines up as an H-back, an inline blocker or at the Y in 21 (or 12) personnel.  As for James Brown, I’m also interested in where he lines up the most.  Judging by what I’ve heard from training camp, the coaching staff is taking a pretty good look at him at the LT spot.  I can’t help but wonder if he’s in consideration for the swing tackle spot.

So, it should be a very entertaining game from many angles.  I didn’t even mention Tice’s offense,  Brandon Hardin, Matt Forte or Jason Campbell.  I don’t think I’ve ever been this excited for a Bears season and likewise I’ve never been this excited for a Bears preseason game.  It’s finally here.

Bears Report to Training Camp

Bears players arrive at the dorms of Olivet Nazarene
University for the start of training camp

The Bears have arrived at training camp at Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, IL.  The players will undergo physicals today and also take part in strength and conditioning drills.  Their first practice will begin tomorrow at 2:30 and that is open to the public.

What To Watch For

Everyone is excited to watch Jay Cutler throw the ball to Brandon Marshall.  It will also be great to see Matt Forte participating with the team for the first time this offseason (he reportedly looks to be in great shape).  However, the most important thing to watch now that the pads are on will be the performance of the offensive linemen, particularly the battle for the left tackle position.  According to Offensive Coordinator Mike Tice, Chris Williams and J’Marcus Webb will split the reps 50/50 with the winner becoming the starter at left tackle and the loser assuming the swing tackle role.

Williams and Webb have both had their struggles at LT and that is the reason this competition ever came about in the first place.  Williams’ struggles presumably can be (at least partially) attributed to injury, he was never fully healthy until the start of last season, while Webb’s troubles are attributed to inexperience.  With limited practices in pads, the most important component of this battle will be their performances in the preseason games.  The trouble with evaluating performances in the preseason, though, is that starters typically don’t play much.  With that in mind, it will be very interesting to see who gets the start in the Bears’ first preseason game on August 9^th against the Broncos and RDE Elvis Dumervil (if he’s not in jail by then).

This is quite possibly the most anticipated Bears season since the mid-late 1980’s.  With training camp finally upon us, we’ll begin to get a good idea of whether or not that excitement is legitimate.  Phil Emery said, “We want to win now.  We want to win championships now.”  That is clearly a sentiment that is shared by all fans.  The journey to accomplish that goal begins now and, may I say, it’s about time.

Bears name Emery as GM

The Chicago Bears have tabbed Phil Emery as their new GM.  What everyone wants to know is what we can expect from him, particularly in the draft.  In the coming days, I’m sure we’ll have plenty of interviews with him during which we’ll get a better idea of the direction in which he wants to take the team.  For now though, let’s start with a list of some of the players that have been drafted by the teams he’s worked with.

Before I go into the list of players, it’s important to note that dozens of people have input into a team’s draft picks.  As a result, it’s impossible for us to know how much credit Emery himself should get for any pick, good or bad.  That fact notwithstanding, here’s a list of the positions Emery has held and some notable draft picks by his teams during that period:

Area Scout for Bears 1998-2004

Olin Kreutz

Marty Booker

Jerry Azumah

Brian Urlacher

Mike Brown

Charles Tillman

Lance Briggs

Tommie Harris

Nathan Vasher

Director of College Scouting and Regional Scout for Falcons 2004-2009

Roddy White

Jonathan Babineaux

Justin Blalock

Matt Ryan

Director of College Scouting for Chiefs 2009-2011

Eric Berry

Dexter McCluster

Jonathan Baldwin

Justin Houston

Certainly a pretty good list.  As I mentioned earlier, though, we can’t be sure how many of these (or the less successful) picks Emery is greatly responsible for.  We must mention, though, that Falcons president Rich McKay has said that Emery had strong convictions about Roddy White and he convinced the Falcons to draft him.  This, in and of itself, should be enough to get Bears fans excited.  

Bears set to win now

Two things stood out from the playoff games this weekend.  First was the amazing impact of the tight ends in the passing game (for more detail, see previous post).  The second thing that I took away from the games was that the Bears are built to win now.  Not only are they built for success, they’re moving in a direction that should bring this success.

Let’s review the games.  The Giants beat the Packers.  The 49ers beat the Saints.  The Ravens beat the Texans.  The Patriots beat the Broncos.  The common thread among these games is that the better defensive team won (except for the Pats thrashing of the Teblow Experiment, but a Denver loss is relevant to nothing).  It’s also worth noting that the team who won the turnover battle also won each game.  This is the type of team we have in Chicago.  We have a team who plays good defense and prides itself on taking the ball away.  We’re actually very similar to this Giants team that just knocked off the Packers.  We play a lot of Cover 2, get pressure from the front 4, run the ball well and have a very good if not elite QB.  They don’t have a Devin Hester to return kicks and we don’t have a Hakeem Nicks to catch passes, but the similarities far outweigh the differences. 

The point of all this is that, in a year where passing records are being shattered, defense still wins championships.  Even Mike Martz’ Super Bowl ring was acquired because of defense (when Wikipedia is back up and functioning, see “The Tackle”).  The Bears have a defense that is still among the best in the league and our turnover differential should only improve under the playcalling of Mike Tice.  It’s true that points come out of the passing game, but we have a quarterback who can get us those points as well.  So for those who have called for Lovie’s dismissal and want us to start over, I’m telling you to not hit the panic button.  As bad as this year ended, we’re a lot closer to the promised land than you think and we’re headed in the right direction toward it.