We're Back!!

Alright, boys and girls, we are back in action! Had a lot going on and got sick of tracking the same predictable nonsense from Tice last year (pass out of 11 personnel, run out of 12...), but we're happy to be back! It's great to have Bears football again and it's hard to remember a more exciting time as a Bears fan. The Marc Trestman era is here and with it comes exciting potential. Let's start with this before we get into breaking down this week's game.

By now, we all know a bit about Marc Trestman's offense. West Coast ideals, get the ball out fast, RB involved in the passing game, spread the defense out horizontally, etc. What nobody has discussed, however, is the effect that Trestman will have on the defense. I mean indirectly, of course, as he has effectively left the defense in place. Our defense is still predicated on the Tampa 2. It's basically the same thing that it has been. So what the hell am I talking about? Well, think about it for a minute. What is the primary function of the Tampa 2? It is to take away the big play. Keep everything in front of you. Force the opposing offense to sustain long drives if they are to score. Now let's take it a step further. In what situation will this defense be most effective? Well, with a lead of course. After all, forcing the opposition to dink and dunk their way down the field while chewing up the clock doesn't do too much good when behind in the game. With a lead, however, this defense becomes suffocating. This leads directly to my point. For as good as Lovie Smith's defenses always were, the offenses were never able to sustain periods of potency. There were about 7 weeks of offensive production in '06. Remember? That offensive production coupled with this defense had the entire nation talking about a possible 16-0 season. The media was ready to crown our ass. As we soon found out, though, that offensive production was not sustainable. Marc Trestman in the past has proven that his offenses can sustain production throughout an entire season(s). So we should be excited about not only the extra points which this offense should deliver, but also what those extra points will mean for this defense.

So, now onto the win over the Bengals. Lots to like about this game. During the game, I jotted down the following; "why is the offense so conservative?" After the game, we found out why. Marc Trestman said that his biggest priority through the first half was to keep Jay Cutler clean. He did that. The quarterback whisperer apparently realizes the importance of Jay's confidence in the pocket. We've all seen how his footwork deteriorates when he starts taking hits and apparently Coach Trestman has seen this as well. So, between getting the ball out quickly and great play by the O-Line, Cutler displayed good footwork the whole game and his comfort in the pocket was clear. Let's hope that this keeps up all season.

Before we move on, how about a quick word about the line play? When was the last time anyone can remember our O-Line playing better than our D-Line? Kyle Long is a beast. Plain and simple. I don't think I could name 10 offensive guards in the NFL I'd rather have. He did make a couple mental mistakes (once picking Forte on a dig route), but these should quickly be cleaned up. It's also hard not to be impressed by fellow rookie Jordan Mills at RT. I'm not sure if he's really as good as he looks, but he played well at Louisiana Tech and at the Senior Bowl, so he definitely has the potential.

As for our D-Line, what was that? Peppers looked genuinely dis-interested during the first half. He even appeared to be avoiding contact. It was very strange. His intensity did pick up in the second half, though his production did not. Stephen Paea, however, was quite disruptive. He was consistently getting pressure up the middle and his tremendous strength seemed to finally be evident in his play on the field. It is just one week, so let's not get too excited just yet, but if his play this week was representative at all of what we can expect moving forward, then this D-Line could be truly elite.

The rest of the defense (other than the flu-ridden Charles Tillman) seemed to struggle a bit as well. There was sloppy tackling (including a couple missed tackles by Lance Briggs, which was very surprising) and a consistent failure to get off the field on 3rd down. When it mattered the most though, we stepped it up in the second half and allowed the offense the opportunity to complete the comeback and get the W.

Finally, here's how we did it:

Now, a couple notes about the chart. First, I left off the last 6 plays when we were trying to run out the clock. These were all runs. Second, this doesn't distinguish whether or not we were in the shotgun formation, but Coach Trestman clearly loves the shotgun. We were in the shotgun 27 of the 55 plays listed here. We ran the ball on 6 of those 27 plays. Anyway, we clearly threw the ball more than we ran it. This is to be expected. I was pleased that we remained unpredictable out of 21 personnel and the run/pass ratio was about the same whether we were in 11 or 12 personnel. This will help keep defenses off balance.

When it's all said and done, it was just one week. But it was a great win and this could be a sign of great things to come. Let's get this winner against the Vikings to get to 2-0. We'll be back next week with more detail. Bear Down!!

Bears O-Line, They Are Who We Thought They Were

That was my first thought after watching the Bears first preseason game.  I’m not one to overreact to preseason games, especially the first one when four of our best players didn’t even sniff the field, but our offensive line continues to unimpress.  J’Marcus Webb played well into the fourth quarter and had a false start and gave up a sack.  Chris Spencer gave up a sack in limited action.  UDFA James Brown, a player I’m admittedly a fan of, played very poorly at LT in the end of the 4^th quarter giving up one sack and being at least partially to blame for another one.  RT Gabe Carimi surprisingly failed to generate any push in the running game while he was in.  In general, the interior of the line allowed pressure up the middle repeatedly.  All in all, it was one preseason game.  The fact remains though, that they’ve thus far given me no reason to believe they’ll be anything but bad this season.  Until they do, I’ll be working with that assumption.

Other notes from the first game:

Shea McClellin looked ok.  He flashed his speed and relentlessness in getting his first sack as a pro.  He did, however, get run over on the Broncos first touchdown and he clearly needs to play with better pad level in the running game.  He also needs to develop counter moves to beat O-linemen, but that will expectedly take some time and be a work in progress.  Summary:  he has good speed, a high motor and struggles in the running game.  He too is what we thought he was, at least for now.

Alshon Jeffery played pretty well.  He used his size well and displayed good hands.  He needs to continue to use his hands better to beat press coverage, but he looks like he could be a contributor sooner rather than later.

Major Wright made an interception on a tipped pass, but was later removed due to a hamstring issue.  His durability continues to be a concern.

I was hoping to see more of Evan Rodriguez, but most of his usefulness during the season will be through personnel mismatches.  The Bears will achieve this by moving him around from as in-line tight end to the slot to H-back, etc.  Since the Bears won’t gameplan until the third preseason game (and even then in a limited capacity), I don’t expect to know exactly how (or how much) we’ll utilize him until the season starts.

In the end, it was just the first preseason game.  It was quite ugly, but that is to be expected when Jay Cutler, Matt Forte, Brian Urlacher and Julius Peppers all sit out.  The most important outcome was that nobody was injured and the Bears should’ve gotten some good film to look at and work off of as they prepare for next week’s game in Washington.