Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2016 12:55:34 GMT -6
Bears offense needs to be less predictable versus Eagles
Sep 11, 2016; Houston, TX, USA;
By: Lorin Cox | 54 minutes ago
The Chicago Bears’ offense did a pretty good job in the first half against the Houston Texans last week, putting two touchdowns on the board to take a respectable 14-10 lead at halftime. Then the Texans’ defense adjusted, the Bears’ offense didn’t, and John Fox started the season with a loss.
The veteran head coach admitted as much in a post-game interview with Larry Mayer from the team’s site. “I think they probably adjusted better than we did. They played better in the second half.”
When you step back and look at the game as a whole, it’s easy to see what the Texans’ defense was able to key-in on. The Bears’ offense was too predictable in some significant areas, something they need to fix before they play the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 2 on Monday Night Football.
Running right
Jay Cutler handed the ball to Jeremy Langford 17 times last week, which is a problem on its own, but the majority of those carries were run off the right side of the offensive line, according to Pro Football Focus.
The Bears were trying to get the running game going behind two of their best run-blocking offensive linemen, Kyle Long and Bobby Massie, but as a result, they became predictable. Texans defenders were able to figure out which direction runs were likely to be headed, and it helped them hold Langford to 3.4 yards-per-carry.
One of the few times Langford actually did run left, he got his biggest run of the day: a 15-yard gain to the outside. On the play, Texans outside linebacker Jadeveon Clowney tried to attack inside (to the right) on Charles Leno, allowing the left tackle to seal his defender to the inside and let Langford bounce the run to the edge.
One one of the Bears' few runs to the left, Jeremy Langford was able to bounce it outside for his biggest gain of the day (GIF via NFL Game Pass)
Link;http://bearswire.usatoday.com/2016/09/15/bears-offense-needs-to-be-less-predictable-versus-eagles/#respond
Leno, Josh Sitton and Cody Whitehair showed that they are capable run blockers, even if they aren’t at the level of Long and Massie, and the Bears need to mix it up more against the Eagles to keep the defense guessing.
Shotgun versus under center
Eventually, the Bears’ offense became predictable enough that the Texans had a decent idea of what Chicago was going to try to do before they even snapped the ball.
It all depended on how Cutler lined up.
When the Bears had their quarterback in shotgun, they did not call a single running play, according to Pro-Fooball-Reference. All 26 times Cutler was back off the line of scrimmage, he dropped back to pass.
He did end up scrambling up the middle for a 12-yard gain on one shotgun play, but that “run” play was a designed pass that Cutler altered on his own.
Obviously, then, all 18 of the Bears’ handoffs as an offense came with Cutler under center. To make matters worse, they attempted only four passes with their quarterback directly behind Whitehair, all incompletions. Overwhelmingly, the Bears passed out of shotgun and ran under center.
Huddling and substitutions
The Bears’ offensive line was really struggling with the Texans’ front seven all game, and Chicago never once went into the no-huddle offense, according to Pro-Football-Reference. Even on the touchdown-scoring drive at the end of the first half, the clock stopped with two timeouts and a penalty between all of their plays.
Taking plenty of time between plays, the Bears allowed the Texans’ defense to rest and regroup, never stepping up the tempo to try and tire out the opponent and get them on their heels.
Huddling up also allowed the Texans to make as many substitutions as they wanted, keeping fresh legs in the game in both the secondary and the front seven. Perhaps the worst part was that the Bears’ offense didn’t make many substitutions of their own.
It’s one thing if Chicago was huddling to put in new receivers and running backs to serve as a new look for Houston’s defense, but the Bears’ offense largely used the same core players all game.
Langford played 54 of his offense’s 56 snaps, with Ka’Deem Carey taking the other two and rookie Jordan Howard getting nothing. Everyone was expecting Dowell Loggains to get all of his young running backs involved to change the pace of the offense, but Langford became the workhorse and didn’t do much with it.
Alshon Jeffery, Kevin White and Eddie Royal took all but two of the wide receiver snaps, as Deonte Thompson was the only other to see the field on offense for a pair of plays. Josh Bellamy was healthy and active, but ended up only playing special teams in the game.
Obviously, the Bears want to play their top receivers as much as possible, but as White struggled and the offense as a whole failed to come up with answers for the Texans, they could have brought in their other receivers to give the starting three a break and try and throw something new at Houston.
All of these predictable aspects to the Bears’ offense last week seem like simple things that are easy to fix, but it is up to this coaching staff to self-scout, identify their weaknesses and correct them. Otherwise, they could see a similar second-half breakdown for a second-straight week.
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