Bears film breakdown: Two red zone plays show where Bears need to improve, and how they can be effective

The Bears had three possessions enter the red zone in Sunday's 16-14 win over the Arizona Cardinals, but only managed 10 points on those drives. Another pair of possessions stalled just outside the red zone, leading to Cody Parkey attempting four field goals, making three. 

With explosive plays hard to come by for this offense, an emphasis this week will be converting long drives that get into the red zone into touchdowns, not field goals. Against Arizona, though, we can see in two different plays, two quarters apart, how far the Bears have to go in the red zone but also how this group can find success. 

We'll start with a play that caught some attention on Twitter during the game: 

At the top of the screen, three Cardinals defenders are lined up across from a group of four Bears — Anthony Miller, Trey Burton, Taylor Gabriel and Tarik Cohen — in a diamond stack formation. At the bottom of the screen, Allen Robinson is lined up in single coverage against Cardinals cornerback Jamar Taylor. 

Trubisky takes the snap and doesn't look to his right, only identifying Robinson in single coverage and lofting a pass to him on a fade route. Coming down with jump balls/50-50 balls in the end zone are a strength of Robinson's, but Trubisky's throw doesn't give him the best opportunity to make the catch. 

It's worth noting that linebacker Josh Bynes (yellow arrow) does immediately break left when the ball is snapped, and even if the play was blocked well by the other three guys on that side of the field it wouldn't have been guaranteed to be a touchdown. 

"There are some advantage throws, there’s some choices on that play," Nagy said. "So that’s where he decided to go with the ball, and so we didn’t execute that play. We gotta regroup and pick another one."

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Alright, on to a well-called and well-executed play in the red zone. 

Trubisky lines up in the shotgun with Cohen (blue arrow) to his right and Benny Cunningham (green arrow) to his left, with Robinson (yellow arrow) on the near side. Trubisky takes the snap and flows to his right, and Bynes (white arrow) drifts that way. Center Cody Whitehair (red arrow) gets two yards beyond the line of scrimmage and has to determine if he's going to block Bynes or linebacker Gerald Hodges. 

By the time Cohen accelerates near the line of scrimmage, Hodges (white arrow) is too far away to make the play. Whitehair (red circle) blocks Bynes. 

"You gotta read the most dangerous guy and make your decision from there," Whitehair said. "I felt like the guy a little bit to my left (Bynes) was the most dangerous guy with the misdirection play."

Cunningham (green circle) lands a strong block on safety Antoine Bethea, which triggers the play. 

"I knew as soon as he called it that I could trust in Benny Cunningham to make the most important block, so when he made that block I knew I had to cut off that and just keep running for the end zone," Cohen said. 

Worth noting: Had Hodges not been fooled by the misdirection on the play, he could've been able to crash toward the line of scrimmage and make a stop. 

"It was a good setup by coach Nagy," Whitehair said. "... If a defense is flowing hard like they were, it was a good time to use it."

Cohen, meanwhile, reads that Robinson's momentum in his block of Taylor is going to the sideline, so he cuts back over Robinson's inside shoulder, even with safety Tre Boston (black arrow) crashing down on the play. 

Boston gets his hands on Cohen around the four-yard line, and Cohen is eventually tackled at the one for a gain of 17 yards. Jordan Howard finishes the drive off on the next play with the Bears' only touchdown of the game. 

Still, "I was supposed to get in there," Cohen said. "I smelled it."