Bears Insider

Film review: ‘D' sets tone, plus another O-line miscue

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Adam Hoge and JJ Stankevitz dive into the coaches' film and break down two important plays that set the tone -- good and bad -- early in the Bears' 23-16 win over the Carolina Panthers in Week 6.

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1/10

Hoge: The Bears have been guilty of some slow starts this year and it was fair to question their early energy in the loss to the Colts in Week 4. But that certainly wasn’t an issue Sunday in Charlotte. The defense came out of flying and helped the offense get an early lead.

2/10

Hoge: Bears defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano deserves a lot of credit for his plan to start the game. The Bears came out in their hybrid 4-2-5 nickel package with Khalil Mack, Akiem Hicks, Bilal Nichols and Robert Quinn creating a four-down front. This is essentially what you saw back when Lovie Smith was coaching the Bears, when he counted on his front four to create pressure. And Sunday, that D-line came ready to play. 

On first down, Mack made right tackle Taylor Moton look silly with a simple dip of his shoulder and both Mack and Quinn met in the backfield for a TFL. On second down, Quinn and Nichols ran a stunt that led to a sack and nearly a safety. Then, on third down, they did it again. As you can see above, Quinn is going to crash hard inside on left guard Chris Reed (and by crash, I mean completely run him over). Nichols then comes around the outside, stressing a switch that needs to be made by left tackle Russell Okung. On second down, that switch simply didn’t happen, which is why Nichols sacked Teddy Bridgewater.

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Hoge: This time, Okung makes the switch, but there’s still a slight hesitation as he was probably surprised the Bears went with the same stunt on back-to-back plays. Meanwhile, Mack (circled in red) is completely piledriving Moton backwards, which eventually table-tops Okung from behind. Bridgewater gets rid of the ball before Nichols gets to him again, but he’s forced to throw into tight coverage.

4/10

Again, this is pretty simple stuff. It’s 3rd-and-19 and the Bears basically drop back into quarters coverage. They subbed safety DeAndre Houston-Carson in for linebacker Danny Trevathan, but this still looks more like a normal 4-2-5 nickel defense than a dime package. Rookie cornerback Jaylon Johnson is tight on wide receiver Robby Anderson and he’s able to knock the pass away. Safety Tashaun Gibson is moving towards the ball (always go to the football kids!) and he’s able to make a nice catch for the interception.

JJ, early in the season, I think we both felt like the Bears came out flat in some games. This was the complete opposite of that. The defense was flying around from the first snap of the game, especially up front. Khalil Mack and Robert Quinn did things that were downright mean. Those Panthers offensive linemen have children!

JJ: Or they looked like children against this Bears front! 

These two games have felt like real identity builders for this Bears defense. More than anything, they’re playing nasty - and you’re absolutely right, Adam, that nastiness was lacking early in the season. But sometimes defenses take a few games to start becoming what they’ll be the rest of the season. It’s starting to feel like the Bears defense is becoming what they’ll be in 2020, with every level of this defense playing well over the last few games. 

And you have a great defense when down-the-depth-chart guys are making key contributions. It can’t just be all Mack and Hicks and Kyle Fuller. The Bears are getting a lot out of Nichols and Gipson, as you showed on this play. They’re also getting it out of Houston-Carson. This three-play sequence was a tone-setter for the entire game, and if the Bears keep playing this nasty early in games, every offense they face from here on out is going to have a tough time. 

Hoge: There are signs that this unit can be as impactful as the 2018 defense, especially if the takeaways start to pile up. The Bears have eight takeaways on the season, but four of those came in the last two games and we know the officials have taken a couple defensive touchdowns off the board too. The defense needs to keep delivering those game-changing plays, because as you’re about to show us, the offense badly needs the help.

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JJ: Matt Nagy wanted to establish the run. He really tried. The Bears ran the ball 15 times on 29 first downs. It just didn't work, with this play, coming on a first down in the first quarter, an unfortunately telling example. 

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JJ: This isn’t a particularly complicated design. It’s “hat on hat,” as offensive coordinators say: The Bears have six blockers for six Panthers defenders in the box. Tight end Cole Kmet and left guard Rashaad Coward (orange arrows) will pull into a hole opened by right tackle Bobby Massie blocking to his right, and right guard Germain Ifedi blocking to his left.

Kmet and Coward’s job is to take care of the two Panthers linebackers (blue arrows) who will fit into that hole. Center Cody Whitehair and left tackle Charles Leno still have a job to do in creating a possible cut-back lane for Montgomery, but if this is blocked properly, he shouldn’t have to take it.

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JJ: Ifedi and Massie do their jobs, opening up plenty of space for Kmet and Coward to crash into. All they need to do is block the right linebackers and Montgomery has a one-on-one matchup against safety Juston Burris, who's at the end of the red arrow. 

Notable here: Burris has the second-most missed tackles against the run among safeties this year, per Pro Football Focus. Safety Tre Boston, who’s in the top left corner of this screenshot, is too far away to make a play -- and even if he were to close on Montgomery, his angle would be pretty bad. There’s a non-zero chance this play goes for a touchdown, or at least a big chunk gain.

8/10

JJ: I cannot stress how many times I watched this play to try to figure out why Coward suddenly stopped and turned to block linebacker Tahir Whitehead, who Kmet was inches away from blocking. It looks like Kmet got his assignment right, but Coward briefly hesitated while pulling as to if he was supposed to block No. 52 (Whitehead) or No. 54 (Shaq Thompson). I wonder if this might have something to do with Coward never having played on the left side of the line before.

We had Olin Kreutz on the Under Center Podcast last week, and colleague Cam Ellis asked him about the challenges for Coward moving from the right side of the line, where he’s exclusively played since converting from defensive line in 2018. 

“Guys who have switched over — Kyle Long, I think, said it’s like eating right handed and (then) trying to eat left handed,” Kreutz said. “You have to do things totally differently. It’s going to be hard for him to do,

“... For some guys, it’d be really hard. I have to imagine, for a guy who went from D-line to O-line, now they want him to switch to the other side of the offensive line, that’s going to be a tough thing for him to handle.”

9/10

Montgomery sees an unblocked Thompson and has to cut back to his left. A few problems, though: Coward is too close to him, altering his cut-back angle -- he can’t aggressively attack the hole between Ifedi and Kmet. And also in the blue circle, Whitehair wasn’t quite quick enough getting to edge rusher Brian Burns, who blasts into the backfield and ultimately tackles Montgomery for a one-yard gain. Even if Whitehair had blocked Burns, though, Boston is there. The play probably would’ve gone for four, five, six yards, but it was designed to go for 10, 15, 20 -- maybe more.

10/10

JJ: Credit Montgomery for even getting a yard out of this play. 

Adam, you wrote a strong column about the offensive line after Sunday’s game. This play was not an isolated incident against a Panthers defense that entered Week 6 allowing 5.4 yards per carry (the Bears averaged 2.5 YPC). How, then, is Matt Nagy supposed to trust his run game when self-inflicted mistakes like this keep happening? 

Hoge: This is the second straight week we’ve looked at a disappointing run play that should’ve been a huge gain. Last week it was because one lineman stepped on another’s foot. This time, it was just poor execution. I’m willing to listen to conversations about the challenges of moving from one side of the line to another, but this just looks like a missed assignment. Maybe Coward forgot he had Kmet pulling with him? It was his first game on the offensive line this season, but he started nine games last year. I’m out of excuses for the offensive line. Plus, Coward pulled right into his old spot at right guard!

JJ: I wonder how different the rest of the game would’ve looked had Montgomery sprung a big play here. Would the deep safety’s eyes be in the backfield on play action later in the game? Would that allow Foles to take the sort of deep shots he couldn’t? Would the Bears have actually scored more than two touchdowns in a game in which they didn’t need to furiously come back? So many questions. And I have to imagine those questions eat at Nagy as he evaluates his offense through six games.

These self-inflicted mistakes, like this and the one you highlighted last week, are theoretically easy to clean up. But at some point, if they keep happening, you can’t expect them to be cleaned up. 

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