Thread: Mullin: Opponents, injuries affecting Bears' run game

Mullin: Opponents, injuries affecting Bears' run game

By John Mullin
CSNChicago.com

Just sorting through a few things about a team that has arrived at week three as the only undefeated team in the NFC...

Best guess, and this is only a general assessment, on why the Bears are not doing a great deal of running the ball this season despite a very effective passing offense: two problems.

One is good teams. Dallas and Green Bay were No. 4 and No. 1 against the run last year, and that was with an all-new scheme being installed up north. The other is the offensive line, but not simply the cliché’d “these guys aren’t any good” rant.

The Bears spent much of the offseason and preseason arriving at the clear five best offensive linemen. Those five have been together exactly one game plus one series, the Detroit game plus the three plays the Bears ran before Chris Williams strained his right hamstring. (For what it’s worth, Matt Forte gained 5 yards on the one running play behind his original front five.)

Given that fusing five fingers into a fist is no simple matter, it might not be all that surprising that against two very, very good defenses, the Bears did not run-block like a running-off-the-bus bunch that has one guard (Roberto Garza playing left instead of right) and a tackle (Frank Omiyale going from right to left, in the same game) in new places.

“You don’t see many people [changing sides],” Lovie Smith said. “For a guy like Frank Omiyale to do that, and for us not to really miss a beat, is saying a lot. Even though he has a background there, but still that’s hard to do.

“It’s hard for a player like Julius Peppers [switching between left and right defensive end]. It takes a special player... Only certain players can make that move.”

If you need a touch of hope and perspective: Over the last five games of 2009, with Williams at left tackle and Kevin Shaffer at right and everybody playing the same positions, the Bears averaged nearly 4 yards per rush and 111 yards per game. And the opponents in those five games included Green Bay, Minnesota and Baltimore, No.’s 1, 2 and 5 in fewest rushing yards allowed last season.

Thou shalt not run

The whole Tommie Harris business eclipsed another aspect of the decision to sit a starting defensive tackle.

While Harris was appearing quick and healthy through training camp, he was not dominating Bears interior linemen in pass protection the way Julius Peppers was doing Omiyale and Williams. Harris should have been.

If Harris was offering little in the way of pass rush (he had two QB hits vs. Detroit, nothing else), then it makes sense for coaches to fortify one area of the defensive line, that of run defense, and Matt Toeaina has been stouter against the run than Harris.

By way of precedent, the 2000 Baltimore Ravens, also running a 4-3 and with pure run-stuffers Sam Adams and Tony Siragusa at D-tackles. Neither could rush the passer but neither could be run on. Anthony Adams is that type at nose tackle and if Harris can’t rush the passer, the next best thing is build a fortress in the middle and let Lance Briggs, Pisa Tinoisamoa and Brian Urlacher roam while Julius Peppers and (ideally) Mark Anderson/Israel Idonije do business on the edges.

And obviously, anytime Tommie Harris wants to join the party, fine by the Bears, who are No. 1 in the NFL allowing 39.7 rushing yards per game.

Giant thoughts

The New York Giants are unlikely to be as accommodating as the Bears’ first three opponents at unbalancing their offense. The Giants outgained the Tennessee Titans by 200 yards and never punted, but totaled only 10 points.

More concerning: The Giants average 4.3 yards per rush and have run the ball 36, 25 and 20 times in their games. No Bears opponent has tried more than Detroit’s 20 attempts yet.