Bears Defense Not As Bad As Stats Indicate.................

Bears' defense not as ugly on tape as stats suggest


They got stops against Panthers in key situations
Dan Pompei On the NFL October 4, 2011


Horrendous would be the best word to describe some of the statistics from the Bears defense Sunday: 29 points and 543 yards allowed, 6.5 average gain per run and zero sacks. But the defensive performance didn't look as bad on tape as it did on paper.

It wasn't exactly artistic, but the Bears came at quarterback Cam Newton with a variety of blitzes and coverages that resulted in incompletions at key times. They didn't get sacks but did pressure him and forced throws that hit the ground. The run defense was disjointed, in part because of the unorthodox offense and quarterback they were playing. Not knowing if Newton would keep the ball or hand it off out of the spread offense caused some hesitation on the part of defenders. The Bears also got overaggressive and sloppy about edge contain and were burned for some long runs around the end. This defensive performance was not indicative of the defense the Bears have; rather, it was an aberration against an unusual offense.

Here is what else we learned upon further review.
Grading key: Grades are between 0 and 10 with 0 being complete failure and 10 being perfect.

Defensive line
Grade: 4

Believe it or not, the Bears got good pressure on Newton 14 times. They just couldn't bring him down. But the pressure did affect the Carolina offense.Defensive ends Julius Peppers and Israel Idonije both had multiple pressures. Tackle Matt Toeaina had his best pass-rushing game of the season, taking advantage of stunts, blitzes and his power moves.The line wasn't nearly active enough in the run game, however. Linemen were in on only 24 percent of the team's tackles.

Linebackers
Grade: 3.5

Brian Urlacher was active, and Lance Briggs made some big hits. But there were no impact plays here. The linebackers have to take a good share of the blame for the problems against the run.

Safeties
Grade: 2

When a quarterback puts it up 46 times, Bears safeties need to get their hands on the ball more than once.Brandon Meriweather's big hits are starting to make receivers look twice when they come over the middle, but unless he starts wrapping up, he is going to give up a lot of unnecessary yards.On DeAngelo Williams' 26-yard first-quarter run, Major Wright could have had him after 3 yards and Meriweather could have had him after 12. Both missed. Wright also took a bad angle on Steve Smith after a catch, giving up 9 extra yards.

Cornerbacks
Grade: 3.5

The Bears had no chance of covering Smith, who had 181 receiving yards. He ate up their zones, and they had no one who could stay with him man-to-man. The team lined up Tim Jennings across from him almost exclusively, and that was their best hope given how Smith had abused Charles Tillman in the past. Jennings struggled to keep up with Smith's quick cuts and appeared to have a mental lapse (sucking up on what he thought was a run) on Smith's 53-yard first-quarter reception.It could have been worse. Smith dropped what should have been a 16-yard touchdown pass in the end zone. D.J. Moore showed nice awareness on his interception and great instincts on his return for a touchdown. He nearly had another interception in the fourth quarter. Jennings, Moore and Tillman all were guilty of helping the Panthers to long runs on the edges.

Special teams
Grade: 10

This was a dominant performance by the special teams with a 73-yard kickoff return, a 69-yard punt return for a touchdown and a blocked field goal.There might not be another player in the league who would have broken either of Devin Hester's long returns. The blocking was good, but Hester was brilliant.On his kick return, his hesitation caused a pileup, and while the bodies collided, he swerved into the open field. Rookie Chris Conte showed wisdom in not blocking Olindo Mare in the back.The blocked kick was set off by a hard rush off the right edge. That helped create a crease for Peppers to sneak in and get his big paw up. Adam Podlesh placed two punts inside the 20.

Running backs
Grade: 10

Matt Forte was outstanding, running with vision, playing off his blockers and cutting at just the right times.He broke tackles and made defenders miss, sometimes on the same play. A reception for no gain on third-and-1 might have been his best play of the day. He could have been caught for a loss of 4 but spun out of the grasp of Charles Johnson, cut back away from Johnson and another defender and then bulled through Omar Gaither for another yard. Fullback Tyler Clutts played a big role too, throwing the lead block for Forte repeatedly, including on his 46-yard first-quarter run.

Offensive line
Grade: 8

This was easily the best, most physical performance of the year by the line, and everybody contributed. Before he was benched, Frank Omiyale pulled and reached linebacker Jason Williams to clear the way for a 10-yard Forte run.The linemen repeatedly got downfield on pulls and screens to help spring Forte. Omiyale struggled with Johnson, who also gave Lance Louis a couple of problems. But overall the pass blocking was sufficient.Chris Spencer toughed it out with a broken hand, pulling and wiping out middle linebacker Dan Connor on a 20-yard fourth-quarter run by Forte.

Tight ends
Grade: 9

Zero catches, but it was an outstanding blocking performance from Kellen Davis. He had key blocks on Forte's 46-yard run, Forte's 40-yard run and Forte's 17-yard touchdown, knocking defensive end Greg Hardy on his back and into Connor.

Quarterback
Grade: 5

The numbers painted a bleak picture, but the reality is Jay Cutler managed the game pretty well. He had one awful throw, a high, late pass over the middle intended for tight end Kyle Adams that was intercepted.Other than that, Cutler did what was asked pretty well. He minimized the Panthers' pass rush by getting rid of the ball.

Wide receivers
Grade: 4

Aside from Johnny Knox, there wasn't much production in the passing game. Receivers did contribute with some downfield blocks, but Roy Williams failed to get to safety Charles Godfrey on a Cutler draw from the 4 that should have been a touchdown.

dpompei@tribune.com
Twitter@danpompei


http://www.chicagotribune.com/media/...9-28111323.jpgFan Shop: Get your Bears hats, jerseys and more

Copyright © 2011, Chicago Tribune
ct-spt-1004-bears-pompei-film--20111004

Ill give them credit for key stops in the 4th quarter when it mattered most, but up until that point...yeah they WERE as bad as the stats indicated. This game should never have gotten that close, we shouldve held a 2 possession lead through out

The Dline did get some pressure on him but the guy just oozes out of it. Tremedous mobility for such a big guy.

I put a lot of the blame that we've been gored by RB two weeks in a row. One reason for it is that Urlacher is consistently being drawn out of his gap and gets caught up in the clutter leaving a hole even I could gain yardage through. Anytime the Bears are struggling against the run it always comes down to poor gap control. I have a bone to pick with Lance Briggs too. He may be elite when it comes to open field tackled for a loss but his pass coverage sucks. For three weeks in a row he's given up a TD to a TE that was his coverage responsibility. They get him to play run first and he's late getting into his coverage and takes a very poor position on his drop. Elite players don't show that kind of weakness.

The Safety play will suffer until Chris Harris returns plain and simple. It's like an offense playing without it's QB. Harris is the glue that keeps things tightened up in the seondary and when he's out we suffer. Steve Smith made Tim Jennings look foolish but he's made a lot of CB's look foolish including Peanut. I'm more worried about how we're gonna cover Calvin Johnson with him this week. How do you cover a 6'5" 235 lb WR with a 5'8" 185 lb CB? That's a mismatch made in heaven as far as Detroit is concerned.

Special Teams had there best game so far clicking all of the way around the board. Looks like Hester is beginning to hit his stride again and his blockers are getting it together. Podlesh is coming around with placement too.

For the most part the offense did what you'd expect. If you can't pass then run. I just didn't think they'd run that much. Tremendous game by Forte and his blockers and whoever said Roy Williams is a very good blocking WR?

All things considered we were lucky too win this game based on the efforts of both the offense and the defense. Big plays and Special Teams saved the day.

Defensive flaws 'correctable'

Pass rush, run defense, secondary need improvement



By Brad Biggs, Chicago Tribune reporter 6:00 p.m. CDT, October 3, 2011


At the quarter mark in the season, the Bears are pointing at what they say are "correctable" issues on defense.

This would be a good week to get some of the problems fixed with a game Monday night at Ford Field against the undefeated Detroit Lions (4-0) and their high-powered offense. The Lions have been a strong second-half team and are averaging 33.8 points per game. Wide receiver Calvin Johnson has scored two touchdowns in four consecutive games, tying an NFL record, and quarterback Matthew Stafford is healthy, although the Bears have knocked him out with injuries in each of his first two seasons. Julius Peppers injured Stafford's right shoulder with a hit last season at Soldier Field.

The Bears allowed 543 yards offense to the Carolina Panthers in the 34-29 victory Sunday at Soldier Field. If Lovie Smith was still seething from the performance, which included 10 plays of 20 or more yards, he did a good job of hiding it Monday.

"When things aren't working exactly the way we like, we go back to the practice field, we identify it, which we have, and we'll work to get it better," Smith said. "We won't play defense like that very often around here. It's still early. These are all correctable things."

Three areas that need improvement stand out. First, the pass rush has been lethargic since the defense sacked the Falcons' Matt Ryan five times in the season opener. Limited pressure on the quarterback exposes the secondary, which has been riddled with poor safety play. Add in the fact that the defense is 24th in the NFL vs. the run, and you can understand why the Bears rank 31st overall in yardage. At least they keep good company as the New England Patriots are 32nd.

"Whenever you give up that many yards you're not happy with that," Smith said.

Strong safety Chris Harris has missed three games with a hamstring injury. Smith said he hopes to have some injured players back this week but it's questionable — at best — that Harris will be able to go this week after he tweaked the injury practicing last Wednesday.

If Harris doesn't play, the secondary will miss his veteran presence in what will be a raucous environment at Ford Field as the Lions will be on "Monday Night Football" for the first time since 2001 at the Pontiac Silverdome.

"(Johnson) is probably the top receiver in the league right now as far as just throwing the ball up and just letting him go up and get it," cornerback Charles Tillman said. "He's the Goliath of receivers right now as they say. So we as a secondary will definitely have our hands full trying to contain him."

Tillman used to get matched up on Randy Moss when he was the top receiver in the NFC North. They had physical battles over the years.

"(Johnson) and Moss are similar, I would probably say he's a little bit stronger than Moss though," Tillman said. "He has a great hand-eye coordination as far as catching the ball at its highest point. I don't think Randy was as strong as Calvin. I think Calvin's just a little bit more physical than Randy. To be that strong, that fast, his ability, his vertical is very impressive, so he's in a league of his own."

If Johnson is so freakish at 6-5, 236 pounds, how have the Bears limited him to one 100-yard game in seven meetings and been absolutely torched by the Panthers' Steve Smith, all 5-9, 185 pounds of him? Johnson had 484 yards in those seven games vs. the Bears, a modest average of 69.1 yards per game. Smith has 568 yards in his last three games vs. the Bears. What gives?

"I don't know, man, I've got a lot of respect for Steve Smith," Tillman said. "He is a little guy, but he plays big. He's tough. I don't know if he's got a little man's syndrome, but it works because it helps his game. He lit us up."

Their record of success vs. Johnson ought to provide some confidence as preparation begins.

bmbiggs@tribune.com

Twitter @BradBiggs

Part of that success againt Johnson may be explainable by considering that Stafford hasn't played in over half of those games and it's unlikely we'll take him out again this Monday like we did last year. If we don't contol the ball and keep it away for these guys it's gonna be a long night for the defense.

According to the article, the (4) phases of the defense scored (13) out of a possible (40). That is roughly 30% of an effective 100% performance. Circular logic...no...?!?

3nagurski

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by 3nagurski

According to the article, the (4) phases of the defense scored (13) out of a possible (40). That is roughly 30% of an effective 100% performance. Circular logic...no...?!?

3nagurski

---

I hear ya'. I won't beat the Bline up too bad. They did penetrate and bring some pressure but Newton is just too fast and elusive to get at sometimes. I was amazed at how nifty he was for a guy whose as big as a DE.

I'm gonna lay most of the blame on the LB's and Safeties. Poor gap control and poor tackling. I'd get on Jennings case more but Steve Smith has been making CB's look foolish his whole career.

Someone is smoking rocks

Wright has regressed from last season and hasnt shown the promising stuff he did last year

Meariweather looks the part of why cut

Briggs looks out of shape and you can tell the way tes are using and abusing us

Roach looks like a 100 percent downgrade to Pisa

Adams injury seems to be lingering he has nothing going for him

Izzy has regressed

Those are some reasons why our defense looks bad

Soul a couple reasons why our run d doesn't look good

1. With these teams passing like crazy we are using the nickel allot more

2. Roach stinks out there

3. I love Melton pass rushing skills and I'm going to get flamed for this but our run d gets downgraded when he is out there. The toe Adams combo last year is why we stope the rush. Melton and toe out there makes our dline weaker against the run

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by motownbear

Someone is smoking rocks

Wright has regressed from last season and hasnt shown the promising stuff he did last year

Meariweather looks the part of why cut

Briggs looks out of shape and you can tell the way tes are using and abusing us

Roach looks like a 100 percent downgrade to Pisa

Adams injury seems to be lingering he has nothing going for him

Izzy has regressed

Those are some reasons why our defense looks bad

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by motownbear

Soul a couple reasons why our run d doesn't look good

1. With these teams passing like crazy we are using the nickel allot more

2. Roach stinks out there

3. I love Melton pass rushing skills and I'm going to get flamed for this but our run d gets downgraded when he is out there. The toe Adams combo last year is why we stope the rush. Melton and toe out there makes our dline weaker against the run

---

I've noticed that but what I'm seeing in our run defense is guys not playing their gap. Two plays in particular stand out in my mind. Both were runs by Ryan Grant where he took the handoff started right then slid left off the back of the Center right through a hole that Urlacher had vacated. Maybe he's trying to over compensate for poor line play but from what I could see that was his gap and he blew it.

Most of those plays big inside runs are going right through that gap when they run against us when we are in nickel coverage and Briggs is lined up to Urlacher's left playing SLB. Briggs is taken out of the play by the offensive set and Urlacher either by fake or by block but no matter what it leaves a huge hole that both GB and Carolina exploited.

Briggs doesn't look out of shape to me. I just think he has problems with his pass coverage unless he drops immediately and keeps his man in front of him. His awareness of his zone is poor when he asked to play an area and his man is behind him. Urlacher doesn't have that problem as much as Briggs does. You can tell that other teams are aware of it and that's why they're exploiting him with it.