Thread: Matt Bowen; Use Bennett to Threaten Lions Secondary............

Bennett a threat to Lions

Bears can get ball to receiver in crucial situations

Matt Bowen Scouting the Bears 4:13 p.m. CST, November 12, 2011


Mike Martz wants routes to break back to the middle of the field when the Bears need a play to move the sticks. Short, compact throws for Jay Cutler with three- to five-step protection schemes. With Earl Bennett back in the lineup, the Bears can target him Sunday against the Lions in crucial game situations (third downs, red zone, two-minute drill).

In this diagram, the Bears have their Posse personnel (three wide receivers, one tight end, one running back) in a two-by-two alignment against the Lions' base nickel package (four linemen, two linebackers, five backs). They want to run the "H Post" and expose the Lions' Cover-1 (man-free) defense.


Positional breakdown

Route concept

The "H Post" is a route concept Martz has been running for a decade. He uses pre-snap motion to create a three-by-one formation with two players aligned in a stack look (Y and W). Tight end Kellen Davis will take a hard inside release and come underneath the linebackers on the crossing route. Bennett (W) will stem his release hard to the flat and break back to the middle of the field on the angle route. Outside the numbers, Roy Williams (X) will run the curl with Devin Hester or Johnny Knox (Z) on the skinny post designed to occupy the free safety in the deep middle of the field.

Cover-1 beater

This concept is designed to target the nickel back and test man coverage. Defensive backs are coached to "overrun" a wide receiver in motion to maintain leverage (outside leverage in man-free). Here, the nickel back is to use the safety help and funnel the receiver back to the middle of the field. With the nickel working hard to maintain his outside shade on the receiver, Bennett can create separation with his initial stem before he breaks the angle route back to the hash marks. This gives Cutler a target working against a defender now playing from a trail position.

Read middle linebacker

In this Cover-1 scheme, the linebackers are responsible for Matt Forte (R) in coverage. When Forte blocks to the closed side, the strong-side linebacker (S) will "green dog" (pass rush to his coverage) with the middle linebacker (M) squaring up as "robber" (short zone dropper). It is key for Cutler to keep the ball away from the linebacker and work the route between the numbers and hash marks. If he throws the ball too far into the middle of the field, the Lions will be in position to deliver a hit on Bennett or intercept.

Protection scheme

The Bears are using six-man protection to block four (possibly five with the "green dog"). With Cutler taking a five-step drop, Forte will block the contain rush to the closed side of the formation. Even with the Lions defensive ends playing the "wide nine" technique (aligned outside of the offensive tackles to create a short angle to the quarterback), Cutler should have time to take his drop, set his feet, deliver the ball and pick up a first down.

Special contributor Matt Bowen, who played at Glenbard West and Iowa, spent seven seasons in the NFL as a strong safety. You also can find his work at nationalfootballpost.com