Bears Blitz

Published by Brett Lyons on August 27, 2011
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears

The third week of the preseason is considered to be the closest thing to an actual game before the regular season debuts.

It’s in this week that teams generally play their starters for roughly three quarters and actually game plan for the opposition for the first time. These games go a long way in determining those final few roster spots and who will survive the first wave of roster cuts on August 30.

Franchises usually treat this game as the last chance for players to right their wrongs and improve in areas of disappointment before making changes—for some that may mean losing a position while in other instances it may just mean using players in different roles.

Plenty of questions will be answered for the Chicago Bears in this “dress rehearsal” against the Tennessee Titans. Coming into the third week with a 1-1 mark, the team has its hands full of problems to iron out. There have been some bright spots this preseason, but it certainly feels likes the botches are considerably more noticeable.

Here are five things Bears fans need to pay special attention to in Saturday night’s contest against the Titans.

 

5. Bounce Back from Monday Night Debacle

The scene for last Monday night’s national telecast against the New York Giants was based upon the last time the two teams met.

In Week 4 last season, the Giants obliterated the Bears offensive line by getting to Jay Cutler nine times in the first half alone. The Bears lost Cutler for a week with a concussion. Oddly enough, backup Todd Collins was also KO’ed by the G-Men.

The combination of Osi Umenyiora and Justin Tuck recorded three sacks apiece. In doing so, they made J’Marcus Webb and Frank Omiyale look like they were making their NFL debuts.

Bears fans tried to repress the ugly mental images deep within their memory banks.

The Giants would have none of that, however.

For a follow-up, the Giants harassed the Bears 41-13 in a game where the rushing attack was dominating, special teams were sloppy and Eli Manning played just fine despite being inaccurate and struggling to hit his receivers due to the lack of pressure he faced.

The lone bright spot for the Bears was that Cutler went down only once via a “sack,” because he fled the pocket and surrendered himself behind the line of scrimmage.

Even with a limited number of good things to take away from the beat down, some players know that this loss ultimately means nothing going forward.

“I don’t know, I feel fine. It’s the preseason ya know?” mentioned Bears defensive back D.J. Moore immediately after the game Monday. “I mean we got beat and things happen… but it’s the preseason.”

Chicago must invoke their short-term memory to play the Titans five days after that whooping. While an exhibition loss doesn’t ruin anything, it certainly can leave a bitter taste in your mouth.

It will be interesting to see how the short turnaround changes the team’s play.

 

4. Safety Play

The reason for mentioning the safeties as an area of concern isn’t directly tied to the 41 points surrendered by the Bears defense, but one play in particular was alarming.

When Brandon Jacobs scored an 18-yard touchdown in the second quarter of last Monday’s game, Jacobs was able to expose Major Wright and Chris Harris as cardboard cutouts.

While chugging up field, Jacobs juked out Wright and could have very well broken his ankles in the process. Immediately after fooling Wright he was able to shed the tackling of Harris, dragging him into the end zone for the score.

There were other instances of poor safety play, but this highlight specifically encompasses both projected Opening Day starters.

Even after being posterized by Jacobs’ TD run, Bears head coach Lovie Smith thinks things are being blown out of proportion.

“So a second preseason game, first year starting, he struggles in the second preseason game,” noted Smith after practice Thursday. “We’re not going to get rid of him just based on that, I promise you that.

“He was outstanding the first game. It happens like that from time to time. We’ll correct it—the things he messed up on the second time. He’s a good football player. He’s going to help us win a lot of games around here.”

There is some slack to be cut here. Wright is only in his second professional season and is getting his first chance to be an every-down free safety. His counterpart, Harris, is moving back to the strong safety position where he played previously. Last year Harris was at the free safety spot.

Before people jump on Harris with the “What’s the difference?” remarks, understand the responsibilities are different for the free and strong safety. This can especially be seen in the run support. The strong safety is usually the hard-hitting eighth man in the box and blitzes more often.

Even if these two struggle slightly, the Cover 2 defense can operate with mediocre safety play. Safeties are responsible for one-half of the field in zone coverage. The defense is designed to force pressure and turnovers by offenses making mistakes. Depending on who the Bears face any given week, they might be able to hide some safety mistakes here and there.

This won’t make or break the season for Chicago, but you would certainly like to see better production from the last line of defense. If Wright and Harris can perform above par, it makes everyone’s day on defense that much easier.

 

3. Offensive Line Protection

Take the fact the offensive line allowed just one sack against Cutler Monday night with a grain of salt; the team still didn’t excel in the trenches.

The protection was much better, but there is still plenty of work to do with this collection of out-of-place misfits thrown together as a unit.

“We had some guys get better,” said offensive line coach Mike Tice on Wednesday. “Across the board, I think each one of the guys got better at something. Some guys got better at multiple things. Mental errors were at a minimum.

“They played hard, they finished good and they played with good technique for the most part. It was a good step for us, but we still have a long way to go this season.”

Protecting Cutler was offensive coordinator Mike Martz’s No. 1 priority this offseason. Some of the starting linemen are playing new positions while others are brand new to the system. Seeing any kind of improved success must be a sign of progress.

“[There are a] little bit different guys up front, but I think they wanted to come out and have a good standing and keep me upright,” commented Cutler after the loss to New York. “After we started a little shaky, those guys evened out and I thought they played a really good half.”

If football were a game of halves, then chuck up a Lombardi Party parade for downtown Chicago compliments of Cutler.

One good half against a defensive line that was missing Umenyiora is all good and well, but can this unit keep it up for a full 60 minutes?

That remains to be proven.

 

2. Roy Williams vs. Johnny Knox

“Who had a drop? … I had a drop?”

If you haven’t had the liberty to yet, meet Martz’s pride and joy—wide receiver Roy Williams.

Williams joked (hopefully) this week to the media about the first quarter play against the Giants in which he appeared to catch a first down pass only to have it challenged and overruled.

“I think the [defensive back] made a great play to knock it out as soon as it got into my hands. So I didn’t drop the ball, but if you want to call it that, go ahead.”

Maybe it’s a legitimate excuse, maybe it’s not. Either way, Williams did not catch the ball and the Bears ended up punting on the drive.

Plenty of talk has been swirling around regarding Johnny Knox being demoted to second-string so Williams could come in and hopefully be the tall threat Cutler needed to catch 50-50 jump balls. Knox, in his limited time with the Bears, has never struggled to hold on to passes.

“It makes me work even harder, because I know Roy,” said Knox when asked about his two cents on the wide receiver competition after practice Thursday. “He’s not going to make it easy on me and I’m not going to make it easy on him.”

“I’m really not worried about [losing his starting role]. I know what I have to do and that’s just go out there and make plays on the field… Like [receivers coach Darryl] Drake said, I’ve been playing well. If I was worried about that, I wouldn’t be out there doing what I’m doing now.”

It seems as if the battle for the second starting receiver across from Devin Hester is one of mutual respect between Williams and Knox. But at the end of the day, only one man will get the nod.

If Williams continues to juggle passes this week and Knox keeps up the good sportsman attitude, Martz may be making a switch back to how things were last season with his starting wide receivers.

 

1. Defensive Line Pressure

It’s frustrating to watch the Bears defensive line this preseason. The team has the star power and depth to keep players fresh, yet the results haven’t been yielded thus far.

To illustrate how ineffective it seems this line has been, Manning had a rough first half, missing his targets against the Bears last week. This had nothing to do with him throwing on the run or being forced to release the ball early. He simply was missing the mark.

When asked about how to fix the defensive line woes from the Giants game, defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli broke down exactly what the team needs to do in order to get back on track.

“Go right back to your fundamentals, go right back to your base,” stated Marinelli. “See what you have to correct. Show it to [the players]; make sure you explain it correctly. This is what we’ve got to get done.

“They’re men; show it to them. Then you go out, make sure your drills are right. Make sure the tempo and the pace are correct and you get better.”

What exactly is Marinelli referring to when he means “you get better”? One word: pressure.

Reserve defensive tackle Amobi Okoye recorded two sacks against the Buffalo Bills during Week 1 of the preseason.

Those are the only two sacks recorded by the Bears during the exhibition season.

Julius Peppers, Israel Idonije, Anthony Adams and Henry Melton will have to step things up once the regular season gets underway. Seeing a preview of the defense penetrating into the Titans backfield wouldn’t be the worst thing possible.

Getting back to the X’s and O’s of the Bears Cover 2 defense, the defensive line makes the whole defense go. It’s the philosophy of “pressure breaks the pipes.”

If the defensive line can force bad passes, the linebackers and defensive backs will have the aforementioned opportunities to cash-in on turnovers. If the line fails to get at the quarterback, the Bears could be picked apart in zone coverage.

Nothing against Matt Hasselbeck or Jake Locker personally, but nothing would look more appealing to Bears fans than to see them run for their lives and get slammed hard to the ground by a big defensive end.

Without Chris Johnson in the backfield, Chicago will assuredly game plan for the passing attack. An inaccurate and sloppy pass-happy Titans offense may just be the step forward the Bears need to take before the season begins against one of the league’s premier passing teams in the Atlanta Falcons on September 11 at Soldier Field.

 

Follow Brett Lyons on Twitter @BrettLyons670.

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