Bears Blitz

Published by Bear Heiser on September 29, 2014
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears

Matt Forte and the Chicago Bears rushing attack got back on track Sunday against the Green Bay Packers. Albeit in a 38-17 loss, the Bears still were able to manage a performance unlike any other we’ve seen this season.

As a unit, the Bears gained 207 yards on 39 called running plays, an average of 5.31 yards per carry. Forte shredded the Packers’ defensive front, carrying the ball 23 times for 122 yards. Rookie Ka’Deem Carey, who only saw six snaps in the three games leading up to Week 4 matchup with Green Bay, carried the ball 14 times for 73 yards.

“It was utterly (expletive) pathetic,” Packers linebacker Mike Neal said after the game, via Bob McGinn of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal. “Excuse my language.”

Based on those numbers alone, you’d think the game would have been a little bit closer. The Bears turned the ball over twice, both Cutler interceptions—one his fault, one likely not his fault—and the defense allowed Green Bay to score on every single drive of the day. Not one single punt from the Packers, nor one from the Bears for that matter. It was only the second time that happened in NFL history.

The Bears coaching staff spent all of last week answering questions regarding the run-pass balance in the offense. Entering Sunday, Chicago’s rushing offense was the NFL’s worst, averaging just 64 yards per game. Cutler had been throwing the ball nearly 68.3 percent of the time entering Sunday. Even with the 2-1 record, the lack of balance was a cause for concern.

Forte said as much last week, too, via ESPN Chicago’s Michael C. Wright:

It is frustrating during the game. It’s not that we’re not calling runs. We are calling run plays. But sometimes, the defenses are set up so that the run play we call is not going to work against that defense. Each week we’re continuing to work on it, and we’ve got to get everybody on the same page up front.

Forte spoke, Trestman delivered. The Bears ran the ball 53.9 percent of the snaps in the loss to Green Bay. And the Bears running back was pleased, via Rich Campbell of the Chicago Tribune:

That’s how we should run the ball. The past two weeks have been rough, and then we come out and we worked on it a lot. There were some holes out there, our offensive line did a great job of opening the holes and blocking their front seven, so that I can get one-on-one with the linebackers and safeties and stuff. When they do that, I can continue to run hard and just get extra yards after contact.

Forte recorded gains of 19 and 17 yards, showing great patience at the line of scrimmage. If “getting everyone on the same page” was an issue, as Forte stated last week, it clearly wasn’t an issue Sunday. The Bears offensive line opened more holes Sunday than it had all season long.

Kyle Long described why the Bears had more success against the Packers, via Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun-Times:

It’s a mindset. We got to run the ball, that’s what we were telling each other all week, it’s been a recurring theme…We need to run the ball to set up this passing game, we have a prolific passing attack, but we can’t get there and we can’t get the looks we want unless we are grounding and pounding. So we need to continue to do that.

Trestman was throwing all sorts of different looks at the Packers.

“Trap and draws, trap and draws, trap and draws,” Neal went on to say. “They kind of did a good job of one-upping us on that inside run game. Forte is an all-purpose back. He’s one of the better backs I’ve played against. He can do it all.

Sure, the Bears had played three teams that are very, very good at defending the run, but even so, you’d think that Forte would have broken off one decent run over the course of three games. The Forte we saw against the Packers is the Forte we have come to know and love: a running back with vision, who can change directions on a dime and then accelerate at a moment’s notice.

Forte was given early chances to make an impact, rushing the ball 11 times in the first quarter alone. The success Forte brought to the Bears offense is what allowed Cutler to complete 15-of-21 passes for 173 yards with two touchdowns and zero interceptions. The Bears’ offense was firing on all cylinders. Carey was spelling Forte when the situation called for it, and Forte seemed to have more spring in his step as a result.

But will they continue to run the ball? This is the NFL we’re talking about, isn’t it. A league where a team like the Bears can throw the ball at a rate of 73 percent in the Week 1 loss to Buffalo and then drop all the way down to 46 percent in Sunday’s loss to the Packers.

Trestman clearly isn’t tied to one course of action on offense. He’s willing to take it week by week and doesn’t care whose snaps or carries take a hit as a result. And that’s perfectly OK.

The Packers presented Trestman and the Bears an opportunity to get the ground game going, and that’s exactly what the second-year head coach had his team do. Despite the improved effort coming in a loss, we now know that the Bears still can run the ball effectively.

Next week against the Carolina Panthers, the Bears might throw the ball 50 times—who really knows. Carolina has been terrible at defending the pass over the last three weeks. Ron Rivera’s defense has allowed opposing quarterbacks to complete 71-of-107 passes for 814 yards with six touchdowns and one interception. That’s a completion rate of 66 percent and an average of 271 passing yards allowed per game. Against the run, Carolina is giving up an average of 141 yards per game this season.

If the Panthers recent struggles are a sign of what’s to come, the Bears likely will have opportunities to win on the ground or through the air. This season, the Panthers are not the Bills, 49ers or Jets when it comes to playing defense. Last season, the Panthers defense was just as good if not better than those three squads.

Keeping a balance over the course of the season is more important than keeping a balance on a weekly basis. Some weeks call for a different strategy than others. Sunday’s priority was to run the ball, and the Bears deserve a lot of credit for being able to run with the success that they did enjoy. But none of it matters anymore, because the Bears lost the game.

It’s good to at least say so, as left tackle Jermon Bushrod did after the game, via ChicagoBears.com.

We didn’t win so it doesn’t make a difference. We could pass the ball 80 times, and if you don’t win…I mean, you’ve got to come away with the ‘W.’ At the end of the day, it was good for Matt [Forte] to get yards. It was good for Ka’Deem [Carey] to get in there. He was running hard. But, at the end of the day, I feel good about it, but I don’t feel good right now because we lost.

Hopefully the sentiment Bushrod is feeling is also being felt across the locker room and coaching staff. The Bears could have won Sunday’s game. The loss is not on the offense, though. It’s on a defense that allowed the Packers to score every time they touched the ball.

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