Bears Blitz

If one person is more responsible for the Bears owning a 2-1 record, it’s obviously quarterback Jay Cutler for engineering two fourth-quarter rallies.

If you’re looking for one other name, try Lovie Smith—the same Bears coach who gets blasted all the time for “not being emotional enough” or for being too silent on the sidelines.

Smith’s impact since taking over the defensive scheme calling this year has been apparent and his modus operandi has been entirely surprising.

This hasn’t been the conservative cover-2 shutting down Ben Roethlisberger and then harassing Seattle backup quarterback Seneca Wallace into defeat.

Instead, it’s been Lovie the wild man, Lovie the blitz caller.

“It’s part of what we do,” linebacker Lance Briggs said. “Being aggressive is how we play football. In this game, especially with the way we play ball, it’s high-risk, high reward, right up to the end.”

It’s ironic.

Smith added defensive coordinator duties to his head coach responsibilities because Bob Babich failed at it, and Babich was doing it because Smith fired Ron Rivera. The two had definite philosophical differences.

Rivera’s defensive style is Buddy Ryan and Jim Johnson influenced and involves blitz after blitz. Smith has always been less of a gambler.

However, when the Bears played Pittsburgh Smith called 15 consecutive blitzes at one point.

Against Seattle, it seemed they never stopped blitzing Wallace.

“That was the plan, to pressure him from the start,” said Smith, who pointed out he also made a mistake by calling a blitz on the third-and-long screen pass Julius Jones turned into a touchdown by running through Charles Tillman‘s attempt to pry loose the football.

“Whenever you have a new (quarterback) you want to make him make some tough throws,” Smith added.

Is this the cover-2 or the famed “46” of the 1985 Bears?

Behind all the blitzing are a few facts, good and bad.

On the positive side, the blitzes show Smith has confidence in his deep safeties. Whether it’s Danieal Manning in the base defensive package or Kevin Payne in the nickel package, the pressure is on your free safety when someone is blitzing.

On the negative side, if the Bears’ front four had been dominant with the pass rush there would be no need to blitz. They’re not, although they haven’t been too bad and the defense is sixth in the league in sacks per pass attempt and six of the nine sacks have been by defensive linemen.

Nevertheless, Smith is creating a lot of the havoc along the line by blitzing, whether defensive linemen get the sack or not. There is constant pressure.

“As long as it’s at the right time and as long as we continue to be effective with it, that’s the key,” Briggs said. “If we aren’t effective, we won’t keep doing it.”

So far, Smith has his finger right on the defense’s pulse. Expect him to pull off the pressure when it’s necessary.