Post by Deleted on Sept 16, 2016 10:51:56 GMT -6
Time to mix it up: Bears can benefit from more varied play calling
Brad BiggsContact ReporterChicago Tribune
Spend too much time dwelling on why the Bears did not run the ball more in the season opener and you'll lose sight of the bigger issue — they didn't run the ball well enough.
The Bears had four possessions in the third quarter that totaled 12 plays. They handed the ball off to Jeremy Langford on six of those, got next to nowhere on any possession and somehow held a precarious 14-13 lead entering the fourth quarter.
A short while later they were trailing by two scores and the ground attack went by the wayside. In the end, the Bears ran 54 offensive plays and had 20 rushes, 18 of them handoffs. The Texans, on the other hand, had 72 plays with 35 runs. As Bears coach John Fox said, the difference in total plays led to the disparity in carries.
More concerning is that only one of Langford's runs went for more than 7 yards and there were eight rushes that went for 1 yard, no gain or a loss. That's where you have to consider the Texans defense, which has a talented front seven and ranked 10th against the run in 2015. Langford admitted to leaving some yards on the field and Fox said he could have done more after contact in a few instances. The Bears had a new-look offensive line on the field for the first time, and the committee of backs wasn't represented as Ka'Deem Carey touched the ball only once and rookie Jordan Howard did not play.
Maybe it's worth a look at the play selection by offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains. The Bears snapped the ball 32 times in shotgun formation and did not hand off once. They had 24 snaps with quarterback Jay Cutler under center and ran 19 times. One game doesn't make a trend. The sample size is too small and it's just the first entry in a data bank for the season. But that lopsided disparity of pass/run calls by formation could explain some of the struggles against the Texans. After all, Houston defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel is in his fourth decade in the
"You look at that defense of Houston and they did exactly what we thought they were going to do," Cutler said in a teleconference with Philadelphia media. "First half, we executed. Second half, they were able to get after us a little bit and we didn't execute. It wasn't anything wrong with the game plan. It wasn't anything wrong with what we were calling."
There were instances in the game when the Bears were definitively in passing situations. The four-play drive they started with 38 seconds remaining in the second quarter called for throwing the ball and resulted in their only touchdown. There were four shotgun snaps there. After they fell behind 23-14 with 6:10 to play, they had 11 more plays and all were passes called in the shotgun.
Still, remove those 15 snaps and Loggains had 17 calls in the shotgun without a run. The Bears ran eight plays with tight ends Zach Miller and Logan Paulsen on the field and didn't attempt a pass, surely something that will change soon as they look to mix it up.
There is plenty that goes into play calling, which can be more art than science. It's about establishing a rhythm and setting up plays with an eye toward hitting a big one. Game situation and field position factor into it and there could have been matchups the Bears were looking to challenge versus ones they hoped to avoid. It is possible Cutler had some checks at the line of scrimmage and the Texans' front led him to switch to a pass.
The Bears were effective when they ran out of the shotgun formation last season. Nearly half (103) of Matt Forte's 218 carries came from the shotgun. He averaged 4.2 yards per carry from the shotgun. The Bears were in the shotgun 74 percent of the time in 2015 under former offensive coordinator Adam Gase, the fifth-highest figure in the NFL.
Loggains used a lot of shotgun in 2013, his only previous full season as an offensive coordinator with the Titans. Under Loggains, the Titans had 429 pass plays from the shotgun that season and 91 rushes out of that formation.
For the protection of Cutler, who was sacked five times and hit 13 times, the Bears need to mix up what they're doing. The Eagles don't have the same kind of front as the Texans, but linemen Fletcher Cox, Brandon Graham and Connor Barwin each had a sack Week 1 against the Browns and they can get after the passer.
Ultimately, that was the biggest problem the Bears had last week. Cutler kept getting hit, and that will remain the case if opponents have an idea of what's coming.
bmbiggs@chicagotribune.com
Brad BiggsContact ReporterChicago Tribune
Spend too much time dwelling on why the Bears did not run the ball more in the season opener and you'll lose sight of the bigger issue — they didn't run the ball well enough.
The Bears had four possessions in the third quarter that totaled 12 plays. They handed the ball off to Jeremy Langford on six of those, got next to nowhere on any possession and somehow held a precarious 14-13 lead entering the fourth quarter.
A short while later they were trailing by two scores and the ground attack went by the wayside. In the end, the Bears ran 54 offensive plays and had 20 rushes, 18 of them handoffs. The Texans, on the other hand, had 72 plays with 35 runs. As Bears coach John Fox said, the difference in total plays led to the disparity in carries.
More concerning is that only one of Langford's runs went for more than 7 yards and there were eight rushes that went for 1 yard, no gain or a loss. That's where you have to consider the Texans defense, which has a talented front seven and ranked 10th against the run in 2015. Langford admitted to leaving some yards on the field and Fox said he could have done more after contact in a few instances. The Bears had a new-look offensive line on the field for the first time, and the committee of backs wasn't represented as Ka'Deem Carey touched the ball only once and rookie Jordan Howard did not play.
Maybe it's worth a look at the play selection by offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains. The Bears snapped the ball 32 times in shotgun formation and did not hand off once. They had 24 snaps with quarterback Jay Cutler under center and ran 19 times. One game doesn't make a trend. The sample size is too small and it's just the first entry in a data bank for the season. But that lopsided disparity of pass/run calls by formation could explain some of the struggles against the Texans. After all, Houston defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel is in his fourth decade in the
"You look at that defense of Houston and they did exactly what we thought they were going to do," Cutler said in a teleconference with Philadelphia media. "First half, we executed. Second half, they were able to get after us a little bit and we didn't execute. It wasn't anything wrong with the game plan. It wasn't anything wrong with what we were calling."
There were instances in the game when the Bears were definitively in passing situations. The four-play drive they started with 38 seconds remaining in the second quarter called for throwing the ball and resulted in their only touchdown. There were four shotgun snaps there. After they fell behind 23-14 with 6:10 to play, they had 11 more plays and all were passes called in the shotgun.
Still, remove those 15 snaps and Loggains had 17 calls in the shotgun without a run. The Bears ran eight plays with tight ends Zach Miller and Logan Paulsen on the field and didn't attempt a pass, surely something that will change soon as they look to mix it up.
There is plenty that goes into play calling, which can be more art than science. It's about establishing a rhythm and setting up plays with an eye toward hitting a big one. Game situation and field position factor into it and there could have been matchups the Bears were looking to challenge versus ones they hoped to avoid. It is possible Cutler had some checks at the line of scrimmage and the Texans' front led him to switch to a pass.
The Bears were effective when they ran out of the shotgun formation last season. Nearly half (103) of Matt Forte's 218 carries came from the shotgun. He averaged 4.2 yards per carry from the shotgun. The Bears were in the shotgun 74 percent of the time in 2015 under former offensive coordinator Adam Gase, the fifth-highest figure in the NFL.
Loggains used a lot of shotgun in 2013, his only previous full season as an offensive coordinator with the Titans. Under Loggains, the Titans had 429 pass plays from the shotgun that season and 91 rushes out of that formation.
For the protection of Cutler, who was sacked five times and hit 13 times, the Bears need to mix up what they're doing. The Eagles don't have the same kind of front as the Texans, but linemen Fletcher Cox, Brandon Graham and Connor Barwin each had a sack Week 1 against the Browns and they can get after the passer.
Ultimately, that was the biggest problem the Bears had last week. Cutler kept getting hit, and that will remain the case if opponents have an idea of what's coming.
bmbiggs@chicagotribune.com
