5 Adjustments Chicago Bears Must Make in Week 2 Matchup with Arizona Cardinals
The Chicago Bears flashed some of their potential in their Week 1 matchup with the Green Bay Packers, but they ultimately lost 31-23 on Sunday afternoon at home. Despite the loss, head coach John Fox came away with some positives.
"Green Bay is a pretty good football team," Fox said, per ChicagoBears.com's Larry Mayer. "We were going to have to be near-flawless to beat them and we didn't quite reach that. But I think there were a lot of positive things that we'll be able to build on as a football team moving forward."
Chicago registered over 400 yards of offense and limited Green Bay's offense to just 322 total yards, but it struggled to get the ball into the end zone.
The Bears will play their second straight home game in Week 2, and they will host the 1-0 Arizona Cardinals this Sunday. The Cardinals defeated the New Orleans Saints 31-19 in Week 1, and they racked up 427 yards of total offense.
What adjustments must the Bears make in Week 2 in order to beat the Arizona Cardinals?
Utilize Jay Cutler's Athleticism Outside of the Pocket
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Jay Cutler's athleticism has always been an underrated part of his game, but he showed off his quick feet against the Packers on Sunday.
Cutler ran the football four times for 31 yards in Week 1, and the Bears would be wise to move him out of the pocket on occasion against Arizona in Week 2. The Cardinals recorded two sacks and four quarterback hits against the Saints on Sunday, and they are not afraid to send extra attackers after opposing quarterbacks.
According to Pro Football Focus' Nathan Jahnke, the Cardinals blitzed 288 times on 678 dropbacks in 2014. Arizona's 42.5 blitz percentage was the second most in the NFL last season behind the St. Louis Rams' 45.5 blitz percentage. Former defensive coordinator Todd Bowles is now the head coach of the New York Jets, but the Cardinals use a similar scheme under new defensive coordinator James Bettcher.
"I did not want our players to walk in and not know what they were doing the first day," said Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians after Bettcher was hired, per Darren Urban of AZCardinals.com. "No new language. It's the same defense, the same philosophy."
An offense can offset a blitzing defense by running the football effectively and pushing the football down the field on play action. If the Bears can establish the running game early with running back Matt Forte, they could find success by rolling Cutler out of the pocket.
Cutler was successful during his time with the Denver Broncos when then-head coach Mike Shanahan would roll him out of the pocket, but Chicago's offensive coordinators over the years have been reluctant to use that same strategy with the former Vanderbilt Commodore.
According to Pro Football Focus, 19.1 percent of Cutler's dropbacks on offense last season were play-action passes—eighth fewest among all quarterbacks who played at least 50 percent of their team's snaps.
Moving Cutler out of the pocket should not just be limited to play-action passes, and Cutler talked earlier this offseason about offensive coordinator Adam Gase wanting to move the pocket.
"Adam’s put a big asterisk on it (moving the pocket) this offseason and going into training camp,” Cutler said, per CBSChicago.com's Dan Durkin. “It’s something we need to do more. I know Adam likes moving the pocket.”
If the Bears install more bootlegs and rollouts for Cutler, he will have an opportunity to either push the football down the field through the air or try to pick up yards on the ground with his legs.
“We all know that his athletic ability for a guy his size is pretty unique,” Gase said, per Durkin. “There’s not a lot of guys like him. We’ll try to do what we need to do within a game."
If the Bears want to offset some of Arizona's blitzes in Week 2, they would be wise to move Cutler out of the pocket via play action and rollouts.
Continue to Run off Tackle with Matt Forte
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Running back Matt Forte was virtually unstoppable in Week 1 against the Green Bay Packers.
Forte finished the season opener with 141 rushing yards on 24 carries with one touchdown, and he also caught five passes for 25 yards.
“It felt good,” Forte said after the game, per Mayer. “It felt like that’s how it’s supposed to be. This offense runs to be effective out there so that we can open the passing game more. The offensive line did a great job out there. I can’t take credit for that running game. They did a great job of getting me to the second and third level."
Even with new starters at center (Will Montgomery), right guard (Vladimir Ducasse) and right tackle (Kyle Long) in comparison to last year, Forte looked comfortable running behind Chicago's new offensive line.
After the game, Cutler noted that Forte can do it all in the team's new offense.
“The sky’s the limit for [Forte],” said Cutler, per Mayer. “He does so many things so well. He runs between the tackles, he runs outside the tackles and catches the ball in space. He can block. It’s just going to be up to us and the coaching staff to keep him fresh and not overdo him, make sure we’re giving him some spells from time-to-time.”
Forte has spent the majority of his career running the football between the tackles, but he did a great job against Green Bay on runs to the outside.
The Bears used left tackle Jermon Bushrod and Long as lead blockers on toss plays, and Durkin was impressed by Bushrod's ability to get to the outside.
"Second time the Bears have gone with the crack toss today," tweeted Durkin on Sunday. "Excellent block by Jermon Bushrod in the alley."
The Bears have two athletic tackles in Bushrod and Long, and they may have trouble running the football up the middle against an Arizona defense that allowed just 54 rushing yards on 20 carries to the Saints in Week 1.
Expect Chicago to try to establish the running game early against the Cardinals, but if the offense struggles to get a push up the middle, the Bears could find success on toss plays to the outside with Forte.
Allow the Cornerbacks to Play Aggressive at the Line of Scrimmage
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Chicago struggled to put much pressure on quarterback Aaron Rodgers on Sunday afternoon, and because of that lack of pressure, Chicago's cornerbacks struggled to keep up with Green Bay's wide receivers.
Rodgers only threw for 189 passing yards, but he hit James Jones twice for touchdowns while he was covered by veteran cornerback Alan Ball, and he also hit Randall Cobb for a touchdown while he was covered by nickelback Sherrick McManis.
Second-year man Kyle Fuller struggled much of the afternoon in pass coverage, and he was flagged for a 34-yard pass interference penalty late in the fourth quarter.
After the game, Fox did not want to place blame on one single player for the secondary's performance on Sunday.
"It's really hard to pin this loss on one person or somebody or some unit," Fox said, per Mayer. "I'm not really big into that anyway. We didn't play as good as we needed to play to beat that football team today."
ESPN.com's Matt Bowen thought the Bears had a good game plan on Sunday, but they just didn't execute.
"I liked [defensive coordinator Vic] Fangio's game plan vs. Packers, but the secondary has to show up," Bowen tweeted. "That Bears unit didn't make any plays."
One reason why Chicago's cornerbacks struggled on Sunday was because of their lack of physicality at the line of scrimmage. Fangio has asked his cornerbacks to play physically at the line of scrimmage in the past, but the Bears often allowed free releases off the snap of the football to Green Bay's receivers.
Arizona wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald hauled in six passes for 87 yards on Sunday, and Chicago's cornerbacks could slow him down in the passing game by jamming him at the line of scrimmage.
The problem with jamming a receiver like Fitzgerald at the line of scrimmage is he is strong enough to fight off most jams, but the Bears will need to set the tone early on defense in order to keep Arizona's passing game in check.
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Find Consistency in the Red Zone on Offense
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Chicago's offense did a nice job of moving the football in the middle of the field, but it struggled to capitalize on opportunities in the red zone against the Packers.
Forte did score a rushing touchdown in the red zone on a one-yard run in the second quarter, but Chicago came up short in the red zone in the fourth quarter. Chicago threw the ball four times from within Green Bay's 7-yard line, but the offense failed to score.
“I thought we had a great plan against what they did defensively,” said Fox after the game, per CSNChicago.com's John Mullin. “I thought our offensive coaches did a tremendous job, maybe other than a couple of red-area stops that I thought were pretty much the difference in the game, in comparison."
Instead of going with the hot hand of Forte, the Bears opted to pass the ball on four consecutive plays, but Cutler understood why they threw the football.
“You’re not going to run against that front,” Cutler said, per ESPN.com's Jon Greenberg. “We had some good play calls. We messed up a few things that will get corrected and give us better opportunities there.”
Forte felt Chicago did itself in by not executing properly in the red zone.
"We already got to play against another team," he said, per Rich Campbell of the Chicago Tribune. "We can’t play against ourselves as well."
In addition to not using Forte in the red zone, the Bears also did not get tight end Martellus Bennett involved in the passing game down near the goal line.
Bennett has great size (6'6", 273 lbs) and should be one of Cutler's primary targets once the offense gets closer to the end zone. Bennett did haul in five catches for 55 yards with one touchdown, but his score came late in the game with the lead seemingly out of reach.
The Bears kept Bennett in to block a lot on Sunday, and while the veteran tight end is an above-average blocker, he is also coming off a 90-catch season.
"No idea why Martellus Bennett isn't in the end zone for that play," tweeted NBC Chicago's James Neveau on Chicago's failed scoring drive late in the fourth quarter. "Wasted opportunity for the Bears."
If the Bears want to capitalize on strong drives on offense, they are going to have to be productive in the red zone. If Chicago finds itself in a similar situation in Week 2 like it did late in the fourth quarter against Green Bay, expect Bennett to be a focal point in the passing game.
Create More Pressure with the Front Seven
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Against the Packers, the Bears struggled to apply any pressure to Rodgers. The reigning MVP completed 18 of his 23 passing attempts on Sunday and stayed clean inside the pocket all afternoon.
According to Pro Football Focus, the Bears applied eight quarterback hurries, but they did not register a sack or a quarterback hit. Nose tackle Eddie Goldman and outside linebacker Pernell McPhee were both credited with two quarterback hurries each, while inside linebackers Shea McClellin and Christian Jones, outside linebacker Willie Young and defensive end Will Sutton all recorded one quarterback hurry.
Fox thought the Bears did some nice things on defense against Green Bay, but he knows there is a lot of room for improvement, particularly on third down.
“There’s plenty of room for improvement [on defense],” Fox said Monday, per Kevin Fishbain of ChicagoFootball.com. “As good as we were on offense on third down, we didn’t do as well defensively. I think a positive one was the three-and-out on the first series of the game.”
The Packers converted six of their 10 third downs in Week 1, and one reason why was because of Chicago's lack of pressure up front.
If the Bears want to beat the Cardinals this Sunday, they are going to have to apply pressure to quarterback Carson Palmer. The Saints were unable to sack Palmer in Week 1, but according to Pro Football Focus, New Orleans' defense registered two quarterback hits and nine quarterback hurries.
Palmer is a steady quarterback who releases the ball quickly, but he lacks mobility and struggles when the pocket collapses around him. His offensive line did a nice job of protecting him against the Saints, but the Bears will have to get creative if they want to take him down this Sunday.
Former fourth-round pick Earl Watford started at right tackle for the Cardinals on Sunday, and even though he graded out with a plus-1.8 overall grade, according to Pro Football Focus, he is the team's weakest link in pass protection. Watford allowed three quarterback hurries, one quarterback hit and finished with a minus-1.2 pass-block grade, per Pro Football Focus.
McPhee will likely line up opposite of Watford to start the game, but Chicago would be wise to rotate its pass-rushers opposite of Watford throughout the game. If Chicago can apply pressure early and often to Palmer, it will have a chance to come away with a victory in Week 2.
Statistical information and measurables courtesy of NFL.com unless otherwise noted.
Matt Eurich is a Chicago Bears featured columnist for Bleacher Report and a member of the Pro Football Writers of America.
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