San Francisco 49ers: CB Jimmie Ward's Bad Night Covering Brandon Marshall

Here’s a pro tip for teams playing the Chicago Bears for the rest of the season: Don’t have a pair of rookies covering Brandon Marshall.  It doesn’t work out very well.

Marshall, who came into Sunday’s game against the San Francisco 49ers with an ankle injury, was targeted eight times in Chicago’s 28-20 win.  Three of those targets came against veterans Perrish Cox and Chris Culliver, and all fell incomplete—Cox even managed to knock down one of the passes. 

The other five came against rookies Jimmie Ward and Dontae Johnson, and Marshall ended up with five catches for 48 yards and three touchdowns.

That’s actually unfair to Johnson, who only allowed one of the five receptions.  It was Ward who was stuck in coverage on every one of Marshall’s touchdowns, and that’s a mismatch from the start.  The Bears wisely stuck Marshall in the slot often against San Francisco, exploiting the veteran-on-rookie matchup, and Ward was unable to rise to the challenge.

Let’s take a look at the four receptions and see if Ward could have done anything to stop Marshall, thus possibly saving the game for San Francisco.

Touchdown No. 1 — 0:18 Second Quarter

Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press

I realize the premise of this article is critiquing Ward for not being in the proper position, but this was just an astounding play by Marshall.  The 49ers could have been rolling with a secondary consisting of Ronnie Lott, Deion Sanders and Superman, and Marshall would still be coming down with this ball.

This was not the first route Marshall ran in the slot, but this was the first time Jay Cutler looked for him in this situation.  Really, any corner versus Marshall in an end-zone situation is going to be a mismatch, but Ward doesn’t do himself any favors here.  You can see Ward slips as he tries to stick with Marshall, and he ends up behind Marshall, running the wrong way.

Credit: NFL Game Rewind

The catch is only made because Marshall made a fantastic leaping grab. But Marshall only had to make that grab because Jay Cutler’s throw was off-target.  It would have been a simple matter for Cutler to bury the ball in between Marshall’s numbers; Ward’s off-balance and unable to make any sort of play on it.

Eric Reid is coming over a bit late, but it looks like he’s moving over to help Ward double Marshall.  Had Ward kept his footing, maybe he’d be able to undercut Marshall, taking away that while Reid stays over the top in case Marshall goes deeper.  It wouldn’t have helped here because Marshall made such a fantastic play, but that tiny slip put Ward out of position to help on any sort of pass to Marshall.

Completion No. 2 — 2:05 Third Quarter

Credit: NFL Game Rewind

One of Ward’s four completions did not actually end up in the end zone, so that’s worth looking at.  Ward is playing right up on the line of scrimmage, intending to use press coverage to knock Marshall off his bearings.  That’s a good idea against someone nursing an ankle injury; make him complete an athletic play to get past you, cutting on that injured ankle.

Unfortunately for Ward, that’s exactly what Marshall does.  Marshall makes a nifty outside move and then cuts inside again, and Ward bites on the double-fake.  That gives Marshall a two- or three-step lead on Ward, which is all the space he needs to make the catch. 

Cutler’s throw doesn’t lead Marshall, allowing Ward to make up the space to make the tackle immediately, which is fortunate—had Cutler hit Marshall in stride, he’s just got Eric Reid to beat to get into the open field.

That’s veteran savvy on the part of Marshall.  Marshall’s able to sell the corner route enough for Ward to bite and then come right back to the post to make the reception.  Ward’s got to give Marshall a firmer shot at the line of scrimmage to disrupt timing if he’s going to play that close; Marshall’s relatively clean release gives him all the space he needs to turn the rookie around.

Touchdown No. 2 — 13:41 Fourth Quarter

Credit: NFL Game Rewind

On this play, the Bears use a little schematic wrinkle to leave Ward isolated on Marshall and then take advantage of Marshall’s size advantage to completely box Ward out of the play.

The Bears stack Marshall and Santonio Holmes in the slot, and Holmes runs a little corner route.  That not only brings Chris Culliver to the outside, but it causes Eric Reid to go with him for a moment as well.  You can see in this still that Reid has turned around and notices what Marshall’s doing, but by then, he’s out of the play.

Marshall is essentially blocking Ward here like it’s a running play.  He then releases and turns around, using his size to box Ward out like he’s posting up in a basketball game. 

Marshall’s sheer size advantage means Ward doesn’t have a chance here.  Ward is 5’11” and 193 pounds; Marshall clocks in at 6’4”, 230.  That’s not a matchup Ward was ever going to win—as soon as Holmes drew the help away from Marshall, the touchdown was a fait accompli.

Touchdown No. 3 — 7:00 Fourth Quarter

Credit: NFL Game Rewind

This is the point where the 49ers were essentially on tilt after quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s final interception.  The 49ers defense, as a whole, looked demoralized.

This touchdown leaves Ward one-on-one against Marshall on a fade out of the slot.  It was a back-shoulder throw that, again, because of Marshall’s size advantage, Ward didn’t really have a chance on.  The play design left Ward one-on-one on Marshall, as Alshon Jeffery drew the attention of safety Antoine Bethea, and Ward was essentially left hung out to dry.

Ward could have taken a step or two forward, but that would have just led to Cutler throwing the ball a yard deeper in the end zone with the same result.  Thus ends Ward’s nightmare night against Marshall.

Conclusions

So what can we learn from this?  First and foremost that Ward’s still a rookie, and teams are going to try to exploit him.  On the second and third touchdowns, the Bears ran specific plays to isolate Marshall one-on-one with Ward without safety help, and that’s not a battle Ward’s winning at this point in his career.  Against an elite receiver like Marshall, Ward needs help over the top.

On the other hand, it’s not quite as bad as it looked, as Marshall would have come down with the first and third touchdowns no matter what Ward had done; it’s just a physical mismatch against one of the best receivers in the league.  Ward could have been more physical on the non-touchdown catch, and it’s possible a more assertive move could have gotten around Marshall on the second touchdown to knock the ball down, but the other two were just great plays by a great receiver.

Ward is having some growing pains and will continue to have some as the season goes on.  He struggled a little against the Dallas Cowboys, mostly going up against Cole Beasley and Dez Bryant, and Marshall’s just a bit too far along for a rookie at this point.  I’d wager any rookie would have struggled as much as Ward did on Sunday night.

Kathy Willens/Associated Press

In the upcoming game against the Arizona Cardinals, it will be interesting to see if the Cardinals try to get Larry Fitzgerald matched up one-on-one with Ward.  Fitzgerald, at 6’3”, 218 pounds, offers a similar physical-size mismatch.  While he’s no longer in his prime, Fitzgerald still knows how to school a rookie when needed.

Fitzgerald’s been getting quite a lot of work in the slot this season in Arizona—Pro Football Focus (subscription required) says he leads the team with 28 slot routes, with John Brown’s 23 and Michael Floyd’s 18 right behind him.  If Fitzgerald has the same kind of isolated one-on-one matchups with Ward as Marshall did, we could see a repeat of Marshall’s big day this Sunday in the desert.

Bryan Knowles is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report, covering the San Francisco 49ers.  Follow him @BryKno on Twitter.