Chicago Bears vs. New York Jets: Breaking Down New York's Game Plan
Without a doubt, last week's loss to the Green Bay Packers will linger in the New York Jets' minds for quite some time, but it is time to repair the damage they have done to their record by taking care of the Chicago Bears on Monday Night Football.
Coming off an impressive come-from-behind win over the San Francisco 49ers last week, the Bears are a particularly intriguing matchup for the Jets because of their stark contrast in strengths and weaknesses.
Having moved on from the Urlacher era, the Bears are very much an offensive-oriented team under Marc "The Quarterback Whisperer" Trestman—a polar opposite style from Rex Ryan's defensive-minded Jets.
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The Bears have built their team around a fantasy squad of skill-position players (that now includes former Jet Santonio Holmes), while the Jets have been much more focused on building up their defensive front while slowly upgrading their offensive personnel.
What both teams (unfortunately) have in common is they are dealing with health issues at the wide receiver position. While they played in Sunday night's game against the 49ers, both Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery cannot be anywhere near perfect health. Meanwhile, Eric Decker's status for Monday night is in question after he left the game against the Packers with a hamstring injury.
Even if the top receivers in this game are going to be operating at suboptimal levels, this figures to be a terrific matchup under the national spotlight.
Run the Rock
Running the ball like it is 1945 makes too much sense for the Jets not to implement it into their game plan. Not only will the Jets be without a fully functioning Decker (if at all), but they have a huge matchup advantage across their offensive line.
The weakness of the Bears defense starts from the inside, particularly down the middle at the inside linebacker at defensive tackle spots.
Defensive tackle Stephen Paea has been somewhat of a disappointment as a former second-round pick. While he has been able to crack the starting lineup, he is a liability in the run game, with Pro Football Focus (subscription required) ranking him as the fourth-worst run defender at his position.
Meanwhile, veteran linebacker D.J. Williams has also struggled this season against the run, ranking as the sixth-worst run defender among inside linebackers, according to Pro Football Focus.
The Jets are not coming off a particularly strong day on the ground against the Packers, as Chris Ivory and Chris Johnson combined for a pedestrian 61 yards—but don't read too much into last week's performance. They are just two weeks removed from their 170-yard explosion against the Oakland Raiders.
While the Jets' run blocking has not been perfect through two games, they have had a lot of success when running behind certain linemen. Even Brian Winters, who has struggled mightily in pass protection, has been more than an adequate run-blocker.
Generally, the Jets have the most success when running down the middle or to the right—which is where all their top run-blockers are.
| Chris Ivory | -1.0 | 4.3 | 3.3 | 4.2 | 9.0 | 4.0 |
| Chris Johnson | -2.0 | 4.3 | 2.6 | 2.7 | 36.0 | 3.5 |
| Bilal Powell | N/A | N/A | 0.0 | N/A | 5.5 | N/A |
For clarity, here is how running lanes are labeled by letter:
The Jets won't have to get too creative to generate yards on the ground. Simple, man-to-man blocking schemes should be enough to get the Jets' running game back on track.
Send Extra Rushers
The Jets have a somewhat obvious matchup advantage when it comes to moving the ball on the ground, but this is far from the case as it pertains to slowing down Jay Cutler and the Bears' high-flying offense.
Armed with one of the most impressive groups of skill-position players in the game, the Bears have a plethora of ways to beat a defense. Focus too much on Brandon Marshall, and Alshon Jeffery will produce in his absence—and vice versa.
Not only are the Bears talented—they are versatile in how they line up. Often pinned as strictly a perimeter receiver, Jeffery moves into the slot from time to time, such as on this play against the 49ers.
How should the Jets go about shutting down this prolific offense that is just itching for a breakout game? Simple: Don't let Jay Cutler throw the ball (comfortably, at least).
Because of the sorry state of the Jets secondary, it is tempting to sit back in conservative defenses and hope the front seven can do all the work. However, Rex Ryan would be better served to ensure that his secondary spends as little time in pass coverage as possible.
Not only do the Jets have a particularly weak secondary that cannot be trusted to cover for long periods of time—relying on the Jets' defensive front, as talented as it is, to breach the much-improved Bears offensive line is just as risky of a proposition. Cutler has been sacked just four times all season.
The Bears receivers are not just mismatches for the Jets cornerbacks from a talent standpoint. Even if Darrin Walls and Antonio Allen can stay with Jeffery and Marshall (which is entirely possible considering the suboptimal states of their health), the immense size advantage and ability to "high-point" between the two will be too much to handle, just as the San Francisco 49ers found out last Sunday night:
How should Ryan go about getting to Cutler? On obvious passing downs, Ryan should not be afraid to send as many extra rushers as it takes—whether it be a five, six, seven or even eight-man blitz—to get a free lane to Cutler.
This strategy worked to perfection early in the game against the Packers. In this third-down situation, Demario Davis has a free shot at Aaron Rodgers that he takes full advantage of.
Obviously, there is always the risk of Cutler having an even easier throw to make if the blitz is picked up—but does it even matter if Jeffery and Marshall are going to make the catch anyway?
Involve Jace Amaro
Regardless of whether Decker will be able to play on Monday night, the Jets have an immensely talented player sitting on the sidelines who needs to get on the field in Jace Amaro.
The rookie had a tremendous preseason, leading the team in catches while the starter, Jeff Cumberland, sat out to nurse an Achilles injury. He may not be getting as many snaps as the veteran Cumberland, but he has a lot more talent to work with.
Decker's injury forced the Jets' hand in inserting him into the lineup in the second half of last week's game. While he was more or less an emergency placeholder in last week's game, offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg now has a full week to game-plan a role for him.
Expect tweets like these to have a different tune next week:
As unproductive as he was last week because of the lack of designed targets going in his direction, Mornhinweg did have the right idea when it came to getting Amaro open.
Here, Amaro is in a stacked formation, detached from the offensive line. This route combination gets Amaro wide open.
Had Smith gotten adequate pass protection, he would have had enough time to let Amaro get open for the big play.
Amaro is listed as a tight end, but for now, he is better served to be treated more like a wide receiver when it comes to alignment in the formation. If Decker is unable to play, the extended use of Amaro's rare combination of size and speed will be a nice consolation in his absence.
The Jets may not have as many players on fantasy rosters as the Bears do, but they present at least as many problems for Marc Trestman's squad as the Bears do for Ryan. If they can take advantage of the huge matchup advantages they have, the Jets stand a more than reasonable chance to get to 2-1.
Advanced statistics provided by Pro Football Focus (subscription required).
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