Chicago Bears: What You Need to Know Heading into Week 8
There is a large, ominous-looking storm cloud hanging overhead Halas Hall right now. The Chicago Bears dropped to 3-4 after an ugly loss to the Miami Dolphins.
The offense struggled. The defense struggled. The coaching staff struggled (for more on the struggles, go here). Sunday’s performance was a wash, rinse and repeat of efforts we’ve seen plenty of times before, yet this time something seems different.
The struggles we're seeing no longer are new struggles. The optimism is gone. The team appears to be void of leadership. Say what you want about Brandon Marshall speaking up after the loss to Miami, he is not the guy who is going to lead this team to a Super Bowl.
There is a great sense of urgency surrounding this Bears team. It’s not going to get any easier, either. Next up is a date with the New England Patriots, led by Tom Brady, who holds a career record of 39-11 against the NFC, per Pro-Football-Reference.com.
Five losses through eight weeks could be staring the Bears in the face come Sunday evening. If a loss is the outcome, the Bears would have to win seven of eight just to finish with 10 wins.
It’s now or never time for the 2014 Chicago Bears. Let’s take a look at what you need to know heading into Week 8.
A Change Could Be Coming at Right Tackle
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Jordan Mills started all 16 games at right tackle last season for the Chicago Bears.
After years upon years of bad line play, Mills was part of a five-man unit that started every single game. The unit almost played every snap together, too, if not for the foot injury Mills suffered in Week 17 against the Green Bay Packers.
We’re now almost 10 months removed, and Mills, who was on last week's injury report, still is having trouble with his foot, and it’s the likely cause for his struggles of late.
Let’s focus on the previous two games, against Atlanta and Miami. Mills was called for four penalties and accountable for two sacks and eight quarterback hurries, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required).
To dive a bit deeper into the numbers: PFF rated Mills as the 29th-best offensive tackle on a list that contains only 31 names. To be on the list, you must have played over 75 percent on your team’s snaps. In the category of sacks allowed, Mills ranks fourth-worst in the league; and he’s allowed the second-most quarterback hurries.
Defensive end Cameron Wake had a field day playing against Mills in Sunday’s loss to the Dolphins. Wake treated Mills like a turnstile on the sack-fumble of Jay Cutler.
While continuity tends to breed success, the Bears might want to give Michael Ola a look before the season spirals out of control. The Bears are in the market for a few quick fixes. Ola could be one of them.
The former Canadian Football League player started four games while left guard Matt Slauson recovered from an ankle injury and one game at left tackle while Jermon Bushrod was out with a knee injury. Ola was plenty serviceable during his time on the field based on the eye test, but he appeared to be more comfortable at guard than he was at tackle.
Mills is the better player of the two, but his foot injury is concerning. It might be time to let Mills sit for a game while recovering. Sunday’s game against New England would be a great time for it, given the Bears go on a bye the following week before facing the Packers in Week 10.
Trestman was asked Monday if Ola would get a chance to knock off Mills at right tackle, the coach said Ola "has an opportunity" to win the job each day, per Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun-Times.
The Immediate Schedule Is a Bear
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Ouch. The Bears’ next two games are against New England and Green Bay, both on the road. If there’s a silver lining to be found, it’s that all three of the Bears’ wins have come on the road, and the bye week falls between New England and Green Bay.
Both the Patriots and Packers currently sit with a 5-2 record and appear to be moving in the right direction after early-season struggles. This two-game stretch will determine whether the Bears make the playoffs.
If the Bears can sneak through the New England-Green Bay gauntlet, they will find themselves with two very winnable games in Weeks 11 and 12 against the Minnesota Vikings and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who have three combined wins.
But let’s not put the cart too far in front of the horse, because Tom Brady and the Patriots have had the Bears’ number, and they don’t lose too many games against the NFC. According to the game logs, Brady is 3-0 lifetime against the Bears. He’s 39-11 all time against the NFC and 19-5 at home.
Here’s a fun fact, per Patriots.com: Since Super Bowl XX, the Patriots are 6-1 against Chicago and have held the Bears to a touchdown or less in four games.
New Linebackers? No Problem!
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The Bears’ linebacking group has been decimated by injuries of late. Lance Briggs (ribs), Shea McClellin (hand), Jon Bostic (back) and D.J. Williams (neck) have combined to miss nine games this season.
Two weeks ago in Atlanta, the Bears were without all four of them, which forced defensive coordinator Mel Tucker to start a unit that consisted of Darryl Sharpton, Khaseem Greene and Christian Jones.
The three new faces received rave reviews in the (at the time) impressive win over the Falcons.
McClellin (strong side) and Williams (middle) returned to the starting lineup last week to face the Dolphins. But it was Greene (weak side) who played the most snaps, according to PFF. Greene was the only Bears linebacker to play in both back and nickel packages, while Sharpton replaced Williams in nickel situations.
When Briggs and Bostic return from their respective injuries, you can expect Tucker to tinker with his linebacker rotation. Between Briggs, Bostic, Williams, McClellin, Sharpton, Greene and Jones, Tucker should be able to find a grouping that works well together.
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Matt Forte Needs More Carries, Even If the Offense Can’t ‘Roll Anything Over’
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During Monday’s press conference, Marc Trestman addressed the topic of Matt Forte’s two first-half carries against the Dolphins.
A quick backstory: After the loss, Cutler told reporters that four of the Bears’ 18 plays in the first half were called runs, two of which he changed into pass plays at the line of scrimmage.
Now here’s Trestman’s response, via ESPNChicago.com’s Jeff Dickerson:
"... There were couple of reasons. We only ran 18 plays. That would be one. We didn’t convert on third down to roll anything over. We had two called runs, we had two runs called with options to throw and we had another two called where we pulled the ball with an option to throw, as well. Eighteen plays. If you don’t roll it over you can’t get in sync.
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What that means is Cutler had 16 plays that were run-pass options, where he could go either way at the line of scrimmage after diagnosing the defense. So Cutler clearly thought the best chance for yards was throwing the football.
That can’t matter anymore. The Bears offense has become predictable. For a detailed breakdown of how predictable the offense has become, go here. Teams know Trestman loves to throw a bubble screen to Matt Forte. The bubble screen generally allows Forte to catch the ball in space, where he thrives, but what’s best for Forte isn’t always best for the team.
Running the football right now is what’s best for this team.
Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery cannot work downfield if the cornerbacks know that Cutler is going to take the short pass nine times out of 10. And that’s exactly what happened against Miami. Cutler completed 16 of 17 passes at or behind the line of scrimmage to plus-nine yards downfield. He completed just five of 14 throws that went 10 or more yards downfield.
It’s just like Cutler said after the Atlanta win, per Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune:
"... It's just hard to go 80 or 90 going dink, dink, dink, dink, dink because sooner or later you're going to miss one and you're going to be third-and-8. Just to keep the flow of our offense, we kind of have to (go downfield).
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If the Bears don’t add the running wrinkle into their arsenal Sunday against New England, it’s going to be a long day of dinking and dunking down the field.
All stats courtesy of Pro Football Focus (subscription required) unless otherwise noted.
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