Bears vs. Lions: Breaking Down Detroit's Game Plan
The Detroit Lions welcome their NFC North rivals from Chicago to town for the annual Thanksgiving game at Ford Field.
These are two teams trending in opposite directions. The Chicago Bears have won two in a row, while the Lions have dropped their last two games. Chicago now stands at 5-6 after wins over the Minnesota Vikings and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, while the Lions are 7-4 with road losses to the Arizona Cardinals and New England Patriots.
Whereas many times the feature matchup comes from the strengths of the combatants, this game's primary focus is on the head-to-head battle between the weak points of the two teams: Detroit's offense versus Chicago's defense.
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| Detroit offense | 17.9 (28th) | 5.1 (27th) | 6.6 (22nd) | 81.3 (27th) | |
| Chicago defense | 27.5 (30th) | 5.9 (28th) | 7.6 (29th) | 99.3 (28th |
The Lions have not scored a touchdown in the last two games. It's been a long time since Detroit experienced that anemic level of production:
"Last time #Lions didn't score a TD in back-to-back games was 11/25 & 12/5 of 1993. They were 7-3 before those two games and made playoffs.
— Tim Twentyman (@ttwentyman) November 24, 2014"
Detroit must snap out of the funky malaise immediately if it hopes to replicate 1993's happy ending. It will not be easy, thanks in part to ongoing injury issues with the offensive line.
The latest one could wind up being the most significant. Left tackle Riley Reiff—handily the team's most effective all-around lineman this year—went down on the first offensive play in New England. His status is not yet known, but the prevailing outlook is not positive, as the Detroit Free Press' Dave Birkett reported he missed practice Tuesday.
Backup Cornelius Lucas appeared overmatched against the Patriots in his first regular-season action on the left side. The undrafted rookie from Kansas State struggled with his own pad level and the speed of the opposing rushers.
"#Lions Cornelius Lucas struggled replacing Reiff at RT, allowed 1 sack, 2 QB hits and 2 more hurries & team-low -3.5 overall grade, per @PFF
— Paula Pasche (@paulapasche) November 24, 2014"
One of the keys to beating the Bears will be helping Lucas handle venerable pass-rusher Jared Allen. The former Vikings star now resides in Chicago, and he's been a consistent terror against Detroit:
"In 13 career games vs. Detroit, #Bears DE Jared Allen has 15.5 sacks, 4 forced fumbles and 1 interception.
— Zach Zaidman (@ZachZaidman) November 25, 2014"
The most obvious way to help is by positioning a tight end on Lucas' outside flank. With all three primary tight ends now healthy, it's a good time for offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi to try out more 12 personnel (one back, two tight ends, two wideouts) packages.
Detroit also needs to be wary of Chicago's increasing usage of pass-rushing gimmicks. As Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune noted:
"Defensive coordinator Mel Tucker devised a game plan that was more aggressive than in recent games and reaped the benefits with Bucs offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo playing into the Bears' hand by calling only 20 runs in 75 offensive plays. The result? McCown was rarely settled in the pocket with time to deliver the ball.
On McCown's 56 dropbacks (including one play wiped out by penalty), the Bears went with a four-man rush 37 times and a five-man rush on 18 occasions with a three-man rush on the game's final play. The defensive line stunted on 12 occasions, betting that it could confuse the Bucs up front, which it did regularly.
"
Here's one of the stunts the Bears ran, featuring a familiar face for Lions fans in hirsute defensive end Willie Young.
Young (No. 97) initially lines up outside the tackle with a giant multi-gap gulf between him and defensive tackle Stephen Paea (No. 92). Just before the snap Young quickly scrambles inside and sets up as a 3-technique. It's a calculated move designed to confuse the offensive linemen...
...and it worked. With linebacker Shea McClellin (No. 50) holding the right tackle's interest with an outside rush, Paea crashes to his left and attacks the gap between the center and right guard. Young keeps his momentum going inside and slingshots behind Paea.
The center picks up Young, but Paea uses his bullish upper-body strength (he was the 2011 NFL Scouting Combine bench-pressing champ) to push the guard away.
Paea has a clean path to the quarterback. His pressure forces Josh McCown to throw errantly, and safety Chris Conte winds up making an athletic interception down the field. The Bears ran this exact stunt again later in the second quarter, and Paea wound up with a sack.
This is a dangerous look against the inexperience on Detroit's front line. Right tackle LaAdrian Waddle will be making his 16th career start after being an undrafted free agent out of Texas Tech. Right guard Travis Swanson gets his third career nod in place of injured Larry Warford. With Lucas making his starting debut at the critical left tackle spot, there are bound to be communication and coordination issues up front.
Chicago also created pressure with a ploy the Buffalo Bills used quite effectively in their win over the Lions. Instead of having all four linemen immediately go hard at the line, the Bills had one or two of the rushers slow-play the rush.
The Bears did that nicely against Tampa Bay as well as in recent games against Minnesota and the Atlanta Falcons. Once again it was Young and Paea doing the damage, as seen on this play.
Young tears off the line like Kanye West chasing after attention, blazing upfield around the edge. His thrust forces the right tackle way outside and back away from the guard. Paea makes his initial move forward but then juts to his left, waiting for the tackle to clear.
Because Young has drawn away the help, Paea now has a lot more space to operate. He gets a step past the guard and winds up with a clean shot at McCown. This play results in a huge red-zone sack.
Detroit can help neutralize this tactic a couple of different ways.
- Use fullback Jed Collins in pass protection more than the 10 combined snaps he's received the last two weeks.
- Quick slants right behind the area the end vacate.
McCown actually looked for the latter, but his receiver didn't pick up the read. Matthew Stafford and his receivers must recognize these sorts of looks and be on the same page to exploit them.
Rather than focusing on specific plays for Detroit's offense, the more important factor is to build confidence within the unit. Between the blown blocking assignments, dropped passes and missed opportunities, it's easy for the underperforming unit to get discouraged.
Coach Jim Caldwell's experience during the Baltimore Ravens' Super Bowl season needs to come into play here. Their offense was similarly languishing before a late-season surge propelled them to playoff greatness. His simplification of the offense and focus on what quarterback Joe Flacco and his mates did well helped foster that prosperity.
The potential is there for Detroit to erupt for a boatload of points against the shaky Chicago defense. That would be a nice thank you to the Ford Field crowd on Thanksgiving.
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