Chicago Bears' Bye-Week Wish List: Practical Improvements

The Bears get a much-needed bye week this Sunday, just in time to let the battered secondary lick its wounds and hope they’re well enough when the Lions come to town.

Since it is a bye week, I figure I’d make a list of five things I’d like to see from both sides of the ball. No complaining, just practical suggestions the Bears can work on in practice and implement in their gameplan.

Since the defense has been giving up boatloads of yardage and points, I’ll start with them.

Defense

1: Zone blitzing. A lot of people aren’t fans of this scheme, as it presents mismatches that usually end up with defensive ends covering tight ends and running backs. The upside is that it confuses the opposing offense and assigns blockers to players who immediately drop back into coverage.

The Bears have a couple of defensive ends who are athletic enough to line up normally and then drop back in coverage; namely Mark Anderson and Alex Brown, and even big Israel Idonije.

Dropping one end in coverage allows a linebacker on the opposite side to blitz off the snap. The key is timing; the DE needs to get off the line quickly and the linebacker or blitzing safety/corner needs to push up the field.

2: Front-Four Pressure. The Cover-Two defense, which the Bears run their own version of, works best when the four, down defensive linemen can constantly get pressure, causing the quarterback to miss reads and throw into coverage.

While the Bears have been able to stop the run for the most part, they have not been getting a lot of pressure on opposing quarterbacks this season, which has led to big plays. The front-four needs to get pressure on the QB without help from blitzes.  

3: Alternate middle-of-the-field-coverage by the linebackers. Urlacher is generally the one in charge of the middle of the field, while he does a great job, I’d like to see them mix it up a little bit, giving that duty to Hillenmeyer and Briggs.

It’s to confuse defenses, who are used to Urlacher lining up over the nose guard then dropping back in coverage. Disguising coverages worked well against Peyton Manning, who’s probably the best in the league at reading defenses.

4: Let Mike Brown move up in the box. I know the last three times Mike Brown has been injured it’s been while he’s played up on the line of scrimmage. But given the amount of passing yards and lack of pressure the Bears are getting on the quarterback so far this season, I think the Bears need to consider it.

While Kevin Payne has done an admirable job at being the safety the Bears bring up to the line, he still has much to learn. I don’t wish Mike Brown to get injured again, on the contrary, I just want him to do what he’s best at.

5: Limit the seven and eight-man front. This, in conjunction with the zone blitzing mentioned earlier, is an effort to give more help to the secondary by feinting pressure and giving the defensive line a chance to force a mistake on offense.

Offense

1: More stop-and-go routes. With the ability that Kyle Orton has shown reading coverages, I’d like to see more stop-and-go and timing routes. It requires a great deal of timing and practice, but if you have a quarterback who can read defenses and a committed group of receivers, it pays dividends. (See “Greatest Show on Turf” and the 2004-2007 Colts).

I’m in no way comparing Orton to Manning or Warner, I’m just saying that if teams stay committed to stopping the Bears' running game, then Orton should open up the passing game even more.

2: More Kevin Jones. I’ve been praising Matt Forte for the job he’s done so far this season, and I hope he continues to work hard. I would like to see Kevin Jones involved a little more in the running game. I was impressed with the way the Vikings were able to have both Chester Taylor and Adrian Petersen lined up in the backfield.

It’s a smart move because defenses will have to honor both backs' abilities or get burned. The Bears would be able to line both Jones and Forte up for first downs and have plenty of options in both the running and passing game.

3: Two-tight-end sets. While the Bears have actually done this a lot this season, I want to see more of it. Olsen is capable of running the seam route with the best of them, and Des Clark is a reliable target over the middle. There isn’t an offense in the world that would pass on the matchup of a tight end like Olsen on a safety or cornerback. This, along with the two-running-back set has the potential to create matchup nightmares for Bears opponents.

4: Forte in space. Teams have been able to stop Forte from running between the tackles, so it would be reasonable to see Forte on more off-tackles and tosses out of the backfield. An athlete with the size and speed of Forte is tailor made for the screen pass; I’d like to see more of that. While you’re doing that for Forte, go ahead and game plan to do it for Hester as well.

5: Can Hester throw a football? If so, then an end-around reverse would be a nice setup for Hester to make a deep throw. Both the Dolphins and Redskins have utilized this with their players, so, since Hester draws so much of the defense's attention, why not give it a try?

So there they are—a few things I’d like to see the Bears do/do more of. It’s a wish list that may or may not apply to multiple teams, but I like to think that these are items that can be easily applied over the bye week.

The obligatory “play better” is a demand most sports critics make, but they fail to list fundamentals that can help their team turn the corner from “question mark” to “contender.”