Chicago Bears Coaches Corner: Week One

Offensive Line:

The Offensive Line had an up and down game much to the chagrin of Coach Harry Heistand.  They ultimately surrendered three sacks, but they also gave up numerous pressures, especially in the second half where they seemed completely confused on more than one of the zone blitzes from the Packers.

The opening game plan and protection scheme looked good, but the more aggressive and exotic that Green Bay became, the less answers the Bear’s Line had.  In fact, on a late red zone play, they blocked virtually no one as the entire defensive line dropped into coverage and two DBs and both LBs blitzed from the outside.  Yes, that’s exotic, but if the linemen are progressing inside, outside, backside like they’re supposed to, they should have been able to pick it up, maybe late, but Trubisky shouldn’t have had to toss the ball into the stands over a receiver to keep himself safe.

Then there is the play with Leno. Cody Whitehair had a bad snap that caused Trubisky to have to jump to catch it, Kyle Long got out of position and ended up with a holding penalty, and Bobby Massie got beat both inside and outside on more than one occasion that led to premature pressure on Trubisky.

You simply cannot expect a second year Quarterback, with as many offenses in as many years, to be able to consistently perform complex pre-snap reads, and then have to deal with zone blitz change ups for which he was not prepped in practice if he’s running for his life.  The line was needed last night more than usual, yet instead of being the steadying force that it should have been with four veterans and a third year player, they seemed just as confused and lost as the young quarterback.  They’ve got some work to do.