Chicago Bears Week Four: Blitz Fitz

The Chicago Bears have a great chance to knock Ryan Fitzpatrick off of his game by disguising their blitzes with middle linebackers

In the Pittsburgh Steelers second quarter takedown of Ryan Fitzpatrick and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a theme began to occur as to how the Steelers were able to rattle him. The Chicago Bears have all of the pieces to replicate it, and it could result in some big time opportunities for them.

Watch the three plays highlighted here. This is the first one. You can see that right before the snap, the Steelers have their defensive lineman outside of the center and have Jon Bostic hovering over the center, signifying a blitz from Bostic.

Fitzpatrick adjusted his line that way. However, as the ball is snapped, Bostic drops and runs to where Vince Williams was, and it is Williams who is blitzing, not in the gap over the center, but the gap that the Fitzpatrick created by shifting his line to the center.

The Steelers were able to get a sack, and were able to branch off of this. Like this play linked here. Now, the Steelers have someone over the center. As Fitzpatrick is about to snap the football, Williams comes charging in. Here comes Williams from earlier, thinks Bostic. Fitzpatrick turns to throw to the blitz only to realize that Williams dropped back.

With Williams covering the area he thought the blitz cleared up, Fitzpatrick has to go back to his left and through his progressions. However, the Steelers blitzed from that side, and because Fitzpatrick was so caught off guard by Williams he had no sense for it.

After two sacks confusing Ryan Fitzpatrick the Pittsburgh Steelers got the trifecta and the jack pot with a red zone interception. The play is linked here. This time the Steelers show a heavy blitz from the left side and up the middle. This gets Fitzpatrick’s mind on that side.

However, the slot cornerback and linebacker who show blitz drop back, and it is Jon Bostic from the right side to sway away a quick strike from Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick thought the blitz was coming from the left and made a quick strike right, not even realizing a linebacker had a great chance to pick him off.

The Pittsburgh Steelers confused and pushed Fitzpatrick around with Vince Williams and Jon Bostic. No offense to what those two bring to the table, but Danny Trevathan and Roquan Smith bring a lot more, especially when you are talking about speed, smarts and the nature to blitz down hill.

This is the type of stuff that the Chicago Bears may be able to cook up to get pressure on Fitzpatrick. If they can, they will be able to turn him over, and could be forcing a benching at quarterback for the second straight week.