If the Chicago Bears want to keep up with Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, the defense is going to have to stop allowing big plays.
The Chicago Bears are 3-2 through five games; a pleasant surprise so far in 2018. But it’s easy to make a case that they could be 5-0. Coming into the season, you would have thought that the reason the Bears haven’t hit their full potential would be the neophyte offense, still learning Matt Nagy’s scheme as second-year quarterback Mitch Trubisky continues his on the job training. I think the offense still has a ways to go, but the disappointment so far has been the defense and the number of big plays they’ve given up, especially in their two losses.
The Bears came into the preseason with high expectations for the defense, which finished 2017 ranked among the top 10 units. They invested a high first-round pick on linebacker Roquan Smith to add to an ascending group which returned defensive mastermind Vic Fangio.
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The bar was raised when GM Ryan Pace traded for Khalil Mack, an “all-in” moment for a team shifting from “development” to “win now.” The early returns on Mack, September’s Defensive Player of the Month, have been beyond expectations. In short, he’s been a beast. Yet despite Mack’s best efforts, the Bears have been gashed for big plays.
Think back, as painful as it may be, to the Bears Week 1 loss to the Green Bay Packers. Yes, Aaron Rodgers was brilliant in leading a Packers comeback. But the most critical play of the game with the Packers down six with just over two minutes left was a short pass on third and ten to Randall Cobb that turned into a 75-yard touchdown. As a matter of fact, the two of the Packers fourth-quarter touchdown covered 75 and 39 yards respectively.
Fast forward a few weeks to Miami where the Bears and Dolphins let the offensive fireworks fly in the second half, combining for 49 points after a pedestrian seven first-half points. BOTH of the Dolphins fourth-quarter scores came on monster plays allowed by the Bears defense, going for 75-yards and 43-yards, both to Albert Wilson.
The Miami game was unique in that the heat and humidity clearly played a role in fatigue and poor tackling, but again, big plays killed the Bears. The Bears missed 15 tackles in the second half of that game alone.
Take back the big plays in both of those games and you could make the argument that the Bears could be 5-0. So as Tom Brady and the Patriots head to town, it will be critical for the Bears to limit big plays. Brady will be itching for mismatches and trying to get Gronk or Josh Gordon to pop open a big play. The conditions in Chicago will be more favorable, so fatigue will not be an excuse. The secondary needs to do a better job of tackling and not just bringing the ball carrier to the ground, but taking better angles and simply giving a better effort. There have been far too many “loafs” on long touchdown runs.
If the Bears can limit big plays, I think Trubisky and the Bears offense can put up some points and might just give the Bears a chance to pull off the upset on Sunday.