Chicago Bears Film Review: Prince Amukamara vs Brandin Cooks

An underlying performance in the Chicago Bears win over the Los Angelas Rams was how well Prince Amukamara fared against Brandin Cooks

The Chicago Bears defense completely shut down the Los Angelas Rams on Sunday. It was the first time a defense shut out Sean McVay since he had taken over as head coach. A lot of varying reasons have been attributed to the effort.

Jared Goff playing in the cold, Vic Fangio, the shut down of Todd Gurley. An underrated piece was that Brandin Cooks lined up on Prince Amukamara consistency throughout the game and Amukamara won that matchup more than he lost. Cooks was held to three catches for 22 yards. Amukamara had an interception, and three passes defended.

Below are nine plays which saw the two square off head to head

The first play is a statement. It is linked here. Amukamara is playing off coverage but is forcing Cooks inside and to the middle of the field. From there, he is running step for step with Cooks.

From this play, you can tell by his leverage and understanding that Vic Fangio had his team prepared for this game. Brandin Cooks tried to run a double where he fakes a break to the outside and continues upfield. With Amukamara playing outside and running with Cooks down the field the Cooks double move was pointless as he just ran closer into Amukamara before continuing stride for stride down the field. Jared Goff threw the pass away.

In the next play linked here, he creeps up on Brandin Cooks. However, the leverage is the same to push him inside and to the middle. Cooks again is looking to break outside, but he runs right into Amukamara, who then uses his arm to control the route. Cooks sits into zone, but with his first move playing right into the cornerbacks hands, Amukamara is on his tail and makes a play on the football.

The following play saw a win for Brandin Cooks. Cooks used that leverage over the middle of the field to burst towards the middle. However, what is funny to note is that once Cooks gets Amukamara to commit to the middle of the field, he is again looking to break to the sideline.

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The next play we see what happens when Amukamara gives Cooks the leverage to the sidelines. Amukamara turns and runs step for step with Cooks, a surprising result considering the reputation of the speedster. Once again Goff was looking this way but had to throw the football away.

The next play is similar to his reception. Cooks once again gets Amukamara to commit and then breaks outside. Goff was under pressure and did not look that way, but it was one of the few wins for Cooks in this game.

This next play Amukamara is in zone, but does jam Cooks off of the line. It is worth noting because the disruption from the press lead to another pressure pass from Jared Goff.

This play is similar to the first play highlighted. Cooks again is looking to run a double move to free him deep down the field. However, once again Amukamara has a step on him and Cooks runs the move right into Amukamara, only making the coverage tighter. Amukamara was impressive in this game.

This is another example of that. As noted the two have gone back and forth jostling moves all night. Here, Amukamara jams originally. Then, he gives up the sideline to Cooks, something the two have been battling for territory over all night. However, this once again was a great call from Fangio who has Amukamara trail and shut out the middle as Cooks runs a curl route.

To cap it off, the interception. Amukamara is playing deep in zone. This is not a great pass, but a great read and play on the football by Amukamara..

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