Chicago Bears Film Room: Kindle Vildor struggles with crosses

The Chicago Bears started two inexperienced cornerbacks who had growing pains

Overall, it is hard to be disappointed with the start of Duke Shelley and Kindle Vildor’s careers. Shelley has moved in and out of the slot at times, and Vildor earned praise from Dalvin Cook for his work in the run game. Still, the Chicago Bears were starting a rookie and a second-year player with almost no experience against the Vikings, and their two big-name wide receivers.

This did lead to some issues. Overall, 13 of the 30 pass attempts Kirk Cousins made were to target Vildor or Shelley. The duo held their own, but according to PFF allowed 111 yards.

One of the bigger issues that occurred for the duo was crossing routes when they were lined up on the same side.

This occurred early in the game on the Vikings’ first touchdown. Look at the play below. Shelley is in the slot and Vildor is outside. However, Shelley is near the line of scrimmage while Vildor is off coverage.

Adam Thielen is initially lined up over Vildor, but runs inside. Justin Jefferson is motioning across the line and runs into the flat. Both corners take Jefferson, and it leaves Thielen wide open.

Vildor points out for Shelley to take Thielen, but Shelley follows Jefferson. While it may look like the issue is on Shelley, in most cases, the corner closest to the line will take the receiver staying low, while the corner off of the ball will keep his depth. That would mean that the rookie Vildor is charged with this touchdown.

In the play below, the dup is tested again in a similar manner. This time they have a tight end and Justin Jefferson. Jefferson runs inside and the tight end runs out. You can see Vildor hesitate a little while he sifts through traffic. On the other side, Shelley initially holds his own, but against a great route runner such as Jefferson loses.

This effort was certainly better, but the two still have to be better at not crossing each other. This is going to happen to experienced cornerbacks, and it will only take familiarity and trust to know where the other man is, but this will be something that gets tested in the next two weeks.

Below, you see Deon Bush and Kindle Vildor this time. Bush comes in motion, and waves Vildor back. This goes back to the idea that the man playing back keeps depth, while Bush would stay flat on crosses.

The man Bush is guarding stays flat, and so does Bush. However, Jefferson hesitates a step in the end zone, and Vildor loses him. He gets stuck on the flat and steps up, which leaves Jefferson open.

Thankfully, Vildor recovered and the pass was errant. Still, that was the second time in a row where Vildor had to keep depth and got caught looking. It is clear now that Shelley was likely correct to stay low.

You can even see Tashaun Gipson after the play. At first it looks like excitement, but you can see he is clapping at Vildor, and then taps his head as he is looking at him. It is clear that Gipson knows this is likely the second time Vildor fell for the flat route, and he is clapping and reminding him to stay deep on those routes.

Overall, this is not a deal-breaking issue for a rookie in his first start. However, it is the biggest thing to look for moving forward when tracking the progress of Kindle Vildor. Teams now have tape on him, and this is the issue that is going to come up on first glance. How he responds will be telling.