The Chicago Bears win over Detroit came with a different offense than we were used to seeing in the past couple of weeks. While the Lions defense contributed to that, it was clear there was another signal-caller, and Matt Nagy admitted as much, saying that Bill Lazor handled the duties.
With that in mind, there were noticeable differences between Nagy and Lazor. What are they, and will they continue in the upcoming weeks?
Giving Justin Fields chip blocks
You saw that the formations, personnel, and other adjustments in the Lions game did not show in others. It seemed apparent against Myles Garrett and Jadeveon Clowney that they were too powerful for the Chicago Bears’ tackles. However, Matt Nagy seemed to be too caught up in his call sheet to notice trends and make changes in the game. Perhaps now that Nagy is not on the play sheet, he can pick up on small details.
Against the Browns, the Bears gave their tackles almost no help. On Sunday, they increased the percent of snaps that Cole Kmet stayed in to block on passing downs from 6% to 25%. Jimmy Graham went from not blocking against Cleveland to 10% of pass attempts staying into chip.
Buying Fields that extra second is huge, especially as he adjusts to the speed. Seeing them do this against Detroit, who does not have great edge rushers, after failing to do it against Cleveland and Garrett, shows that this is an obvious adjustment missed last week.
More 12 personnel
It had been stunning how little the Chicago Bears utilized two tight ends through three weeks. They appeared to be tossing Jimmy Graham and his salary down the drain, and what is so crazy is that the team needed the extra blocker.
Once again, perhaps Nagy was too in his call sheet to adjust his personnel because we saw the team with a variety of looks on Sunday. They went from 18% 12 personnel to 23% just from one week in which they played two tight ends 37% of the time. That puts them in the top five of two-tight end usage, which is where we expected them to be all season.
The move paid off too. On Sunday, the Bears have a 57% success rate with two tight ends, which is excellent. They were at 48% from 11 personnel. Beyond that, this pushed their season average up 48% success from 12 and 43% from 11. They are better with two tight ends on the field, and it seems even Matt Nagy agreed before the season. It took three weeks, and we finally saw it.
More Under Center Snaps
In the first three weeks of the season, the Chicago Bears ran shotgun snaps 60% of the time. That is not too far off from the norm, but it was up to 67% in week three. There was a pre-draft discussion about whether Justin Fields was comfortable playing under center. An argument could be made that Matt Nagy was helping his rookie who typically ran shotgun.
While it is fair to note that the Bears ran under center to slow the game down late, they ran shotgun just 36% of the time in the first half. However, against the Lions, the Bears were in shotgun just 32%. That is a stark difference.
Under-center snaps have helped change the predictable ness of the offense and helped the run game, as it was much more successful under-center. Beyond that, Fields showed he could work well under center. Expect this trend to continue.
Chicago Bears are skewing to the run
How many times have you screamed at your TV to run the ball and that Matt Nagy once again abandoned the run? Sunday was their most run-heavy game plan of the season. They ran 75% of the time, which is much higher than their season average. Against Cincinnati, they ran 64%, which was by far the highest rate.
It is easy to say that the run is so prominent because the team was winning. However, they skewed run-heavy in the first half as well. They ran the ball 69% of their first-half snaps, their highest run rate since week 1. Of course, they abandoned the run in the second half against the Rams, but stick with it against Detroit.
Still, they ran just 38% in the first half against Cincy and then went even more run-heavy in the second half. In this game, they came out with a plan to establish the run and kept it throughout. Once again, perhaps Nagy is too focused on the next call to focus on the rhythm and mix of adding in the run. Now he can.
Average Depth of Target
The Bears’ gameplay against Cleveland was to rely on quick passes, while the Lions’ game was focused on the deep ball. This could be opponent-related, as well, because the Browns’ corners are much more known than the Lions. Still, it was utterly different gameplay from a passing perspective.
Justin Fields completed four passes of 20 yards or more, three away from Mitch Trubisky’s entire 2020 season. Beyond that, his average depth of target was 7.8 against the Browns. It went up to an insane 13. That is nearly double as far as he was throwing it the previous week.
This is where Fields is best, and it worked. Considering he hit most of his deep shots, this should be something that continues. The deep ball has been missing for years, so to see it come alive is very exciting.