For once, it all came together.
When the Falcons finally exploited the Bears banged up back seven with a brilliant screen to make it a 13-10 game right after the half, it was easy to see how things would unfurl. The Bears failure to convert another two minute drill, red zone trip into a TD was going to turn into the defense finally giving ground, the second half offense that had plagued the team since week three would re-appear, and before long the Bears would pull another defeat from the jaws of victory.
Once the Bears went 3 and out on their next drive, then allowed the game-tying FG, the panic was pure threat level midnight. And then....it went away.
Jay Cutler unleashed the armcock for a 74 yard completion to Alshon, they scored a TD, the defensive line dominated like they should against an OL starting Gabe Carimi, and the offense went right back down and scored another TD to truly wreck the Falcons hopes. It was exactly how Emery and Trestman and the rest of us envisioned this season playing out, and for once it worked.
It's hard to say what this will mean in the long run, as the Bears will need to string more complete games together to make up for the games they've pissed away, but it's all hopefully coming together, and maybe, mercifully, they'll finally start getting healthier. For now, this was as good as we could have ever hoped for, and I'll take it.
Showing posts with label Jared Allen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jared Allen. Show all posts
Sunday, October 12, 2014
Friday, October 3, 2014
Packers 38, Bears 17- The Recap You Wait a Week For
Or not. I can't pretend I ever wanted to write this damn thing but my sense of completeness compels me and I no longer have the valid excuse of being on the interstate driving as I was Sunday night or working late the other nights of the week. It is time to discuss this.
And you know what? I'm not that mad. I'm really not. Not that the loss isn't upsetting, not that it isn't disheartening that the Bears still haven't closed the gap with the Packers, but things are far from grim. I believe the rest of the Bears schedule is shaping up to be fairly favorable, they appear to be getting somewhat healthier as a team, and, if you dig past the box score, there were some good things that happened in this game.
There were obviously more bad things, however, and that needs discussin'. I naturally spent all of last week in a healthy state of fear about the game, and once it was revealed that Jared Allen was a late scratch, well, that gave me a pretty unshakeable sense of foreboding. Not that Jared Allen alone could have prevented the massacre Rodgers committed, but even one or two sacks that stopped drives might have changed the complexion of the ball game. Without Allen and Ratliff the Bears defensive line lost the ability to constantly shift and rotate players on the DL that had been so pivotal to their success early in the season. Despite the Packers frequent struggles in pass protection over the years, they have two very, very solid guards in Josh Sitton (who may be the best pass-protecting guard in football with Evan Mathis out), and TJ Lang. If you want to get to Rodgers you need to threaten his tackles, and the Bears lacked the guy who draws the most attention out on the edge.
And you know what? I'm not that mad. I'm really not. Not that the loss isn't upsetting, not that it isn't disheartening that the Bears still haven't closed the gap with the Packers, but things are far from grim. I believe the rest of the Bears schedule is shaping up to be fairly favorable, they appear to be getting somewhat healthier as a team, and, if you dig past the box score, there were some good things that happened in this game.
There were obviously more bad things, however, and that needs discussin'. I naturally spent all of last week in a healthy state of fear about the game, and once it was revealed that Jared Allen was a late scratch, well, that gave me a pretty unshakeable sense of foreboding. Not that Jared Allen alone could have prevented the massacre Rodgers committed, but even one or two sacks that stopped drives might have changed the complexion of the ball game. Without Allen and Ratliff the Bears defensive line lost the ability to constantly shift and rotate players on the DL that had been so pivotal to their success early in the season. Despite the Packers frequent struggles in pass protection over the years, they have two very, very solid guards in Josh Sitton (who may be the best pass-protecting guard in football with Evan Mathis out), and TJ Lang. If you want to get to Rodgers you need to threaten his tackles, and the Bears lacked the guy who draws the most attention out on the edge.
Monday, September 22, 2014
Bears 27, Jets 19- Winning Ugly
I suspect this will be a week focusing again on the Bears "luck" because ten years in and any game the Bears win assisted by turnovers will be regarded as their opponent "giving the game away," and I'm fine with that. The deck was stacked against the Bears this week, although not as badly as it was in San Francisco. Already down four starters (and Roberto Garza) from opening day, they lost Conte and Mundy early in the ballgame. The Jets front seven took away the run as they are wont to do, and their blitzes were pretty effective at taking advantage of the Bears banged up OL. To make matters worse, Marshall went out with an injury, giving Rex most of the second quarter to turn up the heat even more.
In the end, none of it mattered. The Bears capitalized off turnovers, they got two big, momentum killing drives at the start of the second half and in the middle of the fourth quarter to take the wind out of the Jets sails, and in the red zone in particular the defense held nearly every time the Jets threatened to tie the game. They did what a good team does when it's banged up and nowhere close to 100%, they won anyway.
In the end, none of it mattered. The Bears capitalized off turnovers, they got two big, momentum killing drives at the start of the second half and in the middle of the fourth quarter to take the wind out of the Jets sails, and in the red zone in particular the defense held nearly every time the Jets threatened to tie the game. They did what a good team does when it's banged up and nowhere close to 100%, they won anyway.
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Your 2014 Bears Training Camp/Roster Breakdown: The Defense
The Monsters of the Midway. The fearsome guardians of the line of scrimmage. The bringers of the black and blue to the black and blue division. The defense! The pride of the Chicag-
Oh goddammit.
NOW I remember. This defense was ass last year. It was worse than ass. It was boils on ass. It was the worst defense in franchise history, and it ruined all of the unreserved joy we should have had over the offense's progress. Such is life.
So here we are now, with a defense that will, at the very least, look very different this year. Will it play better? Well, yeah. That's not that hard to do. Will it be good enough to make the playoffs? I say yes. What did you really expect?
What the hell that's not BEAR FOOTB---
Oh goddammit.
NOW I remember. This defense was ass last year. It was worse than ass. It was boils on ass. It was the worst defense in franchise history, and it ruined all of the unreserved joy we should have had over the offense's progress. Such is life.
So here we are now, with a defense that will, at the very least, look very different this year. Will it play better? Well, yeah. That's not that hard to do. Will it be good enough to make the playoffs? I say yes. What did you really expect?
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery
They often say the NFL is a copycat league. Sometimes this is an infuriating development, like when Mike Martz inexplicably tries to run the wildcat with Devin Hester because the Dolphins manage to beat the Patriots with it one time.
Other times, it just makes sense, like the proliferation of the West Coast Offense or the number of teams that have started to use the spread or run most of their offense out of the shotgun because it suits the abilities of their quarterbacks.
In the Bears case, Phil Emery has very clearly had two franchises that he's focused on emulating the last two seasons. The Bears offense, while original any many ways thanks to Trestman's sometimes unorthodox approach, shares many broad similarities and an over-arching philosophy with the vastly successful Saints attack, thanks to Trestman's close relationship with Sean Payton and his hire of Aaron Kromer as offensive coordinator. Obviously this approach has been successful, with the Bears actually out-scoring their de facto mentors this past year. Thanks to the recent moves to lock up Jay Cutler, Matt Slauson, and now Brandon Marshall, they should be able to compete at that level for at least a few more years.
This year Phil Emery has very obviously decided to model the defense after the Seahawks. This only makes sense, since the Seahawks are clearly the best defense in the NFL, but it's not exactly surprising that any number of teams are hoping to emulate what Pete Carroll and John Schneider built in the northwest.
Unlike many failed imitations in NFL history, however, the Bears may be able to make this defensive conversion work. While it's unlikely the defensive makeover will result in the Bears defense outpacing their role models like the Bears offense did, it's worth examining how Emery has attempted to copy the Seahawks approach.
1) Big corners: Charles Tillman, Kyle Fuller, and Tim Jennings are not quite the size of Richard Sherman or Brandon Browner, but Tillman and Fuller are both bigger corners, and all three are sure tacklers capable of squaring up offensive players and securing the edge without help. It's worth remembering that just a year before the disaster of 2013, Tillman and Jennings were the starting corners in the Pro Bowl. While they're undoubtedly unlikely to repeat that performance this year, there's no reason to think a healthy Tillman and Jennings can't give the Bears the flexibility they need to play the Cover 1 and Cover 3 coverages that Seattle likes to use most and allow the defense to be successful.
2)A defensive line of interchangeable parts: last year the Seahawks had one pure edge rusher in Cliff Avril. Avril was a liability against the run and pretty much always has been, but the Seahawks had enough versatile pieces around him to allow him to do what he does best.
Enter Jared Allen for the Bears. Allen was never even close to being as good of a run defender as he was a pass-rusher, and to expect him to improve in that department as a Bear would be fool-hardy, but he can still be a pass-rush specialist for a team that won't ask him to do much more than that.
Outside of Avril, the Seahawks featured twolarger than average defensive ends who often rotated to DT in Michael Bennett, and Red Bryant. The versatility of these three players allowed them to hide the fact that Seattle didn't have the truly dominant 3 technique associated with many great 4-3 defenses.
This year the Bears have a very versatile DE in Lamarr Houston who is very similar physically to Bennett. While Houston lacks the pass-rush ability of Bennett, he's still productive in that department and is as capable of playing the 3 technique as Bennett. While Willie Young probably won't slide inside very often, he proved last year that he can set the edge against the run and will likely be moved around from left and right end, and maybe even to OLB in some packages, much as the Seahawks rotated the similarly-sized Chris Clemons.
The Bears also have two different defensive tackles in Jay Ratliff and Stephen Paea who have experience both in primarily run-stopping roles (Ratliff a 3-4 nose guard, Paea as a 4-3 nose), but have the speed and flexibility to contribute at 3 technique. Behind them are the newly drafted Will Sutton (a natural 3 technique when he's at his peak weight, but who bulked up and got experience playing the nose as well last year) and Ego Ferguson. Ego is clearly the person meant to be the Bears eventual answer to Brandon Mebane, a big, hulking man-monster who controls two gaps and frees up the rest of the line to attack the backfield.
While they have to prove it on the field, I believe there's a enough talent on that Bears defensive line to match the production Seattle got from its front four last year.
3) Move your pass-rush specialist to SLB: Bruce Irvin was a surprise pick at #13 in 2012, and after a fairly successful first season and 8 sacks as a rookie, the Seahawks made the curious decision to move Irvin to SLB in order to create more opportunities for Avril, Bennett and Clemons at DE. The move actually worked pretty well as Irvin's athleticism made him a great fit at OLB, and he was able to utilize his pass rush skills in blitz packages. Avril finished the season with 45 tackles, an INT, 2 sacks, and 15 hurries despite getting off to a slow start thanks to a 4 game suspension. The Bears are hoping Shea McClellin, a similar athlete, can enjoy a similar result.
Unfortunately there's two major pieces missing from this puzzle, one of whom is arguably the single most important player on the Seahawks defense. Ryan Mundy may be a perfectly capable strong safety, but I don't think he's Kam Chancellor, and while there's reason to like the talent of Brock Vereen, I don't know if I could drink enough to make him look like Earl Thomas.
Without that athleticism and talent at safety it's unlikely the Bears can come close to duplicating the defensive success the Seahawks enjoyed last year, but with the comparable talent in the front seven and corner, there's certainly enough pieces in place, combined with that already elite offense, to get this team into the postseason, where they'll maybe have the chance to surpass one or both of their heroes.
Other times, it just makes sense, like the proliferation of the West Coast Offense or the number of teams that have started to use the spread or run most of their offense out of the shotgun because it suits the abilities of their quarterbacks.
In the Bears case, Phil Emery has very clearly had two franchises that he's focused on emulating the last two seasons. The Bears offense, while original any many ways thanks to Trestman's sometimes unorthodox approach, shares many broad similarities and an over-arching philosophy with the vastly successful Saints attack, thanks to Trestman's close relationship with Sean Payton and his hire of Aaron Kromer as offensive coordinator. Obviously this approach has been successful, with the Bears actually out-scoring their de facto mentors this past year. Thanks to the recent moves to lock up Jay Cutler, Matt Slauson, and now Brandon Marshall, they should be able to compete at that level for at least a few more years.
This year Phil Emery has very obviously decided to model the defense after the Seahawks. This only makes sense, since the Seahawks are clearly the best defense in the NFL, but it's not exactly surprising that any number of teams are hoping to emulate what Pete Carroll and John Schneider built in the northwest.
Unlike many failed imitations in NFL history, however, the Bears may be able to make this defensive conversion work. While it's unlikely the defensive makeover will result in the Bears defense outpacing their role models like the Bears offense did, it's worth examining how Emery has attempted to copy the Seahawks approach.
1) Big corners: Charles Tillman, Kyle Fuller, and Tim Jennings are not quite the size of Richard Sherman or Brandon Browner, but Tillman and Fuller are both bigger corners, and all three are sure tacklers capable of squaring up offensive players and securing the edge without help. It's worth remembering that just a year before the disaster of 2013, Tillman and Jennings were the starting corners in the Pro Bowl. While they're undoubtedly unlikely to repeat that performance this year, there's no reason to think a healthy Tillman and Jennings can't give the Bears the flexibility they need to play the Cover 1 and Cover 3 coverages that Seattle likes to use most and allow the defense to be successful.
2)A defensive line of interchangeable parts: last year the Seahawks had one pure edge rusher in Cliff Avril. Avril was a liability against the run and pretty much always has been, but the Seahawks had enough versatile pieces around him to allow him to do what he does best.
Enter Jared Allen for the Bears. Allen was never even close to being as good of a run defender as he was a pass-rusher, and to expect him to improve in that department as a Bear would be fool-hardy, but he can still be a pass-rush specialist for a team that won't ask him to do much more than that.
Outside of Avril, the Seahawks featured twolarger than average defensive ends who often rotated to DT in Michael Bennett, and Red Bryant. The versatility of these three players allowed them to hide the fact that Seattle didn't have the truly dominant 3 technique associated with many great 4-3 defenses.
This year the Bears have a very versatile DE in Lamarr Houston who is very similar physically to Bennett. While Houston lacks the pass-rush ability of Bennett, he's still productive in that department and is as capable of playing the 3 technique as Bennett. While Willie Young probably won't slide inside very often, he proved last year that he can set the edge against the run and will likely be moved around from left and right end, and maybe even to OLB in some packages, much as the Seahawks rotated the similarly-sized Chris Clemons.
The Bears also have two different defensive tackles in Jay Ratliff and Stephen Paea who have experience both in primarily run-stopping roles (Ratliff a 3-4 nose guard, Paea as a 4-3 nose), but have the speed and flexibility to contribute at 3 technique. Behind them are the newly drafted Will Sutton (a natural 3 technique when he's at his peak weight, but who bulked up and got experience playing the nose as well last year) and Ego Ferguson. Ego is clearly the person meant to be the Bears eventual answer to Brandon Mebane, a big, hulking man-monster who controls two gaps and frees up the rest of the line to attack the backfield.
While they have to prove it on the field, I believe there's a enough talent on that Bears defensive line to match the production Seattle got from its front four last year.
3) Move your pass-rush specialist to SLB: Bruce Irvin was a surprise pick at #13 in 2012, and after a fairly successful first season and 8 sacks as a rookie, the Seahawks made the curious decision to move Irvin to SLB in order to create more opportunities for Avril, Bennett and Clemons at DE. The move actually worked pretty well as Irvin's athleticism made him a great fit at OLB, and he was able to utilize his pass rush skills in blitz packages. Avril finished the season with 45 tackles, an INT, 2 sacks, and 15 hurries despite getting off to a slow start thanks to a 4 game suspension. The Bears are hoping Shea McClellin, a similar athlete, can enjoy a similar result.
Unfortunately there's two major pieces missing from this puzzle, one of whom is arguably the single most important player on the Seahawks defense. Ryan Mundy may be a perfectly capable strong safety, but I don't think he's Kam Chancellor, and while there's reason to like the talent of Brock Vereen, I don't know if I could drink enough to make him look like Earl Thomas.
Without that athleticism and talent at safety it's unlikely the Bears can come close to duplicating the defensive success the Seahawks enjoyed last year, but with the comparable talent in the front seven and corner, there's certainly enough pieces in place, combined with that already elite offense, to get this team into the postseason, where they'll maybe have the chance to surpass one or both of their heroes.
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Jared Allen is A Bear, I was Wrong
I am, as all of you know, the world's foremost authority on most things Bears related. This is an undisputed fact according to the gremlins in my brain thing that handle such matters. However, Erik pointed out that in my last article I may have shot down the possibility of Phil Emery signing Jared Allen by saying the following:
Is Phil also probably aware that even with the new guys added and the guy's re-signed from last year (Jay Ratliff, Nate Collins, DJ Williams, Charles Tillman) the defense, while undoubtedly better, is still probably far from good? Sure. Are there more bearded, real tree camo loving band-aids out there who could get this defense in better shape for 2014 alone out there? Absolutely. He's not going to go down that road, for several reasons:
Okay. I can see how some people have interpreted me saying the Bears wouldn't sign Jared Allen as me saying the Bears wouldn't sign Jared Allen. This is not unlike the people in December who were happy to point out that me saying "There's no way Aaron Rodgers will start against the Bears in week 17" might possibly be construed as indicating that Aaron Rodgers wouldn't start the last game of the season. I could see where, from a certain point of view, it would appear I have been wrong before.
Here's where I'm not wrong: This signing is a good thing. Four years, $32 million is a scary number for a 31 year old defensive end, but as anyone with a brain has noted, in reality this is a 2 year deal worth $15.5 million. Is that still more than Jared Allen in a perfect world is probably worth? Sure, but Emery has placed himself in a pretty good position that enabled him to spend some extra dough on a player who will actually be asked to do Less in Chicago than he was in Minnesota. The Bears found two starting caliber DEs in Lamarr Houston and Willie Young, and they'd probably be able to field a decent DL with Nate Collins, Jeremiah Ratliff, and Stephen Paea at DT. Allen wasn't a true "need", but Phil scraped together the money to make a push for him without breaking the bank or handicapping their long term future. The cap is set to go up even more next year and Allen's hit will be easily absorbed.
By adding Allen, Phil immediately upgraded this defensive line (and hopefully the entire defense by extension) from capable to downright dangerous. The Bears have talked all offseason long about their desire to be "multiple" on defense, and Allen as the 3rd DE allows them to do just that. In a base 4-3 they can rotate Allen, Houston, and Young at end and Collins, Paea, and Ratliff at either tackle position. In passing situations or 3rd down they can move Houston inside and put Allen, Houston, Ratliff, and Young, all proven pass-rushers, on the line. If they want to give a 3-4 look I can easily picture Allen in a two point stance across from Shea McClellin while Houston is more than big enough to set the edge as a five technique DE and Ratliff has proven himself in a 3-4 in the past. That's the kind of flexibility a defensive coordinator dreams of.
I don't expect Allen to step into Chicago and plow his way to 13 sacks next year. Odds are he has lost a step at 31, but in Chicago he's merely a piece of the puzzle, likely to play far fewer snaps than he did last year, and he can focus even more on being the pass-rush specialist he has always been at heart. Emery knew that Allen was a luxury, and he waited for the price to drop accordingly while he took care of the defense's other needs. Once he had his ducks in a row and could afford to splurge, well, he made his play and gave us all another reason to be excited for 2014. Go Bears.
Also, this:
Suck it, Cutler haters.
Is Phil also probably aware that even with the new guys added and the guy's re-signed from last year (Jay Ratliff, Nate Collins, DJ Williams, Charles Tillman) the defense, while undoubtedly better, is still probably far from good? Sure. Are there more bearded, real tree camo loving band-aids out there who could get this defense in better shape for 2014 alone out there? Absolutely. He's not going to go down that road, for several reasons:
Okay. I can see how some people have interpreted me saying the Bears wouldn't sign Jared Allen as me saying the Bears wouldn't sign Jared Allen. This is not unlike the people in December who were happy to point out that me saying "There's no way Aaron Rodgers will start against the Bears in week 17" might possibly be construed as indicating that Aaron Rodgers wouldn't start the last game of the season. I could see where, from a certain point of view, it would appear I have been wrong before.
Here's where I'm not wrong: This signing is a good thing. Four years, $32 million is a scary number for a 31 year old defensive end, but as anyone with a brain has noted, in reality this is a 2 year deal worth $15.5 million. Is that still more than Jared Allen in a perfect world is probably worth? Sure, but Emery has placed himself in a pretty good position that enabled him to spend some extra dough on a player who will actually be asked to do Less in Chicago than he was in Minnesota. The Bears found two starting caliber DEs in Lamarr Houston and Willie Young, and they'd probably be able to field a decent DL with Nate Collins, Jeremiah Ratliff, and Stephen Paea at DT. Allen wasn't a true "need", but Phil scraped together the money to make a push for him without breaking the bank or handicapping their long term future. The cap is set to go up even more next year and Allen's hit will be easily absorbed.
By adding Allen, Phil immediately upgraded this defensive line (and hopefully the entire defense by extension) from capable to downright dangerous. The Bears have talked all offseason long about their desire to be "multiple" on defense, and Allen as the 3rd DE allows them to do just that. In a base 4-3 they can rotate Allen, Houston, and Young at end and Collins, Paea, and Ratliff at either tackle position. In passing situations or 3rd down they can move Houston inside and put Allen, Houston, Ratliff, and Young, all proven pass-rushers, on the line. If they want to give a 3-4 look I can easily picture Allen in a two point stance across from Shea McClellin while Houston is more than big enough to set the edge as a five technique DE and Ratliff has proven himself in a 3-4 in the past. That's the kind of flexibility a defensive coordinator dreams of.
I don't expect Allen to step into Chicago and plow his way to 13 sacks next year. Odds are he has lost a step at 31, but in Chicago he's merely a piece of the puzzle, likely to play far fewer snaps than he did last year, and he can focus even more on being the pass-rush specialist he has always been at heart. Emery knew that Allen was a luxury, and he waited for the price to drop accordingly while he took care of the defense's other needs. Once he had his ducks in a row and could afford to splurge, well, he made his play and gave us all another reason to be excited for 2014. Go Bears.
Also, this:
Suck it, Cutler haters.
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