Heading into week one of the NFL season, there was much excitement around the Chicago Bears. That excitement quickly turned into dread with the Bears’ poor execution on both offense and defense to begin the game. After poor first drives, both sides of the ball played decent for the rest of the first half. However, the Bears got completely out-coached in the second half, resulting in a loss. Here are three takeaways from the embarrassing week one loss to the Packers.
The Bears organization made it a point to strengthen their offensive line this offseason after Justin Fields was the most sacked quarterback last season. However, the line did not look better against the Packers, allowing the second most pressures in week one at 35, according to Brad Spielbergeer of Pro Football Focus. These pressures led to Fields taking four sacks. If this type of play from the offensive line continues throughout this season, he will be the most-sacked quarterback again this year.
However, this is the worst-case scenario and should not happen. The offensive line should gel and be able to protect Fields as the season continues. While that is a lot to ask after watching the atrocity in week one, it must happen for the Bears to succeed this season.
Entering this game, many assumed the Bears’ game plan would be to run the ball and vertically challenge the Packers. Well, the Bears did run the ball, and it was not very effective. So, they had to rely on passing the ball, which should not have been an issue with their upgraded weapons. However, the Bears passing game plan was atrocious. Considering they attacked the field horizontally, which was the game plan according to Justin Fields. As seen, this meant throwing smoke screen passes and crossing routes. The execution of most of these plays was terrible, and no halftime adjustments were made by the Bears offense.
While attacking the field horizontally was a horrible decision, the inclusion of D.J. Moore into the offense was criminal. Moore ended the game with two catches on two targets for 25 yards. Both of Moore’s catches came on the same drive early in the game. After that, Fields did not look Moore’s way again. That absolutely should not happen after the organization traded away the number one overall pick to acquire him. Whether it was that plays were not schemed to go Moore’s way or it was Fields not seeing Moore, offensive coordinator Luke Getsy needs to help set these two up to succeed.
All in all, the Bears’ game plan was unacceptable in week one and needs to change if they plan on winning at all this season.
The Bears needed to put Jordan Love under pressure to have a chance in this game. However, that did not happen, as the defense only gathered six pressures and one sack. The lack of pass rush allowed the Packers to be 9 of 16 on third-down conversions. Nullifying the work the defense did on first and second down and allowing the Packers to continue driving. Pass rushers not producing any pressure is the same problem the Bears had last year. This is a major disappointment after adding players who were supposed to help with this issue during the offseason.
While the Bear’s new signings certainly need to step up, not producing pass rush is not 100% on them. Since defensive coordinator Alan Williams only rushes four and does not like to run stunts or gains. This means the pass rush has no help and needs to win straight one-on-one battles. No matter how good the pass rushers are, that is a difficult thing to consistently do. That is why Williams needs to change up the play-calling. If he does not, then the Bears might be on course to have the worst pass rush in the NFL again.
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