By Jim Coffman
Never has the conventional wisdom about a defense’s stuffing of an opposing running game automatically leading to an effective assault on the quarterback proven less true than during the Bears’ fourth loss of the season Sunday. As it turns out, if guys can’t rush the passer, they can’t rush the passer, no matter how much the other team throws the ball. Right now, the Bears don’t have anyone who can even invade the signal-caller’s space more than once or twice a game. And while the Titans’ offensive line may be the best in the league right now, their counterparts on the Lions certainly aren’t and the Bears couldn’t mount a sustained rush against them either the week before.
The Bears didn’t just fail to create pressure, they failed to even get a push up the middle, enabling Titan quarterback Kerry Collins to step up and deliver pass after pass to comfortably open receivers. A big part of the blame has to go to coach Lovie’s overall philosophy. The Bears simply don’t have enough strength at defensive tackle (Coach Smith prizes quickness at the position above all else) and the Titans’ much stronger guards and center completely sealed off the Bears’ interior linemen The only guy who even started to slip through Titan blockers in the middle on a couple occasions Sunday was Israel Idonije. Big Money tackle Tommie Harris made a tackle for loss right at the start of the game and pounded down Tennessee running back LenDale White just in front of the goal line late, but was otherwise invisible.
The game’s three phases, in the appropriate order:
1. The Bears blitzed a bit more but you could tell their heart wasn’t in it. They usually sent no more than one extra guy and there was nothing exotic, nothing resembling Buddy Ryan’s old 46 scheme or the zone blitzes that work so well for the league’s best defense – the one in Pittsburgh. You would have thought with the Bears’ supposed strength at linebacker and their struggles to rush the passer all season, perhaps they might have started to incorporate some of that stuff in the past few weeks. No dice. Actually, the Bears did manage one great blitz . . . on a running play. Mike Brown and Brian Urlacher blasted through to take down running back Kris Johnson for a half-dozen yard loss early on, but as usual on this day there was no resulting turnover or even a significant shift in field position.
2. More than anything, poor field position lost this one. Devin Hester isn’t just failing to generate long returns, he isn’t generating medium ones (although he finally returned one kick-off and one punt well late in the game). And you can’t win games like this if your punter is out-kicked by as much as Brad Maynard was out-kicked. He never did launch a field-position changing blast, his second punt was low and weak and the resulting return inside the 30 set up the Titans’ first score (OK, OK, Grossman’s interception actually started that ball rolling, giving the Titans the ball well inside Bear territory before an unforced fumble briefly gave the Bears life – Maynard’s bad punt capped off the ensuing ineffective possession). Numerous less-than-40-yard efforts followed. When Titan punter Craig Hentrich had a chance to punt one inside the 15, he did. When Maynard had the same chance, he kicked it into the end zone on the fly.
3. Rex Grossman looked great on the Bears’ first drive, scared the crap out of his coaches with a terrible interception on the second (nobody throws the panicky, back-footed heave into double-coverage better than he does) and then couldn’t get out of the shadow of his own goal posts until the fourth quarter. Part of that has to be attributed to rust – let’s face it, completing a lot of these passes takes a hell of a lot of practice and Grossman hasn’t had it – part of it to poor play-calling and part of it to the quarterback’s deficiencies. As the game progressed there was some booing that was deserved and more that was not. The fans sure seemed to hop right back on the bandwagon when Grossman finally got it going again late but there’s just no way this whole thing ends well. It will definitely be time for Grossman to go at the end of this season, for his sake and the Bears’.
Other bits:
* During an early commercial break, the Patriot-lover in my house requested we check the score in her team’s game with the Bills. We got there just in time to see a long Matt Cassel to Wes Welker completion… except, wait a minute, Welker’s second foot definitely wasn’t down in bounds. The opposing coach needs to get that red flag out there in front of an official, he needs to make a scene to make sure there’s a replay review before the next play begins. Except that coach is Dick Jauron, and Jauron absolutely, positively does not make scenes. So there he is calmly talking to an official after the next play went off before Jauron could make what should have been an easy challenge. And later on, the Bills suffered their third straight crushing loss, officially obliterating their sparkling 5-2 start. Coincidence? Speaking of replay, the downside of that capability was on display in the Giants-Eagles game Sunday night. Several non-conclusive replay reviews went on for so long . . . I’m thinking the last non-Giants or Eagles fan watching this one signed off in the middle of the fourth quarter.
* Dumbest Dan Deirdorf comment of the Bears broadcast: the one about the Titans having weak wide receivers in the midst of a game in which guys who answer to that description, primarily Brandon Jones and Justin Gage, consistently created space between themselves and defensive backs. And sure enough, the play after Deirdorf took the shot at the Tennessee wideouts, Gage got inside Nate Vasher or Charles Tillman on a slant again (their ineptitude was interchangeable Sunday) and scored. Both players are trying to bounce back from injuries and are less than healthy. Otherwise, though, Deirdorf seemed less annoying than he has in the past. Congratulations, Dan, on generating considerably less vitriolic disdain this time around.
Hawk Talk
And finally, a little hockey news.
Don’t look now but the Hawks have dominated their last three home games, winning 5-2, 6-2 and 6-1 (and they eked out a road victory between the first two). They torched the Calgary Flames Sunday and while the game was closer than the score indicated for most of two periods, the Hawks eventually pulled away again. Folks always talk about offense being the best defense and not letting up after grabbing a lead, but it has been a long time since the Hawks had the offensive firepower, and the wherewithal, to make it happen. So far these Hawks seem capable. As for the Hawks’ dynamic duo of second-year stars, well, Jonathon Toews is a fine young talent who seems to be wearing the captain’s “C” comfortably enough. He finally got on the scoreboard with his first goal of the season Sunday. But the guy who keys this whole thing for the Hawks is Patrick Kane. Another youngster, Kris Versteeg, set up the Hawks’ first goal against the Flames with a clever little pass and they got lucky on a long point shot for the second. Then Kane took over. He scored the third goal and feathered two perfect passes to set up tallies four and five. He is worth the price of admission, especially when the game starts at 6 p.m. and I can therefore easily bring my kids (way to go Hawks!).
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Jim Coffman brings you the city’s best weekend sports roundup every Monday because he loves you. You can write to him personally! Please include a real name if you would like your comments to be considered for publication.
Posted on November 10, 2008