Chicago Bears game coaches film analysis

Wow, well done to you and thl408 as there wasn't a single point I disagreed with.

I personally would have liked to see more of a focus on press/jamming at the LOS as both Marshall and Jeffrey had hamstring and ankle injuries...perhaps use Cook on the outside (since he knows these two well) instead of Cox/Johnson and slide Cox inside to the slot over Ward as the Bears were clearly targeting him from the slot. Make them earn it. We needed height, muscle and reach out there. Lots of back shoulder catches on off coverage..jamming would have made that more risky/challenging...be an obstacle. They adjusted and we didn't.

And then like thl noted, it was obvious CK was fired up and throwing high and inaccurate...so calm him down, give him a bunch of short passes to McDonald, VD, the RB's in the middle of the field/edges until he's settled down...maybe a quick WR or RB screen. I felt like we could have spread them out more and run inside too. It seemed like the FB-lead blocks were working esp. off tackle (Miller and McDonald were blocking very well this game and Staley sealed the edge very well esp. on that TD run). Too many predictable runs on first downs hurt. The Bears seemed like they knew what was coming often. After all their injuries (6 of them?), I felt we could have exploited those mismatches using all of our weapons. I loved the fake outside-handoff to Ellington while running Gore up inside. But they never once tried to use Ellington and actually run him off tackle (he looked like he'd pick up huge yards on the edge); don't think HaRoman know how to use him. OC seems to struggle with setting teams up (chess). Johnson seems clutch on the outside but I'd like to see him worked inside out as well (slot). Very few, if any slants or crossing routes. As always, we pretty much stayed to the sidelines all game and I have to give it up to Fuller and Conte for making terrific reads/jumps/INT's. But to me, they didn't seem to worry too much about the middle of the field (they scouted us well). Saw some more poor situational awareness esp. late in the 4Q, some odd formations, etc. It was also obvious from the start that the Bears were focused on containing CK on his QB-keepers. I think only 1 of 8 or so actually worked for positive yards. The "threat" worked though for Gore/Hyde.

Overall, I agree...we absolutely gave them this win and bailed them out time and time again. It was a collective fail, unfortunately. Untimely penalties, TO's, lack of awareness by coaches to help CK, CK not seeing the field as well this game, dropped passes, OL still outnumbered and inconsistent, etc. I'd have to rate our OL this week, best-to-worst: Kilgore, Iupati, Martin, Staley & Boone

Originally posted by thl408:
This is the simple way to attack cover3.


Similar to what happened in DAL, short throws over the middle to use a ball control passing type attack. Kap's rocket arm combined with WRs sitting down in quiet areas of the zone.


Easy 9 yards to Vance.


CHI LBs were crowding the line on some plays, but that just means the pass pro has to hold up a bit longer to allow the underneath zone defenders to sag into their zones, eventually spread apart, and reveal the holes in the zone. I felt the 49ers could have done more of this on a night Kap was showing inaccuracy in his throws.

This is where we need what I call the "traditional TE." A guy who can quickly find those open spots in the zone at 5-8 yards, use his body to shield the defender and make an easy catch. In your film clips it is easy to spot those zones. They aren't sexy plays but they move the chains.

Vernon Davis is a great deep threat but he is not that kind of TE. McDonald doesn't seem to fit that bill either but Carrier did seem to have some of those moves apart from one route that was broken.

Nothing helps a QB that is struggling with accuracy than to provide easy, short routes to help him get on rhythm. Funny how everyone complained when Alex Smith threw those routes and now they never use them and the results are obvious.

^^^^ Yes!

Originally posted by dj43:
Carrier did seem to have some of those moves apart

I agree Carrier is our savior

Originally posted by znk916:

Originally posted by dj43:
Carrier did seem to have some of those moves apart

I agree Carrier is our savior

I'm not sure HaRo have those routes in the book but they should be. The last really good TE we had that could run those routes was Eric Johnson, and he was very good.

This is the harder way to attack cover3. Trying to go at the CBs and how they use bail technique. It works well if the WRs can instill fear into the CBs that the WRs are capable of beating them vertically. That is not Boldin/Crabs/SJ.

CBs playing cover3 will bail at the snap to get to their deep third zone, making sure nothing gets behind them. Here, the 49ers try to get a short gain on a quick curl. To do so, the WR needs to sell the deep route and get that CB's hips turned up the field, then curl the route, for what should be a sure catch.

3rd Quarter - This is the 1st Fuller INT where he "took it away" from Crabs.


The CB is seen bailing, watching the QB. Because Crabs can't threaten deep, the CB never fully turns upfield. This should still be okay, provided Kap puts the ball on the correct shoulder - the inside shoulder, towards the middle of the field.


Instead of throwing the path of the yellow, he throws the path of the orange, which allows Fuller to make a play.


INT'ed. It's a longer throw for what would probably be an 8-10 yard gain. The benefit of attacking the CB is more RAC potential if a tackle is broken since there aren't 3 LBs patrolling the area, like in the middle of the field. The downside is an inaccurate throw is big trouble.

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So now the 49ers know that Fuller is cheating, and not respecting Crabs' speed. This is on the final drive of the game. Crabs (bottom of screen) will do a hitch and go and try to catch Fuller cheating.


The hitch by Crabs combined with a pump fake from Kap. Fuller doesn't fall for it.


49ers also had a Smash concept on the other side, with a route over the middle, but Kap wants the big play. The double move never worked and Kap is sacked. The 49ers were fortunate enough to extend this drive on a 4th down conversion, but these two plays made me very uneasy about how the 49ers wanted to move the ball in the passing game in the 2nd half, particularly when they were trailing. I felt they could have gotten a short gain over the middle, again it's 2nd & 8.

^^^^exactly, the drag is open and official is even there to set the natural pick.

Originally posted by thl408:
This is the harder way to attack cover3. Trying to go at the CBs and how they use bail technique. It works well if the WRs can instill fear into the CBs that the WRs are capable of beating them vertically. That is not Boldin/Crabs/SJ.

CBs playing cover3 will bail at the snap to get to their deep third zone, making sure nothing gets behind them. Here, the 49ers try to get a short gain on a quick curl. To do so, the WR needs to sell the deep route and get that CB's hips turned up the field, then curl the route, for what should be a sure catch.

3rd Quarter - This is the 1st Fuller INT where he "took it away" from Crabs.


The CB is seen bailing, watching the QB. Because Crabs can't threaten deep, the CB never fully turns upfield. This should still be okay, provided Kap puts the ball on the correct shoulder - the inside shoulder, towards the middle of the field.


Instead of throwing the path of the yellow, he throws the path of the orange, which allows Fuller to make a play.


INT'ed. It's a longer throw for what would probably be an 8-10 yard gain. The benefit of attacking the CB is more RAC potential if a tackle is broken since there aren't 3 LBs patrolling the area, like in the middle of the field. The downside is an inaccurate throw is big trouble.

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So now the 49ers know that Fuller is cheating, and not respecting Crabs' speed. This is on the final drive of the game. Crabs (bottom of screen) will do a hitch and go and try to catch Fuller cheating.

The hitch by Crabs combined with a pump fake from Kap. Fuller doesn't fall for it.

^ I was actually working on breaking down this play as well and had come to the same conclusion. It's a good route, good read, right throw - terrible throw. If he throws that ball inside so that the receiver can use his body to shield from the defender - this should be an automatic play.

Originally posted by jonnydel:
^ I was actually working on breaking down this play as well and had come to the same conclusion. It's a good route, good read, right throw - terrible throw. If he throws that ball inside so that the receiver can use his body to shield from the defender - this should be an automatic play.

Please add to the post what you were going to put down. It can only help us better understand what happened.

edit: I see one reason why Kap felt he needed to put that throw to the outside shoulder. Notice the weak side LB and how he is playing the passing lane. If Kap puts that on the inside shoulder, there might be a chance for that :LB to make a play on the ball. THe LB lunged for the throw but it was out of his reach.

Here's CK's 3rd INT. It was the right guy he threw it to, just way too late and he should've never left the pocket.


Here Chicago shows a 2 deep safety look at the LOS. We running different concepts on each side of the field. We're running a cover 2 zone/man beating at the top and a cover 3 zone beating concept at the bottom. They're both hi/lo reads. Chicago rotates the SS into a deep middle for cover 3 zone.


Note how the safety has moved to a deep middle. The LB see's the TE go vertical so he bails to the underneath coverage on Crabtree. Jared Allen has the edge on Staley, but, Staley is doing a good job of pushing him upfield. Iupati has his man locked down and so there is room for CK to step up in the pocket.


The rookie CB is squatting on Crabs route, he's not in position to hit the corner route - he's trying to jump the curl route to get another pick. Ck should step up in the pocket and fire the ball into the TE who has space to be open. With CK's arm and the corner squatting, this should be a big gain. Instead, CK decides to bail out of the pocket which causes Iupati to lose his man.

You see the corner squatting on Crabs - he's not watching the QB, the TE was open - throw him the ball! instead he panicked and fled the pocket. You see how there was a pocket to throw from.


By the time he gets out of the pocket and throws the ball, it's too late. The corner was given time to recover, locate CK and drop back on an underthrown ball. It was underthrown because CK was moving to his left trying to throw the ball deep downfield - bad decision, bad play at a bad time.

Originally posted by thl408:

Originally posted by jonnydel:
^ I was actually working on breaking down this play as well and had come to the same conclusion. It's a good route, good read, right throw - terrible throw. If he throws that ball inside so that the receiver can use his body to shield from the defender - this should be an automatic play.

Please add to the post what you were going to put down. It can only help us better understand what happened.

edit: I see one reason why Kap felt he needed to put that throw to the outside shoulder. Notice the weak side LB and how he is playing the passing lane. If Kap puts that on the inside shoulder, there might be a chance for that :LB to make a play on the ball. THe LB lunged for the throw but it was out of his reach.

It wasn't anything more than what you put. I was literally going to say the same thing you did :)

Originally posted by BleedsRedNGold:

Originally posted by SoCold:


looks left, pump fake then hits open target over the middle
perfect

wish he would do this the entire game

think he gets lazy and a little too cocky

No, he was just cocky. Rocket arm syndrome. He thinks his rockets can overcome a poor read and a poor throw.

what I mean by lazy is not taking the time to look off the DB and staring down one target, that's how interceptions happen

Originally posted by Niners816:
^^^^exactly, the drag is open and official is even there to set the natural pick.

Well...it looks like he never even had time to come off that first receiver to get to his second read.

Here's an example of how Wilhoite is really coming along and the D-tackles played superb in this game:


The Bears come out in a 2 TE set, which we respond to by going with a "Nickel" package. They show balanced first and then motion the "U" TE to the other side creating an unbalanced set.


You see the unbalanced strength of the formation. We are also keeping 2 safeties back. This means the offense has "hat on a hat" strength - 7 blockers against 7 defenders. This should be a win for them in the run game. They're going to try and run a "wham" type tackle trap. The problem is Justin Smith does a phenomenal job against this play. The LG is supposed to just chip him and move to the 2nd level on Willis, but, Smith doesn't try and go upfield, he follows the LG and remains engaged. Also, RayMac was a best on this play.

You see the LG #70 is trying to disengage off Smith to get to Wilhoite or Willis, Smith has him locked down. So the TE doesn't have someone to immediately block. RayMac does the same thing. he is able to take on a triple team to occupy 3 lineman. Wilhiote then does a good job of "scraping" the line. He keeps his shoulders square to the LOS reading the lane by the lineman and the RB to attack whichever direction he cuts.

The biggest thing is that once Wilhoite sees the lane open, he closes the door immediately. He attacks the hole - he didn't do that last week.


Forte tries to cut back but he has nowhere to go because the door's been closed. Wilhoite and Smith are credited with the tackle. Great job all around by the defense.

Here's the first TD we scored in the game. It was a good play design and execution:


Here you see there's no safety in the middle of the field. This means the Bears are blitzing. The question is - who is blitzing? The safety Conte is either going to be blitzing, in man coverage on Crabtree, or doubling the Johnson in the slot.

So, to answer this question we bring Crabtree in a short motion. Conte moves with Crabtree, not the Nickel back. This reveals that the nickel is blitzing and Conte is in man coverage on Crabtree.

We motion Crabtree back to his original spot. Chicago is coming with heavy pressure - not too dissimilar than what the Ravens did to us on 4th and goal in the SB.


So we're going to run a play that the Bronco's love to run at the goal line. We're going to run Crabs out to the flat with double slants from the 2 Wideouts. This creates 4 people that Conte has to fight through to get to Crabs.

You see he's trying to race over the top of the crowd to get to Crabs.


He really has no shot at this point.


Easy TD