Chicago Bears game coaches film analysis

Originally posted by jonnydel:

Originally posted by NYniner85:
Thanks for the write up look forward to reading it every week! Man I would love for Roman to sit back and watch some Charger and Bronco games. I would love to see some pick plays like they run in Denver with Boldin/Crabs. I love how both teams look for the high % throws and gain 4 and 5 yards and allow the play makers to make plays....I don't know a ton about offensive play calling, but you'd think that running plays like this would force the DB's to play up which would allow us to take a shot down the field. Do you think Kap can pull off this shorter passes like Rivers and Manning do??

The problem with that is that we don't see straight man coverage all that often. Teams will mix a lot of man coverage in with zones against guys like Peyton and Brees because they HAVE to. You have to keep them on their toes, and it's easier to try and play "cat" defense against Manning and Brees than to try and outscheme those QB's(Cat defense is, "I got this cat, you got that cat"). If you try and play constant zone against a Peyton Manning or Rodgers or Brees, they're gonna carve you up all day. They'll move guys around with their eyes and know where all the soft spots are and can identify most zones pre-snap. Also, teams aren't that worried about a Manning or Brees running with the ball so they don't fear turning their back to the QB.

Defenses refuse to turn their backs on CK because of what he did to GB. They tried to run man coverage with just a "spy" on CK and he ran for more yards than any QB in history. No one is going to allow that. So, we rarely see man coverage which is what those pick plays are so good at defeating.

Thanks for clarifying don't know much about coverage/schemes, but I'm learning!

Originally posted by Phil:

Originally posted by jonnydel:
I'm not meaning to rail on the officials, but this was inexcusable and did cost us a TD on a drive when CK fumbled later:


This is the "hold" Boldin was called for.....

yet on the same freaking play this guy has Gore by the back of his jersey Ummmmm horse collar?

Still no horse collar?????

STILL NO HORSE COLLAR????!?!?!?!? The official has not one, but TWO eyes on the play - Gore is taken to the ground......
I'm sorry but there's no excuse for that.....

There's actually 4 eyes on that. 2 officials at the goal line on either side.

Thought the same thing when I saw this...I guess they could argue that he didn't have his hand inside the pads and was pulling on the jersey, which is legal (like what happened last night in the Colts/Eagles game) but come on...

There was another one they didn't call at the sidelines...forgot which play. I remember being angry about it. On the other one it was blatant.

Nice analysis as always. I also want to mention is I felt had Kaepernick felt the rush better then he did like he did the GB WildCard game LY and knew when to take off, had he taken off before the rush got there then there coulda been some huge Gashing Kap runs and or possible deep completions like the VD TD vs the Cowgirls LW or Long scrambles like against GB last years playoffs but he was SLOW to feel the rush and took two kinda unnessary sacks I felt.

Originally posted by NYniner85:

Originally posted by jonnydel:

Originally posted by NYniner85:
Thanks for the write up look forward to reading it every week! Man I would love for Roman to sit back and watch some Charger and Bronco games. I would love to see some pick plays like they run in Denver with Boldin/Crabs. I love how both teams look for the high % throws and gain 4 and 5 yards and allow the play makers to make plays....I don't know a ton about offensive play calling, but you'd think that running plays like this would force the DB's to play up which would allow us to take a shot down the field. Do you think Kap can pull off this shorter passes like Rivers and Manning do??

The problem with that is that we don't see straight man coverage all that often. Teams will mix a lot of man coverage in with zones against guys like Peyton and Brees because they HAVE to. You have to keep them on their toes, and it's easier to try and play "cat" defense against Manning and Brees than to try and outscheme those QB's(Cat defense is, "I got this cat, you got that cat"). If you try and play constant zone against a Peyton Manning or Rodgers or Brees, they're gonna carve you up all day. They'll move guys around with their eyes and know where all the soft spots are and can identify most zones pre-snap. Also, teams aren't that worried about a Manning or Brees running with the ball so they don't fear turning their back to the QB.

Defenses refuse to turn their backs on CK because of what he did to GB. They tried to run man coverage with just a "spy" on CK and he ran for more yards than any QB in history. No one is going to allow that. So, we rarely see man coverage which is what those pick plays are so good at defeating.

Thanks for clarifying don't know much about coverage/schemes, but I'm learning!

as we are all! Football is a wonderful game that always leaves more to be taught and learned

Originally posted by jonnydel:

Originally posted by jonesadrian:

Originally posted by Phil:
^ Ya, he's staring Boldin down, mistake no1 but look at the pass itself. If there was an arch to it and placed in front of Boldin that's a TD. That ball was poorly thrown along wit the fact he was staring Boldin down. Look where Boldin is when the ball is intercepted, it is intercepted at the 30 and Boldin is at about the 28. Not only was the pass low but it was behind Boldin.

i disagree that would have been a completion but he should have laid it out there. honestly we don't really run those type of plays enough imo. kap doesn't have to make those throws, i can recall just 1 to lloyd in the preseason and then this pass usually they go to vd and he can drop them in there to him. he has to do that with other people as well.

i think back to the bomb that vd caught against tampa bay.. so he CAN make those throws he just has to be called on to make those throws MORE. we need to take our shots down the field to stretch the defense and kill them with the underneath yards after catch stuff.

i think kap did a decent job on checking down against the bears. but overall he had a bad game and he's allowed to. he'll just work harder and be determined to not make those same mistakes again.

That's a hard one to analyze because there is a receiver running deep on almost every play. What do you mean by "deep threat" it's a term that's used a lot, but I think sometimes it means different things. Are we meaning someone who can go vertical and make the plays or plays designed with multiple deep routes where a good route runner will get open in the soft spots deep downfield?

Deep shots are great, but only if the play is there to be made. Teams are trying to make us work the short to mid outside zones. They are actively trying to take away the middle of the field and protect against the run. So, it's not like there are tons of shots deep downfield to take, teams rarely line up in man coverage against us, the Corners are almost always pressed off without safety help.

I do agree though, that if we are able to his some deep back shoulder/comback routes we'll be much more dangerous.

I mean a legit vertical threat other than VD who will get by the db or the db absolutely has to respect on the outside. Even if we have to end up lining vernon on the outside to do it I'm all for it. You explained it exactly as I was thinking it. Teams are worried about the deep middle because that is where vernon will beat them. They're not worried about the outside as much as they should be. So if it means lining vernon up straight wide out then so be it because we have to make the defenses expand more. We had 1 burner who's sole purpose is to make sure that a safety has to give outside help.. there really wouldn't be a way to stop this offense. You can't give help to the middle and to one side of the outside and expect to stop us because the other side will be open season. Guarding against the run that entire 15 yard area in the middle of the field will be vacated more than not leaving our guys with free grass on the strength of the outside threat... even if that threat has to be vd

as far as the comeback routes, just have to call them. end of last year kap was doing that regularly with boldin and crab. 15 yard back shoulder throws that the defense couldn't stop.
My only problem with the offense is we don't progress as far as if 1 thing works, keep doing it and build upon it. we seem to see something works and then tuck it in our caps for the "perfect time" to do it again.

just keep killing people until they stop it. i fully believe we have the most diverse and dangerous playbook in the entire nfl. the most versatile offense in the entire nfl
i get frustrated when we don't go out there to dominate and destroy opponents.

Originally posted by NCommand:

Originally posted by Phil:

Originally posted by jonnydel:
I'm not meaning to rail on the officials, but this was inexcusable and did cost us a TD on a drive when CK fumbled later:


This is the "hold" Boldin was called for.....

yet on the same freaking play this guy has Gore by the back of his jersey Ummmmm horse collar?

Still no horse collar?????

STILL NO HORSE COLLAR????!?!?!?!? The official has not one, but TWO eyes on the play - Gore is taken to the ground......
I'm sorry but there's no excuse for that.....

There's actually 4 eyes on that. 2 officials at the goal line on either side.

Thought the same thing when I saw this...I guess they could argue that he didn't have his hand inside the pads and was pulling on the jersey, which is legal (like what happened last night in the Colts/Eagles game) but come on...

As far as I understand, the only time this is legal is if it's on a QB who's still in the pocket. Any grab of the jersey or pads from the back of the neck is illegal. I remember someone got flagged for doing this to a guy by his hair hanging out the back of his helmet.....

I had already understood, from watching the game live, that it was mostly an execution problem. It was all Kap. He had a meltdown. Bad field vision, staring down recivers, bad throws... The audible into run on third as well. The delay of game that should have been called on the TD. The ints, the fumble. Our D gave us enough solid play early to put this game away but Kaps meltdown put them in bad position time and time again. We were passing because they were stacking the box and leaving room all over the field. And that's how everyone will play us from here on out- it's what they do, stack the box and dare us to throw. Until Kap can make them pay for doing so, on more consistent basis, we'll see some very frustrating games. Arizona's secondary has me worried. We need to just run on them but Kap has to empty out the box early or Frank/Hyde are going to be running into brick walls all day. Kap doesn't bounce back well so I think they'll limit him to 15-20 throws.

Here's one of our goal line fails. This was 2nd and goal from the 6 or so. The drive ended with a field goal.


We're going to run a hard power to our left. We're going to pull Iupati and McDonald and lead with Bruce Miller. It's a good play until Boone fails...

We get good, strong combo blocks on the 3 and 5 techniques and Boone is alone on the 1 technique - with a good angle on him for the block.


However, Boone gets chucked to the ground, losing his man - not only that, but he trips Martin in the process leaving Davis without the combo.


It just turns into a cluster after this - the dominoes fall. It lets the DE get penetration and the whole play is blown up.


There's now piles of humanity on the ground and the run is stuffed. If Boone maintains his block - I'm not saying it's a TD, but, you have a lot of weight hitting the hole full speed. That's a lot of big guys with a fast, big back hitting an area hard.

Originally posted by Phil:

Originally posted by Phil:




^ Ya, he's staring Boldin down, mistake no1 but look at the pass itself. If there was an arch to it and placed in front of Boldin that's a TD. That ball was poorly thrown along wit the fact he was staring Boldin down. Look where Boldin is when the ball is intercepted, it is intercepted at the 30 and Boldin is at about the 28. Not only was the pass low but it was behind Boldin.

Kap has a huge issue with throwing guys open and hitting guys in stride consistently and has an issue with putting a lob on his passes.

he didnt intend to lob that at all. clearly thought his arm could beat the defender

Originally posted by Phil:

Originally posted by jonesadrian:

Originally posted by Phil:
^ Ya, he's staring Boldin down, mistake no1 but look at the pass itself. If there was an arch to it and placed in front of Boldin that's a TD. That ball was poorly thrown along wit the fact he was staring Boldin down. Look where Boldin is when the ball is intercepted, it is intercepted at the 30 and Boldin is at about the 28. Not only was the pass low but it was behind Boldin.

i disagree that would have been a completion but he should have laid it out there. honestly we don't really run those type of plays enough imo. kap doesn't have to make those throws, i can recall just 1 to lloyd in the preseason and then this pass usually they go to vd and he can drop them in there to him. he has to do that with other people as well.

i think back to the bomb that vd caught against tampa bay.. so he CAN make those throws he just has to be called on to make those throws MORE. we need to take our shots down the field to stretch the defense and kill them with the underneath yards after catch stuff.

i think kap did a decent job on checking down against the bears. but overall he had a bad game and he's allowed to. he'll just work harder and be determined to not make those same mistakes again.

IMO he needs to work with Whitfield on getting an arch/lob on his passes with a softer touch. A little rainbow on that pass, laid out in front of Boldin and it's a TD. He can do it, just not consistently. And we design way too many plays with stationary receivers.

By 'stationary receivers' do you mean when a WR catches ball and he's not running? The conventional rule is you run away from man coverage, and you sit down in zones. This isn't always the case, but that's what you're seeing. When you watch the ARi game next week, this will not be the case. ARI plays predominantly man coverage and we will see the 49er WRs catching the ball on the run.

Originally posted by jonnydel:
As far as I understand, the only time this is legal is if it's on a QB who's still in the pocket. Any grab of the jersey or pads from the back of the neck is illegal. I remember someone got flagged for doing this to a guy by his hair hanging out the back of his helmet.....

Seriously, that's what I thought as well until the game last night and the commentators said in order for it to be a horse collar, the defender has to grab inside the pads...but grabbing the jersey was OK. I was like, ?!?

But that "tackle" looked even worse in real-time!

Originally posted by jonnydel:
Here's one of our goal line fails. This was 2nd and goal from the 6 or so. The drive ended with a field goal.


We're going to run a hard power to our left. We're going to pull Iupati and McDonald and lead with Bruce Miller. It's a good play until Boone fails...

We get good, strong combo blocks on the 3 and 5 techniques and Boone is alone on the 1 technique - with a good angle on him for the block.


However, Boone gets chucked to the ground, losing his man - not only that, but he trips Martin in the process leaving Davis without the combo.


It just turns into a cluster after this - the dominoes fall. It lets the DE get penetration and the whole play is blown up.


There's now piles of humanity on the ground and the run is stuffed. If Boone maintains his block - I'm not saying it's a TD, but, you have a lot of weight hitting the hole full speed. That's a lot of big guys with a fast, big back hitting an area hard.

That is why you don't run the ball with 11 and 12 men in the box. Totally poor play calling

Originally posted by jonnydel:
Here's one of our goal line fails. This was 2nd and goal from the 6 or so. The drive ended with a field goal.


We're going to run a hard power to our left. We're going to pull Iupati and McDonald and lead with Bruce Miller. It's a good play until Boone fails...

We get good, strong combo blocks on the 3 and 5 techniques and Boone is alone on the 1 technique - with a good angle on him for the block.


However, Boone gets chucked to the ground, losing his man - not only that, but he trips Martin in the process leaving Davis without the combo.


It just turns into a cluster after this - the dominoes fall. It lets the DE get penetration and the whole play is blown up.


There's now piles of humanity on the ground and the run is stuffed. If Boone maintains his block - I'm not saying it's a TD, but, you have a lot of weight hitting the hole full speed. That's a lot of big guys with a fast, big back hitting an area hard.

Also, this is a 10-man box. Someone is 1on1 on this play as a receiver, no? You can see how the Bears were lining up out wide on the edges to ensure to guard against an off-tackle run (by either CK or a RB) but this is one where you have to audible out of...or keep the same formation but switch to the pass. It's all-or-nothing but so is the run play...low chance of success here. I'd probably take my chances out wide. If it breaks down, this is where CK and the TE's and WR's are good at ad lib TD's or throw it away and try again. They had just stuffed us on first down.

Why don't we do naked bootlegs w/ Kap (remember Young and Favre running them and Kap is faster)?