NEWSLETTER
Sometimes, football games are won by the acts of giant, athletic freaks on the gridiron. And other times, they’re won in the film room. Indeed, predictability is a big part of running a successful defense and the ability to protect against it can bring a clicking offense to another level.
The Bears, unfortunately, have had trouble with the latter.
Consider, for a moment, a photo of Mitch Trubisky’s second interception against the Lions on Saturday:
This is where Mitchell needs to learn to throw it away and take 3 points.
Brown, Wright, Cunningham don’t get separation. Inman is double teamed and so is Sims.
Everything that could go wrong on that play went wrong. pic.twitter.com/gevHCR0MXp
— The Ten-Yard Line (@TheTenYardLine) December 19, 2017
The Detroit Lions clearly have this play well-scouted, as every receiver in the pattern is completely covered (and in the case of Dontrelle Inman and Dion Sims … double covered). This was trouble waiting to happen. But what exactly did happen? And could it have been prevented?
Well, on an earlier interception, Lions cornerback Darius Slay mentioned that a recognized route combination led him to abandon his man for a chance at a game-changing pick. With that in mind, it’s reasonable to assume that Detroit’s defenders might’ve saw something familiar on Trubisky’s end zone interception, as well. After all, it was the same play the team ran two weeks earlier and scored a touchdown on with Trubisky hitting Dontrelle Inman.
In both cases, film study gave the Lions’ defense the edge it needed to make a play.
On the flip side, here is what it looks like when you can throw an unforeseen wrinkle at an opposing defense that you know has you well scouted:
— Nate Freeman (@NateFreemanNFL) December 18, 2017
This exchange between Carolina Panthers QB Cam Newton and Green Bay Packers outside linebacker Clay Matthews is an example of an offense being two steps ahead.
Matthews immediately sees something that popped up in the film room and alerts his defensive teammates to ensure they are in the right position to stop the play they think is coming. Unfortunately for Matthews and the Packers, they had no clue that Newton and the Panthers were about to throw something new at them from a formation they believed they had scouted.
The term predictable has been often used to describe the Bears’ offensive play calling this year, and that’s far from a good thing. With two weeks left, there isn’t much time to make big adjustments; however, these are the lessons that should be remembered next year (… or maybe even when the front office searches for a new head coach this offseason).
