NEWSLETTER
There wasn’t much film for me to watch this week regarding plays that built the scoring drives. And that’s because there weren’t many of them. There were two such drives, to be exact. That’s simply never going cut it against the Packers (or anyone else for that matter).
As I said earlier, I think the Bears might have leaned too hard on the areas of the offense where they feel comfortable in their first matchup with the Packers in primetime. There’s a chance that Luke Getsy and his staff are building towards opening things up for Justin Fields as they get more comfortable.
Hopefully, this is the week where we see something to that effect. In the meantime, let’s look at what worked for the Bears’ offense on Sunday night in Green Bay.
1. Touchdown (7-3 CHI) 1st QTR: 9 Plays, 71 Yards, 3:56, 3 1st Downs
If you remember, a few weeks ago, I highlighted that the Bears’ offense did a great job of avoiding third downs, something they’ve been historically putrid at for a very long time. On Sunday night’s opening drive, the Bears stayed ahead of the chains and didn’t have a single third down as they marched down the field for a nine-play, 71-yard touchdown drive.
It looked good. And it had a bunch to do with David Montgomery gashing Green Bay’s defense on the ground. Montgomery picked up 48 yards on four carries (12 yards/carry) on the opening drive, accounting for 57.1 percent of the snaps and 67.6 percent of the total yardage on the touchdown drive.
Montgomery’s first big run of the night was on 2nd & 6 from the Chicago 33-yard line. Lined up in 12 personnel, the Fields handed the ball off to David Montgomery. Montgomery made a nice cut to hit a hole to the left of Braxton Jones. But blocks by Ryan Griffin and Equanimeous St. Brown made took this play into the second level.
Once in the second level, Montgomery shakes Packers cornerback Jaire Alexander before safety Darnell Savage meets him. Honestly, if Trevon Wesco gets to Savage sooner, Montgomery could have turned this 12-yard run into 15-20:
That was an excellent two-tight end concept that featured Wesco running a flat and Ryan Griffin sliding over to pick up Preston Smith on the edge. Also, Equanimeous St. Brown makes a nice block, something I’ve seen repeatedly out of him watching film this season.
I discussed this next play in this week’s Fields Film. And while you should check it out, we’ll include it here because it was a pivotal play in the drive. After a series of running plays to open things up, Getsy dials up a perfect call giving Fields an easy look at ESB, who was running a comeback on the left side of the field:
The Fields-St. Brown hook up on the flea flicker was good for 30 yards (Luis: And probably more had protection held up) and set the Bears up with a first down at the Green Bay 25.
Then came more Montgomery, this time with a 13-yard run to keep the momentum rolling for the Bears offense. This time the Bears have Khari Blasingame in the backfield, lined up in the I-formation, and Blasingame makes a huge block on Preston Smith, creating a hole for Montgomery. Again, St. Brown is getting busy in the run-blocking game, landing a pair of blocks on De’Vondre Campbell and Savage:
Everything was great at that point, but as we know, things would change from there.
1. Field Goal (24-10 GB) 4th QTR: 7 Plays, 43 Yards, 4:02, 2 1st Downs
This brings us to our final Bears scoring drive, a fourth quarter field goal. The drive starts with a solid nine-yard run by Montgomery. Again, staying ahead of the chains was paramount to the Bears’ success on Sunday night.
Montgomery does a great job of spinning off of a traffic jam up front to get into the second level. And then blows through 6-foot-3, 306-pound Jarran Reed before dragging Quay Walker for about four yards. Just an angry run by Monty to set the Bears up with a second and short right off the bat. Also, take a look at Teven Jenkins absolutely bullying Kingsley Enagbare near the top of the screen, pushing him out of bounds:
The final play that made this scoring drive for the Bears was another one I discussed in this week’s Fields Film. An 18-yard completion to tight end Ryan Griffin.
Fields sees that Griffin will get by the defender in zone coverage right around the Packers 41 yard line and delivers a strike between the numbers to Griffin, who finds space between a trio of Packers defenders for an 18-yard gain and a first down:
I think Luis summed up the failures in the offensive game plan perfectly on Monday, pointing out that the game plan was sound in terms of trying to move the ball on the Packers and highlighting what the coaching staff believes is their offense’s strong suits, running and run blocking.
Still, there needs to be more variance next week. There needs to be more Fields next week as well. It’s a perfect week to expand the script and step out of the comfort zone, so let’s see it.
