As the Chicago Bears offensive line prepared to battle against one of the NFL's best defensive lines, that of the New York Giants, it was presumed that they would face their toughest blocking challenge in the passing game. However, by the end of the first half, it was the running game which actually gave the Bears offensive line most of their blocking troubles.
The Giants starting defense only played in the first half. In that half, running backs Matt Forte and Michael Bush would combine for a paltry total of six yards on nine carries resulting in an average of .67 yards per rushing attempt. And with that poor rushing performance by the Bears began a new worry for their fans around the world.
As difficult as fans might think it would have been to look at again, I did review all of the running backs' rushing attempts in that first half. As I've said before, when the Bears look their worst is when I feel like it's most important to review the game. As such, I'll now share with you my findings, in case you don't feel you have the stomach to watch those plays again.
What follows is a detailed breakdown of what I saw during each of those nine rushing attempts. I share this with you for the following two reasons. First, so you can see the likely cause of failure on those plays. And second, so you can see what the potential may be for correcting those mistakes in the future.
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Kellen Davis not setting the edge properly is the main reason that this play only gained two yards. In the first picture, notice where Davis is lined up at before the ball is snapped and the time on the game clock. In the second picture, look at where he is when he finally sets the edge versus Osi Umenyiora and look at the time on the game clock. It took him three long seconds to finally set the edge, far from where he was supposed to. Garza and Spencer were pulling on that play, but they were never able to get around Davis to properly set their blocks. |
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On this play, Evan Rodriguez breaks off of his lead block to pick up Osi Umenyiora, who came in unblocked. The linemen actually had good blocks, and had Evan led straight through the hole to block Kiwanuka instead of veering off to the left, the play could have gone for positive yards instead of as a two yard loss. Forte could have ran between Carimi and Louis and then to Davis' right or left for a big gain. |
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On this play, J'Marcus Webb completely whiffs against Osi Umenyiora, not even allowing Forte the opportunity to try to dodge the oncoming safety. |
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On this play, Kellen Davis completely whiffed on his block forcing Forte back inside. Forte had nowhere to go, but to try to run through Lance Louis' back. If Davis would have been able to at least attempt a block, Forte might have been able to score a touchdown on this run. |
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On this play, Lance Louis was late getting off of his combo block to pick up the free defender you see him reaching for here. Louis may have been worried about leaving his guy for Evan Rodriguez to pick up, but he has to trust Evan. Evan did pick up his guy, but Bush decided to cut it back because Louis was so late in peeling off of his original combo block. The other problem is that Webb doesn't get off of his combo block at all to pick up the incoming linebacker off of his outside shoulder. Had Webb picked him up, it would've at least given Bush a chance on the cutback. |
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On this play, Earl Bennett stutter steps when the ball is snapped and is therefore a step too late to pickup his block. As such, he leaves the guy for Forte to doge, which he does by cutting back to the right side. The problem is Gabe Carimi pushed Lance Louis down on the ground while attempting to help him block. Louis' guy ends up making the tackle of Forte on the cutback. |
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On this play, Kellen Davis failed to set the edge again on Osi Umenyiora, as Earl Bennett allowed penetration while trying to block his guy. Both of which make the pullers on this play less effective. One of the pullers, Chilo Rachal, ends up having to help Earl out, which allows the guy that Chilo would've blocked to make the tackle on Matt Forte. |
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The offense is in a tough spot on this play as the Giants knew they would be running the ball based on the situation. That being said, there were still errors on this play that helped make things that much worse for Forte. Mainly, there was some kind of mis-communication or blown assignment as Kiwanuka comes through clean between Garza and Louis. Both of them were combo blocking with the linemate to their outside shoulder, so one of them should have passed their guy off to the other combo blocker to pick up Kiwanuka. If I had to pick a guy who to me looked like they were the closest toward picking him up, it may have been Garza. |
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More mis-communication appears to be the culprit on this play. Lance Louis appeared to be expecting to combo block with Gabe Carimi. In the first image, Carimi ended up blocking nobody at the first level, as Louis let his guy go to make a second level block. Evan Rodriguez also got tossed aside when he took his turn at trying to block Osi Umenyiora, thereby allowing Osi to clean up the play. |
As you can see from a more detailed examination of the nine first half running back carries, there was plenty of blame to go around. I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions at this moment. However, I have followed up this post with a video explaining how I think the Bears will adjust to the mistakes which I've outlined above.
All images are property of the NFL and are used here strictly for the purpose of criticism, comment, and review.
Comments
6 comments postedMaybe it's just that I havent payed enough attention to our fullbacks but how often and in what situation have we used clutts as the lead blocker. I always see him making good plays and wonder if they are under utilizing him thanks
If you noticed, Kellen Davis CONSTANTLY drew coverage to open WR's in his routes. This happened when Earl Bennett dropped a sure TD. Davis drew his man into Bennett making the catch more difficult. If I were the Bears, I'd cut Davis. Can't block, can't run good routes.
I noticdEd that too. In the first quarter I think there was a play where cutler threw the ball over Kellen Davis head as he was running toward the sideline. Davis never got seperation on the play and you saw jay yelling after the play. I pressume th is was directed at davis for not running the route properly. Also in Roy's camp breakdowns I remember him saying Davis want laying out for the ball trying to catch it. Its this guys head somewhere other than in the game. Does he think raw ability will get him there alone. I.e. Cedric Benson while in Chicago?
He better be watching for his job...I don't know if he gets cut yet, but if a better TE becomes available, look out. Certainly this is a put up or shut up year for him.
I remember when I mentioned this in your game review forum, but I will say it again. Ever since last season we could not run the ball between the tackles. We had the most runs for lost yardage in the league. But when we ran it to the outside (like in the first series in the second half) we were able to get large chunks of yardage. Emery thinks he solved the problem with Bush but its really the middle of the line that's the problem. This is nothing new. We were never really able to run in the middle and most of those plays were between the tackles until the second half. Good breakdown Roy, keep it coming.
Geez, there's just a plethora of things to worry about, isn't there? Every week it's something different, and every time it puts a dent in our hopes a little. Don't get me wrong, a lot of this stuff can be cleaned up, but I feel like I'm going to have a heart-attack before the season even starts. At least they're making these mistakes now and not when it counts though.