Matt Eberflus’ explanation of Bears’ screen-heavy attack vs. Vikings worth examining originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
LAKE FOREST, Ill. — The Bears struggled against the Minnesota Vikings’ constant blitzing in a sloppy Week 6 loss at Soldier Field.
To better combat the onslaught of defenders brought by defensive coordinator Brian Flores, the Bears went to the screen game early, often, and over and over again.
Per ESPN Stats and Info, Bear quarterback Justin Fields was pressured on 52 percent of his dropbacks in Chicago’s 12-10 comeback win at U.S. Bank Stadium on Monday night. The Bears ran 13 screens, and Fields finished with the lowest average air yards per attempt (2.4) and air yards per completion (1.9) in his career. Fields threw 21 passes at or behind the line of scrimmage and was averaging just 0.8 air yards per attempt at halftime.
While the screens were initially somewhat effective, the Vikings quickly caught on and adjusted the Bears’ game plan. But offensive coordinator Luke Getsy didn’t stray from his plan, and the Bears’ offense sputtered in the second half because of it.
On Tuesday, head coach Matt Eberflus addressed why the Bears felt they couldn’t attack the Vikings with slants and short passes over the middle.
“They pack the paint, so to speak,” Eberflus said Tuesday at Halas Hall. “Some of their coverages are three deep, and they’ve got two guys in the middle. So really, the open spots on a lot of those are the perimeter. And you certainly can hit some high-side pockets on those, which we did with DJ a couple times. Certainly, they give those things away. You’ve just got to do a real good job of spitting the ball out there and blocking well on the perimeter, which we did at times. You saw DJ get a couple nice runs there towards our bench. There were a couple times. But that’s really where you can take advantage of it.”
When asked if he was satisfied with an offensive game plan that produced minimal vertical attacks until the…
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Author : NBC Sports Chicago
Publish date : 2023-11-28 22:08:48
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