Bear Digest

Bears Could Have a Puncher's Chance at Fumble Recovery Goal

T.J. Edwards and the Bears defense stands near the top in fumble recoveries but it's going to take more "Peanut punches" to achieve a goal of 20 recoveries.
Gene Chamberlain|
T.J. Edwards enjoyed getting a chance at a clean "Peanut Punch" for a forced fumble in London, and the Bears need more to reach their goal of 20 fumble recoveries.
T.J. Edwards enjoyed getting a chance at a clean "Peanut Punch" for a forced fumble in London, and the Bears need more to reach their goal of 20 fumble recoveries. | Photo: Chicago Bears Video

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Chicago Bears

Way back during OTAs, the Bears defense began talking about something coaches mentioned.

They wanted a 20-20 takeaway season: 20 fumble recoveries and 20 interceptions.

"However we gotta get it, we're gonna get it," Kyler Gordon said at the time.

They're not on pace for either at the moment, even as one of the better teams at taking away the ball. However, the six fumble recoveries gets them in the ballpark with the harder part of this formula. They've already seen how fast the interceptions can start piling up but the fumbles are the difficult part.

T.J Edwards has a forced fumble and a recovery so far and forced one in the last game against Jacksonville straight out of the year Charles Tillman book on "Peanut punches."

They're all trying for this.

"I think all teams try to rep it, right?" Edwards said. "But it's one of those to where you really have to detail exactly what you're trying to do for it to work.

"We do a similar drill to what the punch actually was and it worked out. So I know that makes them (teammates) excited too when the drill translates."

The secret is simple.

"I mean, first, it's kinda trying to be around the ball as much as you can," Edwards said.

In a way, his forced fumble in London was textbook.

"It's one of those to where the guy is going down and normally when they're going down to the ground, they kind of have to release one of their arms from the ball to brace themselves from the ground," Edwards said. "So anytime you can throw a shot, even if it's blind, some good things will come from it, but you have seen it year after year now becoming a bigger thing because it's being coached well, it's being ... we rep it all the time here in practice and, like I said, anytime you can kind of throw a shot and just kind of hope and see what happens, it works out."

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Considering how hard Edwards hits and how often he is around the ball, it seems like something he would do all the time.

"I haven't had one of those true ones since probably college, so it was cool to finally, you know, actually hit the ball and it pop out," Edwards said. "You go through all those times where you do attempts and you're just hitting the guys in the ribs or something like that.

"So it's cool to actually hit the ball and make a play for sure."

A Chicago native and Bears fan growing up, Edwards is well versed in the history of Tillman's punches. In fact, Tillman was in London during the game and lead up to it.

"Obviously I watched him growing up for a long time do that numerous times," Edwards said. "So to do that here, I think it's cool when a play is named after you. You must have done it pretty well. So it's cool for sure."

The Bears might not get a play named after them, but they'd still like to get those 20 forced fumbles to meet a difficult goal to achieve.

Twitter: BearsOnSI

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.