Bear Digest

Dreaded unscouted looks worry Bears and threaten Vikings more

The Bears have little to go on against J.J. McCarthy but in the end the battle of the unscouted looks weighs more heavily on their side.
Gene Chamberlain|
Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy throws on the run against Houston in preseason.
Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy throws on the run against Houston in preseason. | Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

With a new starting quarterback in J.J. McCarthy and an entire offseason for Minnesota Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell to get ready, the Bears defense is sure it will face something surprising in Monday night's opener at Soldier Field.

Defensive veteran Grady Jarrett thinks it's easy to overthink these things and points out a real key to winning in openers when scouting is sketchy.

"First games, there’s always so much unknown stuff, but at the end of the day, they have had the same coach and coordinators for a little minute," Jarrett said. "There will obviously be some un-scouted looks.

"The good thing about those first games is you go out there,  just practice the things you practiced during training camp and hopefully the rules will hold up for you and you come up with a good outcome."

When the defense gets into the game and is getting hit with something  new, it comes down to one thing.

"Obviously the in-game adjustments, especially early on in the season, are going  to be critical," Jarrett said.

Adjusting game plans is always important.

"We're going to see something that we haven't seen yet," Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen said. "So, we really have got to be able to prepare for the system and then we've got to be ready to adjust.

"I think my experience would tell me that the teams that are  able to adjust the best within the game, those are the teams that usually have the most success."

Facing McCarthy isn't an entirely unscouted look for the Bears even if it's his first regular-season game. His mobility is something Minnesota hasn't really had in its offense for a while, although Sam Darnold last year wasn't exactly a statute.

"In particular with J.J. like we obviously studied him coming out," Allen said. "We got a chance to see him in a couple of preseason games.

"And yet, we don't have a lot of film on him so we'll have to be ready to adjust and see how they're trying to call the game with him. “

The bottom line to adjustments during this game is the Vikings should need to make a lot more of them.

When the coaching staff is entirely new on both sides of the ball and many of the  players also are like with the Bears, almost anything in the game can be unscouted.

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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.