Heartbreak Hill: Bears Have Trouble with Saints Multithreat

Taysom Hill has had two touchdown catches in the last two games against the Bears, and shredded them with the wildcat formation in November

It's safe to say the Bears haven't handled the Taysom Hill experience well in the past.

So facing the New Orleans Saints in a playoff game Sunday means they can expect more big doses of a throwback type of player who does it all.

"He's a really good athlete," Bears defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano said. "He's big and he's strong. So he breaks (tackles). When he does run the football, it's like a big, power back running the ball.

"And when he runs it at the quarterback spot, you're down a player. You don't have an extra guy so you can say hey, we've got to put eight in the box or whatever. So you're short one when the quarterback runs it and he runs it well."

It was here where the Bears experienced troubles with Hill in their Nov. 1 26-23 loss to the Saints. Hill, running out of the wildcat, destroyed their struggling run defense. He ran five times for 35 yards. 

Hill also caught a touchdown pass against them, the second one in two games against them.

"And he can also throw," Pagano said. "He knows every spot on that offense, from tight end-look to a receiver to a back. And then obviously the quarterback position."

Actually being a quarterback, Hill finally got to play the position for an extended period in coach Sean Payton's offense and completed 88 of 121 (72.7%) while posting a passer rating of 98.8 during Drew Brees' four-game absence with a rib injury.

This was all after the win over the Bears.  

This offense within an offense causes problems for the Bears defense during the week by reducing the amount of time they can focus on defending the regular Saints offense.

Also, it's so much different than the rest of the offense the Saints run that it just causes headaches. Pagano found a comparison from his vast archives of personal experience. 

"I equate it to like, yah know, back when I was playing or whatever, you'd play in the old WAC and you'd be playing BYU and San Diego State and Air Coryell and they're throwing the ball over the place.

"And then all of a sudden you have to go play Air Force and it's the wishbone. It's hard to get ready for just as this kid is hard to defend."

If all this isn't enough, Hill also plays on special teams.

"Obviously the Hill kid is a personal protector on the punt team and he's thrown a lot of passes, and then obviously they can snap the ball to him and he can run," Bears special teams coordinator Chris Tabor said. "He's obviously a tough runner."

So the fake is always a possibility, but this would happen Hill or not because the Saints love running tricky special teams plays such as onside kicks early in games.

"We're heightening the alert on everything, just like we are every game," Tabor said. "But you gotta get ready against this unit."

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven