Fewer Penalties Improving Flow of Bears Offense
If the Bears get to four penalties at Green Bay in Sunday's 14th game, they'll go over their total penalties all last season.
They currently have 111 penalties for 732 yards and are 64 yards short of last season's yardage total.
The 111 penalties is 14 more than officials have called on Bears opponents, although the yardage total by the Bears is 50 yards shy of the total against opponents.
The victory over Dallas represented a step in the right direction with just four penalties for 30 yards, the fewest they've committed in any victory this season and third-fewest in a game all year.
With fewer penalties, coach Matt Nagy sees a direct correlation with successful play calling and more first downs over the last few weeks. They average 5.5 penalties for 46 yards the last four games but 7.4 penalties for 59.5 yards in their first nine.
"We got to that point when there were so many three-and-outs–I go back to our first game against these (Packers) and the amount of third-and-longs we had in that game is over the top," Nagy said.
The Bears had 10 penalties for 107 yards in that game, both season highs to date. They have matched the 10 penalties but not the yardage.
"So what does that equate to? Well it equates to first and second down," Nagy said. You (media) guys know, we've been saying it all year long: When you're good on first and second down, and you stay in third and manageable, you have a shot. It's hard in the NFL to live in third-and-8-plus.
"So, when you're going three-and-out, or you're going third-and-10 or third-and-9, you're punting the ball a lot and you can't get in a rhythm as a player and as a play caller. So we've been staying away from that, we've been trying to do our best in trying to stay away from penalties, and I think you're seeing us produce now because of that."
Charles Leno Jr. continues to lead the Bears in penalties but the good news for him is he has only two penalties since Week 5. At one time he was leading the league but has dropped out of the top five. He has 10 on the season, including six holds. Last year the entire starting offensive line had five holding penalties. But the penalty for holding he had last week was his first since the ninth game.
Considering how little he plays, 22 percent of defensive snaps, Aaron Lynch remains one of the more heavily penalized Bears. He has six penalties for 24 yards and all of them involve violating the line of scrimmage. He has been offsides three times and had neutral zone infractions three times.
Cornerback Kyle Fuller has the second-highest penalty total with eight. He's had three defensive pass interference calls and three, three holds, an illegam contact and a questionable unnecessary roughness penalty.
When the Bears signed slot cornerback Buster Skrine in free agency, it created a huge fan outcry about all the penalties he had committed. He had 78 for his career.
Yet, Skrine is one of the least-penalized players per downs played. Skrine has two penalties this season for 1 yard, and only one came on defense. It was declined.
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