Bear Digest

Blitz looks like risky way for Bears to stop Jordan Love and Packers

The big plays allowed in their last loss to Green Bay haunt the Bears on defense and the secondary is fixated on how to cap the long gains Jordan Love achieved last time.
Gene Chamberlain|
Packers wide receiver Christian Watson hit the Bears' secondary for two big plays that resulted in TDs and they had one more.
Packers wide receiver Christian Watson hit the Bears' secondary for two big plays that resulted in TDs and they had one more. | Sarah Kloepping/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

Those three big pass plays for touchdowns by Green Bay on Dec. 7 seem to have left a scar on the Bears' secondary.

They're talking about limiting the big plays this time or shutting them down, but they allowed two more big gainers last week against Cleveland, so facing Jordan Love and some speedy receivers again Saturday night has their full attention.

"We can't shoot ourselves in the foot," slot cornerback C.J. Gardner-Johnson said. "We've got to be locked into details and really just give all this (work) a chance. Really, just go out there and execute on defense.

"I think they did a phenomenal job in Green Bay the first time we played them of throwing different looks at us, giving us different types of concepts. So this game should really be just matched up best on best this weekend. No surprises any more."

Bears got fooled by Packers

The surprises are what's surprising. The Bears don't want to talk about the exact nature of mistakes made, but being fooled by different looks last time means it's entirely possible it could happen again.

Using the blitz a bit too much in ill-advised situations seemed to get  the defense into trouble at Lambeau Field. It's entirely possible they'll take fewer risks.

"It’s tough because they draw them up in different ways," cornerback Jaylon Johnson said. "I think, really, just making it an emphasis, I would say, kind of picking your battles. Maybe not being, I would say, as aggressive or certain things like that. Kind of just changing the way.

"But I mean really for us it’s we gotta go out there and fight and compete. If not we’re  gonna go out there and play scared and things like that."

Gardner-Johnson sees the right focus as their key, whether it's communicating assignments in the secondary to keep Christian Watson, Romeo Doubs, Jayden Reed and the other receivers covered or simply maintaining perspective.

"It's really, just trusting in your teammates," Gardner Johnson said. "We were so amped up and wanting to play for the rivalry (last time) but you've got to understand this game means a lot more than just rivalry—seeding, really  playing within yourself and doing what you can do and trusting in each other, like I said.

"And really, just trusting in what DA (Dennis Allen) and (DBs) coach Al (Harris), (linebackers) coach (Richard) Smith, really, just what everybody has been teaching us and really just go out there and win the game."

The schedule dictates not much can change tactically since the last game. Only the starting lineups will be slightly different. The Bears could have linebacker Tremaine Edmunds and last game didn't have cornerback Tyrique Stevenson. They thought they were going to have Kyler Gordon at slot cornerback, but then a last-second scratch due to his groin injury meant Gardner-Johnson had to play a role they hadn't specifically meant him to play.

"Yeah, nothing's really changed in one week, I think," Johnson said. "I mean, their  identity is their identity at this point through the season.

"So, I mean, for us, it really starts with controlling the run game and then knocking out the explosive passes. They do a really good job with creating explosive opportunities through the air.

"So I know in the back end, it’s something that we have to take pride in and have to  take away those explosives in the pass (game)."

Green Bay will get its big plays

The Packers simply have an explosive offense and it's not easy to limit their big gains. Other teams experience the same issues. Jordan Love is eighth in the league in yards per pass attempt (7.8).

Love leads the NFL in EPA (120.47), the analytical statistic Ben Johnson  emphasized when he took the job with the Bears. He is first in passing EPA at 108.41.

"Number one, when I look at their offense, I think a lot of what they do offensively is they're very explosive," Allen said. "They've been explosive in a lot of games. Yet, that's something that we have to work to try to eliminate or minimize in this game.

"I look back at the last game, I think there's probably three or four plays that really decided the outcome of the game. You look at it, there's some lessons to be learned there. Hopefully we learned those lessons both as a coaching staff and as players and we put ourselves in a little bit better position to minimize those things. That was a big factor in the game the last time we played these guys and I'm sure that'll be a big factor in this game.”

Translated: Don't look for blitzes in silly situations. The blitz can work but needs to be used judiciously.

The Bears already saw several times what happens when it becomes predictable against Love and the Packers.

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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.