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Bear Digest

How Drake Maye Forces Bears to Drastically Alter Successful Approach

Dennis Allen's blitzing scheme against the Falcons might work against many teams but New England's QB and other Chicago problems say it can't against Patriots.
Gene Chamberlain|
Bears linebacker T.J. Edwards tackles New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye at Soldier Field in a 2024 Chicago loss.
Bears linebacker T.J. Edwards tackles New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye at Soldier Field in a 2024 Chicago loss. | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect

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Chicago Bears

The Bears defense is about to get a real understanding of what everyone else in the league experiences when they run up against Caleb Williams.

Facing quarterback Drake Maye and New England's offense Thursday night is going to provide their first real experience this season of playing against a quarterback who extends plays and runs extensively. They did play against Jalen Hurts and the Eagles, but Hurts simply didn't run it or scramble to throw. Either this was the result of the Bears defensive approach or Hurts' own reluctance or maybe related to the physical problems no plaguing him. Either way, the Bears defense hasn't seen anything like Maye's mobility and combination of deep throwing and mobility.

"I think Drake Maye's one of those guys that does an outstanding job with his feet," Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen said. "There's been times where you watch it and there's pressure on the quarterback and he makes people miss and creates some plays down the field. I see him doing a lot of good things.

"I see especially his athleticism showing up and his ability to throw the ball down the field has been exceptional.”

Maye is seventh in yards per attempt at 8.0 and fifth in average intended air yards, according to NextGen Stats. He's not messing around with dinking and dunking. He's attacking downfield when he gets out of the pocket. The Bears have suffered greatly on defense when trying to cover downfield against deeper throws.

The loss to Green Bay was only evidence of this Bears problem, and it probably stems from their inexperience at several position in the secondary along with the fact so many players have been lining up at different places. Communication wasn't great, especially in the loss to the Packers.

A telltale problem for the Bears defense is who they tend to get burned by on passes. The Bears went into last week allowing more yards to wide receivers per target than any defense in the NFL. It wasn't that close. They were giving up 10.4 yards per target to wide receivers while Tennessee was next worse at 10.1. Their explosive play rate allowed of 7.6%, according to Sharp Football Analysis, was fifth worst in the league.

The effort against Atlanta probably did nothing to improve their standing as they gave up nine catches for 158 yards to wide receivers. They're blitzing a great deal and that's done to compensate for 1) lack of pass rush; 2) problems with coverage; 3) a defensive line struggling to stop the run; 4) to create pressure and force turnovers. They are No. 5 in blitz percentage (38.7%).

The tradeoff is they leave their DBs explose in man-to-man coverage too much and they are in man coverage at the second highest rate at 31.5%. It's about the worst coverage you can be in against a running quarterback and they should know this from seeing what Caleb Williams does each week to opponents with his off-platform passes or runs for first downs.

"They do an excellent job of throwing the ball down the field," Allen said. "They’ve got some speed at the receiver position. They take their shots."

The images of Dillon Thieneman, Jaylon Johnson, and former Bears safety Xavier Woods being beaten deep against Green Bay are still fresh in memories. It's something Maye and Patriots receivers like Mack Hollins, Kyle Williams, A.J. Brown and former Packer Romeo Doubs have been able to accomplish against opposing secondaries.

It's likely the Bears will need to stand and cover more than attack with the blitzes like they did last week. And it's worth wondering whether they have the capacity to do it after they've been beaten for big gains so often.

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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.

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