Bears Upset Requires Stopping Khalil Mack

Bears offensive coordinator Luke Getsy likes talking about his Packers days as an assistant but seems to like talking about his college days even more.

So when he can combine the two, well, that's some fine story telling.

Asked about his past encounters with Khalil Mack while the Chargers edge rusher was with the Bears, Getsy's eyes lit up.

"Yeah, no, he's an incredible player," Getsy said. "He has been.

"He's been terrorizing me since I was a coach at Western Michigan. I think it was his senior year. I don't think we scored a point against them when he was at Buffalo (University) so he's an incredible player. You have to account for him at all times: Run game, pass game. That's what's really unique about him is that it's not just a pass game thing for him."

It's critical for the Bears Sunday night to avoid exposing inexperienced Tyson Bagent to Mack.

As the Bears found out themselves, Mack is what is known as a game wrecker.

If they can't keep Mack from wrecking the game, they're beat already. Having Darnell Wright line up across from him with an injured left shoulder makes it even tougher.

This big problem plays a major role in the keys to a Bears upset win over the Chargers.

1. Play Johnny U Football Early

The Bears beat the Raiders with an efficient offense, gaining well on first down and moving the sticks. To be able to accomplish this two straight games will probably require going deep against the Chargers early in the game because their defense will be geared to stop what a Bagent offense looked like last week. They'll adjust. They'll have their defenders up trying to take away the short passing game and daring Bagent to throw deeper. The advantage goes to the defense then because it gives Mack and Co. the chance to come after Bagent.

So the Bears going deep off play-action early in the game can chase them out of this, particularly if they hit on a few of those.

Why is this "Johnny U" football? They're going to need to do it by keeping a lot of people back blocking and putting fewer receivers into pass routes. When you saw John Unitas and the Colts in the 1960s, that's how their passing game looked. It was how most offenses looked until the West Coast attack. They threw deep a lot and had two or three players in pass patterns. That's it. Max protect. It's why passer efficient statistics from that era look so poor. Teams made certain they had enough back to block so they could avoid getting old "high tops" sacked.

So Cole Kmet, Roschon Johnson, Khari Blasingame, D'Onta Foreman and even Robert Tonyan can expect to be supplemental pass blockers to do anything they can to keep Mack and Joey Bosa from getting to Bagent on deeper pass plays early in the game. They need to put up a veritable wall of blockers to keep the Chargers pass rush away and go for deeper gains in order to set up the short, efficient passing offense with a running game for later, the one like they used last week.

It can work if they get the extra blocking to keep Mack and Bosa away, because the Chargers have allowed a league-worst 335.5 passing yards a game, almost 100 yards over the league average. They have given up 28 explosive passes of 20 yards or longer, the highest total allowed in the league.

This max-protect approach is not a practice the Bears should want to use throughout the game. It's not the way to move the sticks consistently, but it's going to allow them to chase the Chargers out of the box and their pass rushers won't be able to get in the starting blocks. The Bears can eventually get to that short passing game to keep them off balance and move the chains consistently. Keeping them back also lets the running game and wide zone blocking scheme work better.

2. First Down Winners

The stupid presnap penalties must stop. The Bears had too many of those last week to win. They need to pick up 5 yards or more on first down to get into commanding positions so they can win on third down or pick up first downs on second down.

The last two seasons, the Chargers are 8-1 when they give up less than 5 yards per play on first downs, the second-best average in the league.

Running against the Chargers isn't easy as it was against the Chargers as they're 11th stopping the run. But the Bears need to do it to get those 5-yard first-down gains or more, and the way to do it is with motion along the line of scrimmage.

As Getsy said, Mack will disrupt running plays. They have to occupy Mack's attention with something and keep the ball or blockers moving in the other direction.

End arounds, jet sweeps, wide receivers and slot receivers in motion at snap and pulling blockers are all ways to keep a defense off balance, to keep their eyes moving in different directions. Getsy has used this in the past and they need this to get those consistent first-down gains.

If the Bears are picking up yards consistently on first down, they're keeping Mack guessing and not coming for Bagent.

3. Live to Fight Another Day

Their defensive emphasis needs to be the classic Tampa-2 scorched earth approach. They need to keep it underneath, force quarterback Justin Herbert to take the shorter gains and then keep them out of the end zone if they are in the red zone.

Gambling gives an explosive passing game too many chances to break off big plays.

The blitz and extra pressure work against some teams but the Chargers have Austin Ekeler and he's good getting out away from the traffic to catch short throws and take advantage of blitzes, or also as a blocker to stay in and pick up blitzers.

The Chargers defense has allowed 5 TD passes in close and late situations this season—the most in NFL.

The way to get into those late-game situations is to keep the game close by forcing field goals, avoiding big plays that go all the way to the end zone against a team that like to throw the ball. Stay in zone, stay back and you've got a chance to do this.

It's not going to be easy without safety Jaquan Brisker playing, and if something happens to safety Eddie Jackson it will be even more difficult, but the Bears have to do this to keep this a close game going into the fourth quarter

L.A. is 0-3 when trailing going into the fourth quarter. Considering the Chargers' weakness preventing TD passes late in games and how they're 0-3 trailing in the fourth quarter, it would behoove the Bears to be as close as possible in the final 15 minutes and the way to do it is play it safe, prevent longer passes and stay alive to steal one away on the road at game's end.

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