Schemes Can Lead to Better Bears Matchups

Analysis: Why the Tampa Bay offense and defense can offer chances for bigger plays to the Bears than they had in Week 1 against Green Bay.

The Bears of Matt Nagy got a good look at what Todd Bowles' defense is all about when the former Jets head coach brought his team to Soldier Field in 2018.

The Jets came after Mitchell Trubisky with every conceivable blitz, and a short dump-off pass to Tarik Cohen a few yards downfield went for a long, decisive touchdown.

Bowles is still doing a modern day Buddy Ryan act in Tampa and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. It worked quite well last week for the Buccaneers against Kirk Cousins and the Minnesota Vikings.

It might work this week. Then again, it might not because of the matchup.

The Bears offense looked fairly anemic facing Green Bay's two-gap front with heavy zone coverage last week but normally their running attack has displayed something better against even good defenses. 

Here are the five Bears who could do real damage to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

1. QB Justin Fields

He didn't do much damage against Green Bay, so why should he be able to do it against a Tampa Bay defense that held the potent Minnesota Vikings offense to 17 points? It's all in matchups.

For one, Fields might not be doing it with his arm, the way he tried against the Packers. A heavy reliance on the blitz by the Buccaneers can make them susceptible to scrambles. They can use zone blitzes but that would still leave them vulnerable at times in large portions of the field, maybe even to breakaway runs by Fields. Also, the Bears become more dangerous with catch-and-run against a blitzing team, as long as Fields knows his hot reads or is able to scramble and throw. For some reason, he failed to use his legs to buy time to throw after the early part of last week's game. However, the rush was coming from four players and not blitzes, and the Packers were playing in zone with seven players. It was more difficult. Fields should have a better shot at getting out of the pocket against the blitz, and the Bears can also move him go guarantee it.

2. WR DJ Moore

Moore is the kind of receiver who gives schemes like the Buccaneers use nightmares. Because of his speed and strength he can be used all over the formation and field. He can turn the short pass into the long TD and long gain or catch the outside shoulder deep ball. He has proven it over four years of facing the Buccaneers defensive system used by Bowles. He has never had less than 69 yards in eight games and averages 88.2 yards a game. He's never had less than four catches and averages 6.6 catches per game. His efforts included 120-yard, 117-yard and 96-yard games.

3. NT Andrew Billings

Billings came out of the first game as the highest-graded Bears player and managed once to apply some of the interior pressure Bears coaches insisted they would have, although they were thinking more along the lines of the three technique applying it and not the nose tackle. He's going against a rookie in this one, 303-pound North Dakota State rookie Cody Mauch. Billings is usually supposed to preventing double teams but his matchup makes it possible he'll be disruptive on the interior. The Buccaneers were only able to generate enough surge on their offensive line for 73 yards on 33 carries against Minnesota, and are running up against a different style of defensive front in this one.

4. DE DeMarcus Walker

Walker doesn't get many chances to go against a right tackle as light as Luke Goedeke, who is 295 pounds. Goedeke has started 10 NFL games, so he's also lacking experience. Walker was just coming off a calf injury in the first game and when used inside his pass rush should be better than it was in the first game.

5. RB Roschon Johnson

His damage could be inflicted in any number of ways. One would be pass blocking. He only had a small amount of pass blocking opportunities but graded out by Pro Football Focus at a very high score of 82.5. He also caught six passes and ran five times. If anything positive came out of the first game on offense for the Bears, it was Johnson's running/passing/blocking and they could be fast-tracking him into a big role. His blocking is key here because it could make a difference against a blitzing team so that Fields is able to get off a pass.

"I mean, I think since Day 1 he's kind of a grown man to be honest with you," Fields said. "He has handled himself as a grown man. He has come in here and worked. He is always one of the last ones off the field. Every day after practice, every time we need to throw extra, he's always right there to catch. His first game, we asked him to do a lot from a lot of different positions. Running back, of course. He was lined up as a receiver a couple times. He handled it very well. I am definitely proud of him for doing that, for getting so much put on his plate and the way he handled it."

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