Bears Need Deeper Throws Against Lions

Bears coach Matt Eberflus this week saw a need for bigger plays from his offense against the Lions.

Just 9 yards against the Lions in Week 11 would have made the difference between a win and a loss, but the Bears had to punt back to Detroit and Jared Goff marched them to the game-winning touchdown.

"But how do we do that in the running game?" Eberflus asked rhetorically. "How do we create advantageous positions for the offense through motions, formationally, to create those advantages, those angles that we want to have so we can pop those runs.

"And in the passing game—we're going to have to take more shots downfield to create those explosive plays. Those things are there. We just have to take advantage of it."

The comment about the generating explosive plays through deeper passes seemed almost like a shot at the game plan two weeks ago when Luke Getsy seemed to set a record for screen passes, many of which he said were RPO style screen options Justin Fields chose during the play.

Regardless, there should be little reason for the Bears to avoid deep passes in this one unless the Lions suddenly come up with an ability on defense they haven't shown.

Two NFL games between familiar divisional opponents rarely are played the same in both games. The Bears would love the chance to replay that last game except with a different conclusion.

It's not going to happen. It will need to look a bit different.

Here are the three keys to beating the NFC North-leading Lions and it's safe to say short and screen passes will not appear here.

1. End Zone to Checkdown

The Bears pass defense needs to lean toward the side of preventing big Detroit pass plays. They need to force Jared Goff into checking it down and rally to the tackle.

Whether it means tackling receivers to prevent big gains after the catch or covering better deep than they did against Jameson Williams in their last game with the Lions, the Bears can't give up the big play that becomes even bigger. Eddie Jackson, Jaquan Brisker and Co. need to live to fight another day, so to speak, by making sure the receiver gets taken to the ground if he has caught a throw.

Detroit has 15 touchdowns that went at least 20 yards this season, which is the second-highest total in the league.

This includes third-and-long plays. The Bears remain the worst pass defense in the league on third-and-long

If they make the Lions drive and keep them from hitting big touchdown plays, they can force field goals and even here it could favor the Bears because Detroit is not accustomed to kicking field goals in tough conditions.

The Bears did an excellent job of this in the first game for 3 1/2 quarters. The Lions had only three plays longer than 14 yards in the earlier game, one a third-quarter run of 20 yards by David Montgomery and another on a third-and-2 pass in the fourth quarter that turned into a 16-yard completion. The other play longer than 14 yards was the pass to Williams for the TD that proved a real disaster and helped trigger the comeback.

2. Get Justin Fields Outside the Edge

When they did this in the first game, the Bears benefited greatly with Fields running for bigger gains. However, they did it much better last year for huge gains and even a long TD run. Either way, Fields getting to the outside as a runner helps to take attention off the running backs and they're able to break bigger plays.

The key to the 40-plus mintues of ball control the Bears enjoyed in the first game against Detroit was getting Fields involved greatly in the running game. He had 18 carries, a season-high for him and a total only passed twice by D'Onta Forman this season. They were able to possesss the ball and keep the Lions offense sidelined and both Fields' running and the threat of it helped the running backs contribute, as well.

This extra wrinkle is huge for the Bears because the Lions have the league's fifth-best run defense.

With the extra possessions from ball control, they'll have plenty of opportunities to take the shots downfied Eberflus wants to see.

3. Coaches Dig the Deep Ball

Eberflus said he wants more deep throws. There's good reason for this when you have DJ Moore as a target and Darnell Mooney in the past has proven the aiblity to get open deep, although they could be down one possible deep target in Tyler Scott due to a hamstring injury.

The Lions have only one cornerback graded by pro Football Focus among the top 78 in the league and that's their slot cornerback Brian Branch. Their outside cornerbacks are beaten regularly and they are only middle of the pack in blitzing.

The Lions have allowed a 50% consersion rate on third and-long since Week 10, tied for the worst in the NFL. It should be no surprise the Lions are giving up 8.4 yards per play since the start of 2022, worst in the league. It hasn't improved much this year and the Bears need to take advantage.

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