Bears Need to Turn the Tables on Bill Belichick

The Patriots coach likes to force offenses to beat him left-handed by taking away their strengths so the Bears should do the same to his defense and offense.

Considering what the Bears offense faces Monday night, it's probably just as well they've had all this extra time since they last played Washington on Oct. 13.

Facing Bill Belichick defenses can become a complicated guessing game.

"Really understanding which personnel is out there," center/guard Lucas Patrick said. "He's very good at making things seem different but they're really the same. It's a very complex defense and personnel usage that he has in where guys play.

"But you have to understand what each player might be trying to do in that defense and attack him that way. All weeks you need to study, but this is a week you really have to understand numbers, personnel. What is typically their base position? But they can flex a bunch of guys in different positions. It's really studying pesonnel and understanding which package is out there for defense."

This puts added pressure on quarterback Justin Fields

"He has to know what personnel they're in so he has an idea what to expect," offensive coordinator Luke Getsy said.

The Patriots are a 3-3 team, not 5-1. They've lost already to a younger quarterback, although not as young as Fields. They've lost to a scrambling quarterback, one better at it than Fields. Tua Tagovailoa and Lamar Jackson managed to hand the Patriot fairly convincing defeats.

They lost to one running an offense very similar to Getsy's attack, of course the Bears don't have Aaron Rodgers running that attack.

Here are the three keys if they hope to pull off an upset on Monday night bigger even than the one they had in the season opener.

TICKETS TO SEE JUSTIN FIELDS AND BEARS AVAILABLE FROM SI TICKETS

1. Justin Fields Running

If there's anything Belichick hates, like all defensive coordinators, it's seeing good defense wasted by a quarterback scrambling to get a first down. When he brought the Patriots to Chicago in 2018 NFL Films caught him screaming at his team not to let Mitchell Trubisky beat them as a runner. Trubisky nearly did. Fields can do this far better as a scrambler than Trubisky. Besides running it well with David Montgomery and Khalil Herbert, Fields can be a big factor on RPO runs. The Patriots' man-to-man defense is prone to RPOs and scrambling QBs with DBs and linebackers taking their eyes off the quarterback to get into their coverage assignment. A key is getting blockers to occupy linebackers. It doesn't necessarily have to be linemen. If they can get help from wide receivers and tight ends in this way, Fields can keep chains moving the way his backs can.

The Patriots couldn't handle the Baltimore Ravens and Lamar Jackson's running.  They went with double- and triple-tight end packages and Jackson had 108 yards rushing. The rest of the Ravens added 80 more rushing yards and they outrushed the Patriots on the day 188-145. Then they threw inside the red zone to tight ends instead of running. They had three TD catches by tight ends. Sounds like a plan.

2. Turn the Tables on Patriots QBs

Belichick's defense might confuse, Fields, sure. There's no reason the Bears defense can't confuse the Patriots quarterbacks. The Bears are known as the cover-2 style defense but they do have disguises they can use. They also can change up where they drop in their zone coverages. The Patriots have two inexperienced quarterbacks. Bailey Zappe has played in 2 1/2 NFL games. Mac Jones has made 20 NFL starts, four more than Fields. Jones' worst game came against Baltimore, which produces all kinds of pressure and looks on defense. He threw a career-high three interceptions that day. The Bears should know how to defend Jones. Matt Eberflus' Indianapolis defense last year picked off Jones twice and the Colts won 27-17. However, they held the Patriots to only 81 rushing yards.

Anything the Bears do on defense will need to start with stopping the run. If they can't do that most simple of defensive demands, they'll end up like Cleveland and the Detroit Lions did the last two games the Patriots played and they'll be routed.

3. Counter Measure

The Patriots' defense confuses with different personnel packages. The Bears should take it away from them by going no-huddle as much as possible. The Packers had no problem with Belichick's complicated packages because Aaron Rodgers has been around a long time and, like former Bears defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano used to say, he knows your defensive personnel usage better than you do. So the Bears should make it impossible for Belichick to go with all the switching up of personnel by running no-huddle offense early and often. Belichick will be forced to stick with more basic personnel. His goal is always to make the offense beat him "left-handed" by taking away their strength. The Bears offense should force his defense to beat them left-handed and removing his ability to substitute so freely. It will also help to limit the amount of reading Fields needs to do.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven