Bear Digest

The major Bears defensive flaw Vikings' J.J. McCarthy can exploit

Analysis: The Bears defense survived one mode of attack the Giants used but their weakness was obvious and they can anticipate seeing this against the Vikings.
Gene Chamberlain|
Jaxson Dart takes off with the football on a planned QB run as Noah Sewell gives chase in Sunday's 24-20 Bears win.
Jaxson Dart takes off with the football on a planned QB run as Noah Sewell gives chase in Sunday's 24-20 Bears win. | Mike Dinovo-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

A defense with holes can plug some but not all of them at once in this man's league, and the Bears are discovering this.

They definitely have a big weakness at one defensive end against the run with Dayo Odeyingbo out for the year, and GM Ryan Poles really didn’t solve this issue with his one trade for an end who is more of a pass rush threat than all-around threat.

The Bears on Sunday seemed headed to defeat with five minutes left in the third quarter before Caleb Williams put on his "Superman" cape, and this came after C.J. Gardner-Johnson and Austin Booker combined on a play to change the game.

The defensive game changer was knocking Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart out of the game and taking away the ball. Gardner-Johnson knocked away the ball and as it happened Booker hit Dart from behind on the third-quarter designed QB run. Dart hit the ground hard, tried to play but couldn't because of a concussion. Meanwhile, Williams went into rally mode for the win.

The Bears could have been down 20-7 or 24-7 before Gardner-Johnson's strip of the ball and Nahshon Wright's recovery.

Dart had 66 yards on six runs in the game and proved the one aspect of the Giants offense the Bears could not stop as they tried to plug every other running lane.

The game plan worked well for coordinator Dennis Allen at stopping the run by backs. He needed the edges to be more stout against the run and they helped hold the Giants' backs to 22 runs for 91 yards. 

However, without Odeyingbo and Shemar Turner for the rest of the year, with Dominique Robinson out with a high ankle sprain, and also with new Bears defensive end Joe Tryon-Shoyinka not yet up to snuff on the scheme, it was going to be difficult to stop everything.

Dart's running proved the problem they couldn’t handle.

They tried Chris Williams playing either over the offensive tackle for two plays or outside on the edge for 14 plays instead inside on the A-gap or B-gap like he normally does. The 6-foot-2, 302-pounder finished with their fourth-highest Pro Football Focus grade at stopping the run. It was third highest among the defensive linemen and linebackers. Only Andrew Billings and Tremaine Edmunds ranked higher among linebackers and linemen.

They tried moving Grady Jarrett away from the B-gap out to over the tackle for three plays and Gervon Dexter from the A-gap or B-gap to over tackle for six plays, but they came in with mediocre PFF run-stopping grades.

Williams had the stronger day at being pulled away from defensive tackle.  

Their real problem, though, was Dart kept darting around while the other backs were stopped.

“We knew he's a really good player to start with," coach Ben Johnson said. "I felt like he hurt us more on the quarterback designed runs as opposed to necessarily him in the passing game. Now I'm not taking anything away from him.

"He played a heck of a game for them and gave us some fits, but we felt like we could fit up some of those quarterback design runs a little bit better and cleaner on our end. I think that would make us feel a little bit better about that game as a whole."

On a more long-term scale, the Bears defense has not stopped quarterback runs regardless of who it was, or whoever played the edge. This doesn't bode well for them going to Minnesota because J.J. McCarthy does have good mobility, and last week ran for a career high of 48 yards on five attempts.

Only one defense has given up more rushing yards to quarterbacks this season than Allen's Bears, who have allowed 252 yards. The only team worse was the one that fired its coach after Sunday's game, the Giants.

Williams fourth-quarter running had a lot to do with that and the Giants have given up 278 rushing yards to QBs.

Considering Robinson remains out with the ankle injury and the Bears won't be getting anyone back at defensive end eventually except him, it behooves Tryon-Shoyinka and Austin Booker to improve greatly at stopping runs by quarterbacks or running backs. If not, expect Allen to keep using Williams at end.

Anticipate McCarthy to try to copy the success Dart had, either scrambling or on planned runs, because of his mobility.

It's a copycat league. What nearly worked to beat the Bears last week could do it in Minnesota come Sunday.

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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.