Red Zone Woes Must Disappear for Panthers This Sunday vs Bears
Red zone efficiency has been an area of concern for the Carolina Panthers through the first five weeks of the season. The Panthers are 27th in touchdown percentage (50%), while this week's opponent the Chicago Bears are 1st in opponent red zone touchdown percentage (36.8%).
The Carolina offense has not had trouble moving the ball, but just can't seem to cap off drives with touchdowns. If you go back to the team's first win of the season vs the Chargers, kicker Joey Slye made five field goals to propel the team to victory. Now, not all of them were in the red zone, but close enough.
Ending drives in a score of any fashion is a win, but you're not going to be able to win many games by kicking five field goals. Finding ways to get into the end zone are a must and Panthers head coach Matt Rhule sees the challenge that lies ahead against a very stingy Bears defense.
"If you look at our offense, I'm going to say we're top 10, top 5 in a lot of categories, but not in scoring. That's because we're getting to the red zone and are kicking field goals instead of touchdowns way too much. A lot of that comes down to red zone third down. We call those four point plays - the difference between a touchdown and a field goal and we haven't been efficient enough in that area and a lot of that has been a lot of 3rd and 2, 3rd and 3 which is even more frustrating. We have to be better. To me, it's about us. It's about us being able to run the football in the red zone, we score. When we're able to win some one on one's, we score. We have to find a way to run the football vs a stout defense and we have to execute on 3rd down vs a great red zone defense and a great 3rd down defense. Put all those together and those four point plays become all the more important."
Not only are the Bears good in the red zone and on third down, but they're very tough to move the ball on. They are 9th in the league in total yards allowed per game (344.0) and 10th in passing yards allowed per game (230.8). Despite the Chicago defense being as good as it is, I don't think moving the ball will be an issue. Once they cross midfield, that's when things are going to get tough. Offensive coordinator Joe Brady knows how important it is for them to make the most of their red zone trips this Sunday.
"It's going to be a huge focus point. That's going to be something that we start meeting on tonight. The four point plays, the red zones, the 3rd down in the red zone, that's something that's critical especially going against the Bears. It's definitely something that we are going to have to improve on moving forward."
How do you get more successful in the red zone? Maybe calling more screens to Mike Davis out of the backfield or run a lot of 13 personnel (one back, three tight ends) on 3rd and short and not run to the edges, or some sort of RPO to deceive the defense. One way or another, the Panthers must find ways to get those four point plays to be successful if they want to come out on top and extend their win streak to four games.
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