"Da Bears" and What They Need to Do to Win the Super Bowl
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by user BU ICEMAN
Yesterday's thrilling overtime win for the Chicago Bears versus the Seattle Seahawks and the San Diego Chargers' crushing defeat at the hands of the New England Patriots completed one of the most exciting NFL Playoffs weekends of recent memory. Next week will bring fans the New Orleans Saints at the Chicago Bears and the New England Patriots at Indianapolis Colts. Of those four remaining teams, the Chicago Bears are the highest seeded team, here's how "Da Bears" will win the Super Bowl.
Regardless of who "Da Bears" play, here's what each position or unit will need to do to give the city of Chicago and their fans their first Super Bowl win since the legendary '84/'85 season.
OFFENSE
Quarterback - As has been said ad nauseum, it all comes down to the quarterback. While many have said that yesterday's performance has exorcised his demons, Rex Grossman still showed flashes of "Bad Rex," enough that should still make everyone pause. His aggressiveness is as much a positive as a negative, making throws that rate high on the risk meter. Two passes to WR Rashied Davis provide great examples, the catch on the opening drive that went through rookie Kelly Jennings' hands and the perfect seam route that required a perfect pass in overtime. Grossman seems to get caught in the classic Madden video game moment a couple times a game; dropping back and back trying to buy time and ultimately getting sacked for a big loss. Yesterday, Grossman compounded that by keeping the ball away from his body, allowing Julian Peterson to swat it out of his hand. Also, Grossman was unable on a couple of occasions to recognize the blitz, this must improve. For the next two games, Grossman needs to K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple, Stupid), take what the defense gives you. Positive yards are the name of the game. Grossman was able yesterday to go through his progressions and pick the best one, sometimes that might be a 2 or 3 yard dump to Cedric Benson, which Grossman has to accept. He'll have opportunities to go vertical, he doesn't have to try and force it if there's a safer option underneath. While it may seem counterproductive, Grossman needs to figure out that sometimes it's O.K. to just cash it in and hit the deck and take the sack instead of attempting to scramble.
Running Back - Da Bears have a terribly underused tandem in Thomas Jones and Cedric Benson. The beginning of the season for both backs started out rough with depth chart, injury, and personality issues, but their on-field performance has been nothing less than spectacular. They need to keep doing what they've been doing all season. Both backs are spectacular at taking care of the ball, rarely putting the ball on the ground. Benson is the current NFL leader at consecutive touches without a fumble. Both show ability for the big play; due to his speed and quickness, Jones is the bigger threat to go all the way, but Benson's power makes him difficult to bring down. Benson is usually good for an additional 2 to 3 yards after final contact, almost always lowering his pads and putting a hit on the potential tackler, he's perhaps the meanest runner in the NFL. Their fantastic play can help take a lot of pressure off of Rex Grossman and the passing game.
Offensive Line - Anchored by perennial Pro-Bowler Olin Kreutz, Da Bears' offensive line must keep Rex Grossman on his feet and continue to open holes for the running backs. In yesterday's game, Seattle was able to get pressure on Rex Grossman, which can scare him into bad decisions. When given time by the offensive line, Grossman has been able to make a great decision, many times leading to a big play. Yesterday, Grossman found Bernard Berrian up the middle for a 68 yard TD pass, due in large part to the OL's perfect pass protection. If they can pick up blitzes and make the appropriate shift, it lessens the opportunity for "Bad Rex" to emerge.
Wide Receivers/Tight Ends - Much like the running backs, da Bears' wide receivers need to continue their good play. They're not above reproach, as evidenced by two key drops on catchable balls yesterday. If it hits your hands, you have to catch it; Bernard Berrian got his hands on a ball slightly behind him and Muhsin Muhammad's drop led to a key interception late. Desmond Clark has become the complete Tight End everybody has been waiting for, blocking and catching balls his way. Rashied Davis must be utilized more to draw coverage from Muhammad and Berrian. Mark Bradley's status is uncertain after sustaining an ankle injury.
Coaching - Ron Turner has had his hands full all year trying to groom Rex Grossman and deserves some of the blame for Rex's struggles. Turner must increase the workload for Jones and Benson. Against any of the remaining defenses, both backs are capable of 4-5 yards per carry. Increasing their workload will allow da Bears to control the clock and limit the opportunities for "Bad Rex" to emerge. Much of da Bears' big plays in the passing game have come from the play-action pass, a steady diet of Jones and Benson make it more effective. When the pass play is called, Turner must call plays that are not overly aggressive down the field and leave Grossman without a safety valve. Essentially, his play calling must not put Grossman in a situation to make a bad mistake. Also, Turner needs to find a way to get Devin Hester on the field in some offensive situations. Even if he isn't given the ball, the defense will have to respect him as a decoy. Hester could be utilized on the end-around, giving him a lot of field to make his moves, or a fly route, getting behind the secondary or drawing coverage away from other receivers.
DEFENSE
Defensive Line - The defensive line dearly misses the presence of injured defensive tackle Tommie Harris. While the rest of the DTs have filled in adequately, none have been able to provide the pass rush up the middle that Harris developed this year. Harris' penetration into the backfield has also disrupted many running plays. Big running plays against da Bears' defense come from rushes up the middle not to the outside; if they can't get in the backfield, the DTs must seal up the middle. Da Bears' defensive ends also must continue to get upfield and get at the quarterback. Alex Brown, Adewale Ogunleye, and rookie sensation Mark Anderson need to get touches on the quarterback and make their presence felt on passing downs. They do an incredible job on recognizing the outside rushes and using their speed to stretch the play wide for little gain.
Linebackers - Brian Urlacher, Lance Briggs, and overlooked Hunter Hillenmeyer must continue their excellent run support and pass defense. While opposing running backs have been able to accumulate decent yardage over the past few weeks, they haven't been able to break off a long run. However, there have been too many 10-15 yard rushes that have contributed to those yardage numbers. better cohesiveness with the defensive line will plug up the middle of the field. Due to their great speed, the linebackers have done a good job limiting the effectiveness of the outside rush. Urlacher must continue to make good decisions on his defensive audibles.
Secondary - The secondary has perfomed well, but has been prone to allowing big yards and the occasional big play since the loss of Safety Mike Brown. Todd Johnson or Chris Harris have shown signs of struggle in deep coverage and missed tackles. Rookie Danieal Manning has done well in his first season, but is still learning and prone to the same mistakes. With this in mind, the cornerbacks, Charles Tillman, Nathan Vasher, and Ricky Manning, Jr. have had to play an addtional 1 to 2 steps off the wide receivers to prevent the opportunity to burn the safeties. Nathan Vasher mush stay healthy to keep Ricky Manning in his best position as the Nickel back. Vasher's backup is Devin Hester, whose awareness is below average when playing CB and can be beaten by many crafty wideouts.
Coaching - Ron Rivera will probably parlay his success as Defensive Coordinator into a Head Coach position next year, but he must keep his focus on the here and now, which does not look to be an issue. He must continue to find ways to develop schemes to stop the run up the middle and protect his inexperienced safeties. Offenses have been able to study the Bears' defense and many big gains have been when they are in their Cover 2 or Tampa 2 set. Rivera must either disguise this set or rely less on the set to keep opposing offenses off-balance. A small increase in linebacker blitzes or Nickel blitzes may be in order.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Everybody holds their breath when KR/PR Devin Hester lines up, and it's not just because he has the potential to take back any kick his way. He's also shown a terrible tendency to misjudge kicks or make a bad decision to field a punt. Hester must make good decisions and not turn the ball over, in yesterday's game he came close on a couple of occasions. He needs to be a game breaker in a positive way, not a negative one. The Bears kick/punt coverage has been excellent all season, but allowed Seattle's Nate Burleson to put the Seattle offense in decent field position above the 30/35 yard line on kickoffs on many occasions yesterday. Keeping opposing offenses deep in their territory after a kickoff will pay huge divedends in the field position battle. Kicker Robbie Gould and his kicking unit teammates long snapper Pat Mannelly and holder Brad Maynard have been fantastic all season. Gould lived up to his namesake yesterday and may be called upon again to provide a game-winner, his confidence is key. Punter Brad Maynard needs to continue his solid performance. When given the opportunity to directional punt, put it inside the 10 yard line, and get the hang time necessary for the coverage team to get down the field.
HEAD COACH
Lovie Smith did the wise thing and broke off contract extension talks until after the season so he could focus on the task at hand. He has been Grossman's biggest supporter and must continue to show faith to keep Grossman's confidence high. At the same time, he must be willing to pull the plug and insert Brian Griese if Grossman starts to struggle. He must work with Offensive Coordinator Ron Turner and Defense Coordinator Ron Rivera to tweak their respective units and find ways to exploit their strengths against opponents' weaknesses. Perhaps his biggest task is continuing to keep the focus on the ultimate goal of a Super Bowl victory and running practices that emphasize this motivation.
