| 21 September 2009
There will be a lot of intriguing things to critique in this week's film session. While the Bears did come away with a victory there is still a lot of things the Bears need to improve upon if they are going to make it to the playoffs. Beating the Steelers at home and going 97-yards for a touchdown on a drive is one way to compliment just how good the offense performed today. Jay Cutler scrambling to avoid lots of pressure and Matt Forte finding not much room to run will be something else we have to go over and see what can be fixed. Opening Drive Bears three and out
The opening running play is a stretch play to the short side of the field. Not exactly the type of play to run against a defense that has such speedy linebackers. Especially attacking the short side of the field you're not putting your offense in a good position to succeed in running the football. Overall it's a pretty well blocked play, but the Steelers string it out and Forte goes mostly no where. Automatically it's a bad play call on Turner's fault, simply putting the Steelers in position to use their speed to make plays. Pittsburgh is a good tackling team as well so these play calls aren't really a testament to attacking their weakness.
On third and six Turner has Forte lined up in the slot and tries to run a screen to him on the short side of the field. Again something you can't get away with a fast defense. The Steelers are there immediately and make the play and it's fourth and six. The play-calling already appears to hamper the Bears on their opening drive. It's as if Turner is out thinking himself and simply trying to go where the perceived unexpected play is, but it's unexpected because the Bears have no room to operate between the side line and the hash marks working the sort side of the field. Bears punt.
Bears take over after Pittsburgh scores on their opening drive. 7-0 Pittsburgh, Bears go three and out second time around:
Cutler out of the shot gun on first down and ten, connects with Olsen on the pass for a gain of six. Not sure why you leave yourself with the only option being a draw or a pass. Doesn't really leave the defense with a lot of guess work to go shot gun on first and ten. Second and four hand off to Forte behind Kreutz and OMG Omiyale. Guess who gets driven back into the path of the ball carrier and causes the play to only gain one yard? Yep Omiyale who has no blocking ability whatsoever. Chris Williams gets a good drive block here on this play. Nice strong run block so that's a point of note even though the play went no where.
On third and three Cutler fires off to Olsen who drops a sure first down catch. The play was blocked well although it happened so fast there was really no way to judge it, but each man got a pretty good punch at the point of attack and had the play lasted longer Cutler may have had an option open further down the field. Punt the ball.
Bears third drive after the Charles Tillman INT.
Cutler to Kellen Davis against a strong zone look by the Steelers. Cutler has all day to throw against a four man rush front and makes the most of it by zinging it to Davis.
First and ten again, Davis drops a pass on a Cutler roll out that hits him right in the hands. That's two drops in the game that could have gone for two first downs. The drops both come from TEs. Bears run a very tight receiver set at the line of scrimmage and the Steelers step back in a eight man zone and only rush three. Great route run by Earl Bennett, nice catch for a gain of eight. Third and three and the Steelers come with a hard blitz up the middle a little late developing. Cutler stands in the pocket and delivers a bullet to Johnny Knox. Knox makes a superb catch and Cutler takes a major shot on the play. First big hit of the night taken by Cutler, not a bad way too start the game against such a stout Steeler defense.
First and ten here, the Bears fake the give to Forte and then hit him out of the backfield with a pass. In this drive the Bears are beginning to execute well, and probably could even find some running room. The look the Steelers are giving is primarily pass defense with only a small hint of late blitzes coming. This would have been a good time to try and establish the run, though it's hard to fault the accuracy and rhythm Cutler starts to find here. Cutler gets pressured pretty well on this play but he does well by stepping up, running up and delivering a good throw. Holding penalty brings it back though so it was a completion for naught.
1st and 20 and the Steelers go zone again and only rush a few, a quick pass to Forte gains five we move to 2nd and 15. Steelers blitz one, Bears protect not so well Cutler fires to Davis who catches it but slips as he's catching it and has nowhere to go. Third and nine and Cutler is protected well on the play, but throws to high for Knox. Bears forced to punt. So far I've noticed just how simple even conservative the Steelers are being with their blitz packages. Not really coming with any DBs or going crazy with the stunts.
Bears back on offense still down 7-0 start out at their own three yard line.
Bears get the ball back and on first down the pass goes incomplete to Adrian Peterson who drops it. James Harrison hits Cutler late and below the knees which draws an instant personal foul roughing the passer penalty. An absolutely dirty play by Harrison here. Bears move off of the shadow of their own goal line thanks to this penalty, and all the momentum fully shifts to the Bears. First and ten and Hester drops a pass, he heard the footsteps and it shot right through his hands. This next play Adrian Peterson takes the hand off and gains 15 yards is why the Bears should have focused on running the ball more. The Steelers are in a weak four man front drop into a zone, Frank Omiyale pulls gets a great block and Peterson rumbles for the first down. Well executed and should have been the cue for Ron Turner to run the ball more to keep the heat and hits off of Cutler and the receivers.
Bears first and ten again, Bears show a little bit of a play-action Steelers blitz Adrian Peterson gets a great chip block knock down of James Harrison after Pace gets beat, Cutler steps up and delivers a strike to Johnny Knox who gets some good YAC because of his speed before he's shoved out of bounds. 22 yard gain on that hook up between Knox and Cutler, pretty well executed play here. Again the Steelers are not being very complicated with their defensive scheme here. Everything they're doing is pretty simple compared to what Green Bay showed. 4/5 of the pass protection here was damn good, Chris Williams really locks up LaMar Woodley on this big completion. The 12 yards after the catch by Knox really keeps the momentum rolling as the Bears break into Steeler territory.
First and ten the pass protection again is decent, Chris Williams gets semi-beat but he's able to keep engaged with his hands and sling the rusher to the ground. Steelers only rush four and Greg Olsen gets decked and drops a pass. Hard to hold onto these passes when you take such a big shot like Olsen did here. Still it shows the Bears are fully in sync on this drive. Forte with another screen pass and gets about seven on the play good execution here.
The pass protection here is really bad but Cutler is damn nimble with his side step and lets the two outside rusher collide with each other. He delivers a strike that's dropped, but a five yard holding call on the defense gives the Bears an automatic first down. Kellen Davis is completely mugged on the play, held by his pads and then tripped as a result of it. Easy call on this penalty, no doubt about it. Bears run the ball against a strong front and get absolutely buried on the play. Steelers get good pressure on Cutler but he stands in the pocket and fires to Knox for another first down. Knox makes the right read in coverage settles into the zone and then take the pass for the first down. Veteran move by Knox on this play.
Bears out of the shot gun on first down, empty backfield, Steelers bring a lot of pressure, Adrian Peterson wide open because the DB was 10 yards off the LOS. Peterson settles Cutler throws a dart and the Bears continue to move the ball. Overall pretty good pass protection considering the number of blitzers here. Second and four a play action to Olsen who slips and can't come near making the catch.
Bears unafraid to attack the blitz here as they empty the backfield again, Cutler gets pressured and delivers a throw to Peterson who fights forward on a nice effort for the first down. First and goal to go, Peterson from a full house backfield, squeezes out a yard. Steelers rush three and Cutler scrambles from the pocket trying to prolong the play and is dropped for a yard loss. Great coverage here by the Steelers' secondary. Cutler hesitated enough to have this be a "sack". But it wasn't really a sack at all. Steelers again in a full zone Bears protect well and Cutler looks the coverage over to Olsen and then fires to Davis for the touchdown. Veteran move here by Cutler to manipulate the coverage with his eyes and then come back to Davis. Half Time Thoughts:
The Steelers didn't bring a lot of the same exotic blitzes as the Packers did. Oddly enough the Steelers chose to sit back in a zone most of the time and let Cutler pick them apart. Cutler began to do just that from about the beginning of the second quarter on. I am thoroughly surprised the Steelers didn't try to do more to pressure Cutler, they didn't blitz nearly as much as I thought they would. Sure there was some blitzes they brought, but overall it was pretty much zone. The Bears maybe could have run the ball more against these zones the Steelers ran, but they didn't need to.
Once Ron Turner made his adjustments and the Bears got more room to work with and more consistently caught the ball, they marched down the field pretty easily. It was dink and dunk sure, but it worked and the Bears got a few plays with some hard fought YAC. Pretty pleased to see this type of effort and I am extremely impressed with how well Cutler sits in the pocket. He may be one of the most nimble passers in the pocket in the league he doesn't need to be Steve Young, Michael Vick or Randall Cunningham to get the job done. He just needs to have the pocket awareness to know when to deliver the football. He does here and the Steelers have no answer for it.
Start of the third quarter Bears' first possession of second half
This is the worst pass and throw and protection of the game right here on first down and ten to start. Chris Williams gets bull rushed back into Cutler, Orlando Pace same thing on the opposite side. Cutler scrambles and has Woodley draped on his back and heaves it out towards empty grass where it's almost picked off. This is the type of stuff you can't have happen, where the protection breaks down so poorly that you throw it out there just for the sake of throwing it.
Bears run the ball on second and ten and the run blocking is god awful, Pace obviously can't do anything but pass block and he doesn't even do that well. Chris Williams same thing on the right side, both have trouble driving their defenders and instead are driven into Forte's rushing lane. Yes the Steelers are one of the run defending teams in the league, and have been for a better part of a decade, but you simply cannot have this type of failure at the point of attack. If you were to show a text book example of run defense this would be it, because both of the Bears' tackles get beat badly on this one. When you see that the Bears are having this type of problems run blocking then you wonder about just how smart it was to bring a player that is as washed up as Orlando Pace is. On third and nine the Steelers come with one of their most exotic blitz packages of the game so far. They load up the box with three rushers to the weak side of the formation, with Cutler back in the shot gun. Not one of the blitzers is even slowed down on this play. The thing is you can see the blitz coming before Cutler does his pre-snap read and should be able to adjust to it. Late flag for intentional grounding...doesn't really matter.
Bears on offense again with 10:23 left in the third
Cutler quick pass on first down to Kellen Davis complete for a gain of seven, then a false start on Omiyale moves it back to second and eight. Run to Forte is stopped by the CB on the edge, third and eight....false start third and 13 now. Fake the draw, screen play to Earl Bennett and Pace and Omiyale are right at the DBs and they get good yards and a first down here.
First down Bears play action roll out, Knox makes a big catch but drops it he had to jump and go back across his body to get it. Spectacular catch had he made it, instead the contact forces him to drop it. Thing is this is such excellent body control by Knox that he can make this type of adjustment and nearly haul it in. This shows what type of player Knox is, he's more than just a burner that runs a sub 4.3 40-yard dash, he is a receiver, an all around athlete.
Second and ten here run to Forte is well blocked by no one really has the CB so he comes in and makes the tackle on Forte's legs. The Steelers have excellent tackling CBs so this is a normal play for them. Bears third and five now Cutler ni the shot gun empty backfield, Cutler's pass deflected on the blitz. Fourth down Bears punt it away.
Bears next possession down 14-7 5:17 left in the third quarter
Cutler a quick swing pass to Forte who gets nine yards and tackled by the first tackler. Good open field tackle by the Steelers and Forte looks fine. Forte picks up the first on a gain of two. Steelers just load up the box to stop the run so they do pretty easily. Bears first and ten, off-set eye with McKie in the backfield, Harrison get a great pass rush by Pace. Pace has no chance here just the pressure forces Cutler into a sack. Second and 14 pass play a short bubble screen that gets muddled up quickly by the Steelers' pursuit. Bad call on second and 14 here. Third and 13 now after the Hester gain of one, draw play to Forte he slams into the pile bounces out jukes a couple tackles and gets five hard effort yards. Bears punt it away...
Bears back on offense after the first missed Steelers field goal
First and ten quick bubble screen to Knox gain of seven on this play, second and three, Forte with no where to go on the stretch play, Steelers just run it down easily. Loss of a yard third and three now 10:24 to go, Cutler out of the shot gun, Steelers with a late blitz up the middle, Cutler side steps and throws a dart to Hester for the first down. Just great foot work by Cutler. Great catch by Hester between to defenders too, one of Hester's best catches of the night. Gain of 12 on the play just text book.
Olsen goes in motion, lines up in the wing like he's going to block, goes mostly uncovered and snags a big pass here. The big pass really puts the Bears in a great momentum position. Well protected play with five rushers, and Cutler hits Olsen down the middle on a seam route. Cutler again from the shot gun pretty good protection zings it to Kellen Davis for a gain of eight. Second and two Bears in the red-zone, Cutler from the shot gun More blitzes another big completion Cutler to Olsen five of five on this drive is Cutler. Blitzes are starting to come more frequently and Cutler is making plays from the shot gun. Cutler pressured throws out of bound on purpose. Cutler to Forte for a run gain of one. Bears three receivers, third and goal empty back field, Cutler from the shot gun, Steelers looking to blitz.
Steelers come with all sort of pressure on the blitz here, they risk it, blitz and leave a receiver open or in one on one, slot receiver cuts out on a slant out, Knox with a slant in and catches Cutler's touchdown pass here. Bears well executed here out of the shot gun, neutralizing the Steelers' blitz with quick passes and Cutler in the shot gun. Bears tie it up 14-14.
Bears back on offense after the Steelers miss a field goal
First and ten Bears out of a two TE set with 3:18 left to go. Screen to Forte who gets great yards in the open field and fumbles the football. It's punched out by a Steelers defender. Not much you can do here when a tackler makes this type of play, it's just a great play. Thank god Olsen is there to recover the fumble and keep the drive alive. Quick toss to Knox who gains a quick five yards and is shoved out of bounds. Forte almost gets some room to run, but the Steelers are quick to tackle him. Bears at the two minute warning another blitz by the Steelers, play-action pass quick pass to Hester. Bears win the game on the field goal from Robbie Gould.
Overall impressions with the Bears' offense, tough trying to run against these Steelers. Forte will get his yards against certain teams so there is no reason to worry. The Steelers did adjust and blitz more and brought more than the Bears could pick up. But the Bears often times had receivers who got open, or Cutler was nimble and the pocket fired and made plays.
Overall the offense played well against the Steelers and didn't have much trouble moving the football when they weren't dropping passes or shooting themselves in the foot with penalties. If the Bears are this efficient on a weekly basis they are going to win a lot of games, especially against teams that don't have as strong of a defense as the Steelers have.
Going forward look for a more balanced attack that will eventually lead to bigger plays from Jay Cutler. If teams game plan the way the Steelers did, then Cutler can pick them apart back in the shot gun.
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