| 17 August 2010
After Saturday's game against the Chargers the internet message boards lit up with a lot of negative talk about the Chicago Bears' offensive line performance. The immediate negative focus was on the lack of run blocking by the interior of the offensive line. While that criticism is warranted, what was missed on was how well the line did in pass protection.
Chris Williams especially played well showing very good athleticism and a desire to compete. On one particular play Williams made the initial read, but corrected himself by kick sliding out to pick up the blitz. It showed well Williams' awareness but also his athleticism to get out and pick up a smaller quicker player coming off the edge.
The opening pass play really showed off how well the line did in their pass protection. The Chargers came with five rushers and a stunting blitzer, everyone was picked up in the initial three seconds, only the late stunting blitzer was able to flush Cutler from the pocket after about four seconds of solid protection. By then Cutler launched a ball to the wide open Johnny Knox for a big gain.
The immediate run play following the Knox pass was also well executed across the line. It's sweep with Kreutz and Omiyale leading the way. Kreutz does well to get out in front but misses a diving CB who is able to trip up Forte. This is the type of run play that Mike Tice talked about with the media today.
Tice stated "I feel that overall it was a very good start protection-wise," Tice said. "First unit, minimal mental errors, if any, which was good because fortunate for us they threw a bunch of pressure at us, which was nice to work in the first preseason game.
"Run game, exactly how it has been in practice, one block off here, one block off there. We just have got to continue to work on our timing, pay attention to some of the smaller details like splits and things like that. But for the first time out of the block I was pleased with the
start."
The one block off here statement that I decided to bold from that quote directly relates to the second running play of the Chargers game. Kreutz JUST BARELY misses his block and he slaps his hands together in frustration, knowing that if he makes that block Forte is running for quite a long time on the play.
On the third running play of the game Frank Omiyale makes a great block on the DE. He gets a good kick out and walls off the defender quite well. This is Omiyale's second good block of the game, the first coming on the second play when he pulls and gets a good kick out block on the defender. Two consecutive solid blocks is something we didn't see a lot of from Omiyale in 2009.
The second completion to Knox is also where the Bear showed good protection. Again the Chargers bring pressure from all angles, it's picked up well and Cutler delivers the football. The Chargers bring a CB on the blitz, and the Bears are operating out of an empty backfield. They do not keep another defender in to block and Cutler is protected well.
The next running play the Chargers have nine defenders up near the box....the two safeties aren't directly in the box, but they're a yard or two away from the box. The play is well blocked, it's just there are more defenders to block than blockers.
These are just a few examples of what went right for the Bears during the Chargers game. This is why Tice made the statement that things are just one block off here or there from things really opening up. There isn't any smoke screen or sugar coating because watching the tape really shows what Tice meant.
The only real negative amongst the starters, or player that struggled was second year right guard Lance Louis who needs to work better on using his leverage and keeping his pads low in the run game. Louis showed some fight and a willingness to work, but a few times found himself out of position or just showing an overall lack of experience. This is to be expected since Louis hasn't played a game in nearly a year. Louis' last real action came during the pre-season of 2009 so it may take him the pre-season to get his feet underneath and perform up to the level he's expected to perform at.
Louis as I stated though will be one to keep an eye on as the pre-season progresses to see how he develops and performs from one week to the next. What you want to see is improvement from one week to the next.
Elsewhere in the O-Line shuffle it appears the Bears have settled on Josh Beekman as the back up center ONLY and Beekman will not be getting reps at guard. Beekman played a lot of snaps at the center position this weekend while Garza and Asiata manned the left guard spot. Beekman struggled at times and looked like he may be too small to take on some of the bigger badder two gap nose tackles. He doesn't look like he'll be big enough or strong enough to compete at this level and the Bears may be looking for another center before long. If Kreutz plays up to the Pro Bowl level that Mike Tice states he's capable of playing at, the Bears may ride this horse until it breaks and look for another center before too long. Beekman will get his chances and reps in the pre-season and like Louis needs to improve from week to the next, but his physical limitations may be what limits his performance as a center.
Also of note was the play of rookie seventh round draft pick J'Marcus Webb who showed that with consistent week to week play he could possibly wind up on the 53 man roster, or at worse develop on the practice squad. Webb is a perfect practice squad candidate who could develop there and then start to push for a starting job in 2011. Webb is definitely a back up player to keep an eye on during the pre-season because he'll get a lot of reps when the starters aren't playing a lot of minutes.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
