Putting a bear lineup on paper and seeing the real thing in the field leads to very different results.
When the Bears were on the training ground in the minicamp and then again in the rookie minicamp, it became clear where their biggest problems lay.
Analysts disagree. The way they all climb up to one story is predictable because there is safety in numbers.
They could all seem wrong if they stick to that assessment more often: The Bears’ biggest problem is how they failed to craft a second-round receiver for Justin Fields. The third-round pick for the receiver wasn’t enough for them.
Bears can have real problems getting specific tasks done on a football field with the group they have now, and it’s not certain that they can correct that enough by the end of training camp in order to be competitive.
Receivers have nothing to do with this, but a lot can change quickly and has already happened.
Their biggest problem in an off-season encounter was defending the pass. And they were the worst team in the league with a passing rating (103.3).
Midfielders have been efficient and picked them separately last year while the back corner players have not played any interceptions. They’ve had one interception from every corner of each of the back two years.
So Kyler Gordon and Jaquan Brisker’s addition of security should remove this terrible weakness, or at least push it down on the chart a bit.
Here are their worst problems now, in order.
5. receiver
Yes, it is on the list but it is at the bottom of the line compared to other problems.
They have a main gun in Darnell Money, who last year caught more than CeeDee Lamb, Christian Kirk, Terry McLaurin, Deebo Samuel, Mike Williams, Mike Evans, Tee Higgins and DK Metcalf. 81 catches he tied for 18th in receptions among wide receivers, and the 1,055-yard was the 17th best among wide receivers. These numbers definitely make it Target #1.
So the player the bears need to invent is receiver number 2. They may already have number 2 in Pringle, which offers the ability to craft toys provided it’s free of legal issues. Velus Jones might be appraised there as well, but it can’t be assumed he’s a beginner. Then there’s Equinemos St. Brown and former Seattle recipient David Moore.
Obviously they would have had this receiver issue with a junior star receiver in the Justin Jefferson mold only if they had a first-round pick, but they didn’t. And trading was too much after they just got rid of GM who gave up draft picks as if they were coupons.
They could have drafted George Pickens or Sky More to try and solve their problems, but with Pickens there could have been a problem off the field. They already have this with Pringle.
Moore is of western Michigan, and as with wide receiver Christian Watson, what he did in college should be judged differently due to less competition. Don “t think? Like Moore, D’Wayne Eskridge was a second-round pick as a recipient of Western Michigan last year. 10 receptions Eskridge gave as a rookie ranked behind 289 other NFL players.
All that said, the success of a 25-year-old future cannot be assumed without NFL experience like Velus Jones.
They still need a talented player, but using this year’s pick to take someone like Moore or Pickens when they had the chance to Jaquan Brisker doesn’t make sense, Brisker was awarded the highest pass coverage score among all safety by the PFF, placing him above all receivers available. In most actual paintings at check number 48.
Simply put, Brisker would very well have been the best choice they made in the draft.
Any GM that was honest with their exploration process would take him there, not to mention the fact that the Bears didn’t have anyone on their roster capable of even managing another safe starting point.
4. nickel back
Last year’s passers only looked to attack on their right or whatever cornerback was in the hole, then burnt the Bears defense at will.
The Bears gave more yards per pass to quarterbacks on the right side of the attack/left side of defense, whether deep or short, than any team in the NFL. This was according to statistics from the NFLGSIS website. When opponents of QBs didn’t attack there, they simply looked for whatever receiver they matched against against the back corner of the aperture. Aaron Rodgers, Kirk Cousins, and Matthew Stafford made ground beef with a corner hole.
Tavon Young may be a solution. He may not. He had many health issues in Baltimore and before last year the rating of passers-by against him was appalling. In 2020, it was 109.7 and in 2018 it was 111.8. He didn’t play due to injury in 2019. Bystanders’ ratings against the Bears were worse than they were with Buster Screen as quarterback and last year with Duke Shelley he played.
That’s a vital center in any defense and the Bears say they intend to play both Jaylon Johnson and Kyler Gordon abroad, so they may not have a single player on the roster who could be a suitable hole-back.
Matt Eberflus described the corner hole as one of the three most important positions in his defensive scheme, along with his weak full back and technique three. They need someone competent to do this.
3. Defense of the internal line operation
Roquan Smith should get a huge contract extension. He would be worth every cent they could pay him if the Bears tried to stop the run with the group now in front of him on the defensive line.
Cover scheme 2 in the back, with a single gap, offensive, four players has a real talent for creating great plays against backcourt running, if implemented effectively.
It could also be easily wounded if the men of defensive epics were outside their loopholes.
With linebackers not waiting behind a huge defensive line to manning the barriers, the big opponents’ competitions can increase. The midfielders are now also suited to the gaps to attack. If the line workers aren’t doing the job, the pressure will already be on the midfielders and the results could be huge gains on the ground.
The Bears were bad at stopping the race last year. They ranked 23 and everyone knew how poor they were at that, so those teams tried to run on them. They faced the fewest passing attempts in the league last year even though they had ineffective pass coverage. Opponents ran over them to prepare good spaces for the distances.
Why risk a Robert Quinn sack at the start or a second down to derail a chain when you can run and push the ball up 8 or 9 yards and set up an easy conversion of a third down?
Now they have a less qualified defensive line to run this defensive 4-3 than last year’s players in the defensive front in a different scheme.
Angelo Blackson never played up front 4-3. It was always a duo. Jerez Tonga is built as a player with the classic doubles, not a striker. Justin Jones is the only proven all-purpose style, and one thing he’s proven to be quite average with 4 1/2 sacks in four seasons. The other three techniques are Mario Edwards Jr., who can speed up a passer from this position but is too small to be a force against running. He also has a real talent for penalty kicks.
Add another diversion issue: The midfielders are mostly young guys now, with the exception of Smith. They’ve gone to speed men to use in Cover 2 and teams with big lines and big backs are going out trying to destroy their smaller defensive front.
Free agent Larry Ogongobe was their big chance to take the pressure off their forehead, and getting him now seemed highly unlikely.
2. Prevent interventions
Go to follow
Everyone pees in their pants due to the lack of a wide receiver for the bears on the second day of the draft.
“Nobody in the front office helps Fields,” the complainers said,
Right complaint, wrong attitude.
Until the fifth round, there was no field assistance in the most important area but the recipients had nothing to do with this situation. The real problem with field aid remained its line of attack and specifically its handling.
They have a lot of people who can actually get a driveway or run a road. These may not be the ones that fantasy football fanatics recognize, but they will be available to deliver enough production for the team to have a space next year and a first-round pick to truly address this issue.
Remember this: The Bears are back with the top three receivers of last year – Mooney, David Montgomery, and Cole Kumit. And they added more help at Pringle and Velus Jones.
What they don’t have is someone who has proven capable of keeping intrusive racers out of the fields.
Teven Jenkins started twice in the NFL. Larry Borom was put into the left tackle, when he was actually a right tackle in the NFL and nearly all of his first season.
The Bears really lack a good head start for the right ranger at the moment, but among all the available young candidates and veteran Dakota Dozier, they might be able to question the one who can get the job done to an acceptable level.
The guards have a natural help in blocking the inner center or even the back. The rider must pass through them because there is nowhere else to go. So they know where the challenge comes from, unless there’s a trick involved in the rush. It is more difficult on the edge when the rider can go around the end, inside or use the lunge of the bulls.
Pro Football Focus has released its 35 Best Interventions of 2022. Of course, the Bears don’t have one on the list. They could list the next 35 and the bears might not have anyone there either.
The blind side and the other side where the real dangers are. Fields will need to put his head into spin and hone his ability to scramble to a sharp point to survive this NFL season, while these two inexperienced players, or perhaps even rookie Braxton Jones in the fifth round, ply different positions in a better league against elite. Rush.
The greatest strength in the fields is the accuracy of the field. Without blocking passes at the edge, he would not be able to throw those passes into the field and the offense would have to rely on ramps, wide receiver screens and possibly even obstacles to move the ball.
In short, it will look like last year’s attack and the important field yards in each attempt will be so small that they can block the edges.
Last week, the Seahawks-ranked free agent treated Duane Brown’s signature with the Bears as one of 10 post-enlisted free agent contracts that make the most sense. It’s hard to argue against this, unless you want to throw free agent Eric Fisher in there instead.
1. Justin’ Fields
The biggest problem bears face in the field is the quarterback.
It’s not that Justin Fields lacks talent. We’ve all seen flashes last year.
Fields is inexperienced as he started 10 matches and was treated as a backup until a few matches after he initially started. Fields lacks a viable offense exposure because Matt Nagy’s attack fooled no one after defeating Tampa Bay in 2018. Indeed, this coaching staff could take extra time to undo a mistake made by Fields’ last coaching staff.
These issues led to inconsistencies. The consistency he needs isn’t going to happen until he’s settled as a veteran in his comfort zone of achievement – winning two out of 10 starts was definitely not an achievement.
Fields was basically a lost year of freshmen, just like Mitchell Trubesky. Now he will need to do things he should have been doing all along.
He will need the ball to get out of his hand faster. It will need to throw more precisely over the middle in tighter windows.
His passes will need to be touched better, and this happened from small Mooney accounts.
Everything needs to continue.
Fields play the most important position in the team. Therefore, until he possesses the consistency derived from successful experience in a legitimate crime, his play ranks as their biggest problem.
Unlike many of these other problems, Fields himself could be the solution to this problem.
First, it needs to become that answer.
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