Ground-ed attack big part of Bears' struggles

Posted November 19, 2009 10:00 pm

By Bob LeGere

The Eagles are one of the league's best examples of a team that can be productive on offense without the benefit of a strong running game.

They're No. 5 in scoring and 13th in total yards, despite ranking only 23rd in rushing yards.

In Andy Reid's version of the West Coast Offense, the pass sets up the run, and sometimes the pass just sets up more passes.

It works well in Philadelphia, where Reid has taken the Eagles to five NFC championship games in his first 10 years, but Bears coach Lovie Smith isn't eager to use the same formula.

"We're a running football team, but we'll do what we need to do to win football games," said Smith, whose team has won just one of its last five.

"If that's passing to help our running game, I think they go hand in hand. I still think this time of year you need to have a running game."

The Bears' run game has been mostly absent since the Oct. 11 bye week. While losing four of five, they've averaged just 58 rushing yards in the defeats, but they had 170 yards on the ground in the victory over Cleveland.

Speaking as a defensive playcaller, Smith said it's less complicated when an offense is one-dimensional.

"It's a lot easier preparing when you know a team's going to come out throwing the football," he said. "It's a lot easier than defending a team able to do both. We would like to be able to do both.

"We need to do both to win games."

The Bears weren't all that good running the football last season, finishing 24th in yards and 27th in average gain per carry. But they did it well enough and frequently enough to have a balanced attack.

In only three games last season did the Bears fail to run fewer than 22 times.

This season they've already rushed fewer than 22 times in five games, and they're 30th in rushing yards, 31st in rushing attempts and 27th in average gain per run.

Smith vows not to abandon the ground game, which is a start.

"There are a lot of things that go into running the football," he said. "Blocking up front, the running back, and the passing game being productive to take a little bit of pressure off the run. And then just staying committed to it, which we'll do."

The Eagles often use screens and other short passes as a de facto running game, and that worked for the Bears last week, with running back Matt Forte picking up 37 and 31 yards on screen plays.

"They definitely help," offensive coordinator Ron Turner said. "It's kind of like a running play. (The San Francisco 49ers) were determined to take away the run. They had eight guys up there a lot, so we went to the screen game."

But Turner also believes the Bears have too often been their own worst enemy this season.

"We have to execute better," he said. "We have to cut down on mistakes. We've done some good things all year.

"(But) what I'm looking for - and I've been saying this every week - is the consistency, for us to eliminate mistakes, whether it's a turnover or a mental mistake or a penalty. We're hurting ourselves, and we talk about it all the time."

The Bears had 4 offensive penalties last week in the second quarter alone. Then, on the final drive, with the game in the balance, the offense committed 3 more infractions, although one was declined.

"We have to give each play a chance, and when we do, we're successful," Turner said. "We've done that very well at times, but we have to get all 11 doing the right thing, and it has to come very quickly."

If not, the Bears can kiss their already-slim playoff chances goodbye.

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=338433">Bears shun NBC interviews [11/20/09]</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> Bob LeGere's picks Sunday's games -31/2 LIONS 21, Browns 9 -9 JAGUARS 21, Bills 17 -10 Steelers 30, CHIEFS 16 -1 Colts 27, RAVENS 19 -61/2 GIANTS 31, Falcons 21 -61/2 PACKERS 27, 49ers 13 -101/2 VIKINGS 34, Seahawks 17 -11 COWBOYS 27, Redskins 20 -111/2 Saints 37, BUCS 19 -9 Cardinals 30, RAMS 24 -101/2 PATRIOTS 38, Jets 21 -91/2 Bengals 31, RAIDERS 10 -Off Chargers 27, BRONCOS 16 -3 Eagles 28, Bears 20 Monday's game -41/2 TEXANS 23, Titans 20 Last week Straight up: 9-6 Vs. the spread: 7-8 Best bet: 1-0 Season total Straight up: 95-49 Vs. the spread: 70-73-1 Best bet: 5-5

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