Bears Film Study: No ground gained against Green Bay, except in run game
First of all, no one should be surprised the Packers dominated the Bears once again in Game 1.
Disappointed? Sure. But this was just business as usual. Aaron Rodgers gave Green Bay a decided quarterback advantage, but the Packers have consistently out-coached and out-drafted the Bears. It's been the better-run organization for a few decades.
How many Bears players would start for Green Bay? Tremaine Edmunds and Jaquan Brisker, maybe? The Packers seem to be in good shape at tight end and receiver. Not sure they'd trade Jordan Love for Justin Fields right now. Love looked very confident after serving a three-year apprenticeship under Rodgers.
Fields did not carry much confidence Sunday, thanks to a rotten mix of scheme and pass-blocking. A pair of sacks really doomed the Bears' offensive effort, and on both plays, it was hard to tell what the plan was.
The first one happened in the second quarter when the Bears had second-and-goal at the 4-yard line, trailing 7-3 and on the verge of taking the lead. On the previous play, Fields bootlegged and hit Cole Kmet for 4 yards.
When the Bears ran the bootleg for the second-straight play, Kmet stayed in to block and Fields was buried by rookie and Barrington native Lukas Van Ness for a 7-yard loss. Who was the intended target? Darnell Mooney was in the corner of the end zone with a very tight window of opportunity. RB D'Onta Foreman took the run fake and was curling into the end zone, but there wasn't enough time for that.
On the next play, the Bears ran Matt Nagy's favorite red zone play - everyone run a straight line into the end zone and hope one of them can beat a defender one-on-one. Allen Robinson could do that once in a while, but Kmet had no chance.
The Bears did two things well offensively last season: Fields improv and the load-up-on-blockers power run game. They ran the ball fairly well on Sunday (4.2 yards per carry). Why not run it three times in a row from the 4-yard line?
The second sack was on the Bears' first play of the third quarter. Green Bay scored to make it 17-6, and the Bears badly needed to mount a drive. Instead, Fields was buried by Devonte Wyatt for a loss of 11 on first down.
This was a bootleg left and tackle Braxton Jones let Wyatt run right past him. The offensive line looked like it was setting up for a screen pass, but there was no receiver in the area. FB Khari Blasingame was split wide and he ran over like he was there to provide some protection for Fields, but he had no chance of getting to Wyatt. This led to a punt, another Packer TD and a 24-6 lead.
Same old, same old:
Many are asking why Fields didn't throw downfield more often. Film Study found the answer obvious - the offensive line offered little protection. He's at the same place the Bears left off last season, expecting the rush to arrive and quick to look for run lanes. The play calls don't always give him the short outlet option.
Rookie right tackle Darnell Wright looked like a repeat of Jones last year, pretty good in run blocking, overwhelmed sometimes in pass blocking.
A great example was in the third quarter, after going down 24-6, the Bears had a third-and-three at their own 18. All three receivers lined up to Fields' right, two went deep, D.J. Moore pulled up short and was wide open for what should have been an easy first down.
The problem was, Rashan Gary blew past Wright. Credit to guard Nate Davis, who slid over in time to prevent the sack. But Fields' passing lane to Moore was gone. He figured he could run for 3 yards and just needed Cody Whitehair to wall off DT Kenny Clark, but it didn't happen. Fumble, TD, 31-6.
On the other side, Love barely knew the Bears' defensive line existed. A great example was the first snap of the fourth quarter. The Bears scored to get within 24-14, then had a chance to build some momentum with the Packers facing third-and-eight at their own 41.
The Bears rushed four and Love had all the time in the world. Green Bay sent five receivers into the pattern and Love just had to wait for Naperville Central grad Jayden Reed to pop free for an 18-yard gain.
Best play:
We'll get to the Bears in a second, but the Packers' 51-yard throwback screen pass on the opening drive of the third quarter was a work of art. It started with a run fake to Aaron Jones, who slid to the right side while Love bootlegged and drew the attention of Bears' rushers.
Edmunds and Jack Sanborn actually read the play well, but the Packers had three offensive lineman out front and all executed their blocks. Then two receivers had Eddie Jackson walled off downfield. All Jones had to do was catch and run.
Encouraging words:
Not much here from the Bears' perspective; they looked like the exact same team as last year. The best trend was probably how both Foreman and rookie Roschon Johnson showed some promise in the run game. Johnson threw a great block on one Foreman 11-yard gain.
The Bears might be missing a blocking specialist at tight end. Is J.P. Holtz available? And if they plan on running bubble screens, for gosh shakes, get Equanimeous St. Brown on the field to block.
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