Utah defense Morgan Scalley Bear Front pressures and coverages

 ***Note*** I am now on substack, please join today with the following link and save 25%

www.coachkoufootball.substack.com/14day

 Hope coaches understand the hours that go in to the site!

Very affordable as it comes to less than $3 a month for some great content! 

Bear Front Pressures and Coverages 

Front

The Bear front is played with 2 3i a nose guard and 2 5i's. When teams get a tight end, you will often see  the dt to that side shift to a 4i. Some teams like it from a defensive perspective playing it that way. Some teams will move with it like the diagram below. All in all, it is a good scheme and ties in nicely to a 4-2-5 as you can play it without subbing and walking a will linebacker down(#22) and kicking the d line the other way. In the exampe below it is to the right. 

Bear is an excellent run defense, especially against teams that run some gap schemes because you can cover the guards and cause some issues in the run game. 

You also have to decide how you want to play your nose guard.

You have several options:

1. Do you play him to the side away from the back.

2. Do you have him play half man behind(offside A gap away from flow)

3. Do you have him play front side A gap and let the lb play offside A

4. Do you allow him to play 2 gap with the LB just playing off him.

5. Do you have him play the tight end (run strength A gap)

You can also sub the front like below and bring an extra d lineman in if you don't like playing your will on the line of scrimmage. Take a safety out and bring a d lineman in. I've done both. 

Coverages

Zone concepts 

Cover 2  

Below is an example of how you can play cover 2 with the de playing as the hook player in bear.

You can play the coverage by dropping your will , who is on the los and your DE to the hook,You can send the mike. This is just one option. You can also rush the end and drop the mike into the hook and send a 4 man pressure that way as well. 

You can see the defensive end playing the middle hook and walling #3

video  

Bear Cover 3 

Fire Zone pressures

Bear Strike Cover 3 , They send the sam to the field in the bear look and drop the olb to the boundary. They play cover 3 and slant the whole defensive front. 

Odd Pressure vs BYU

Similar concept 3 under 3 deep with a defensive lineman playing the hook. They will often have the de drop to the hook as opposed to the flat like several 3 under 3 deep teams when they blitz off the edge.

Another pressure from the bear front. They bring the cb to the bottom of the screen and the mike to the boundary vs the closed set. They get a 2x1 on the tackle as the tackle blocks the LB. In the rpo game that leaves the cb unblocked, qb does a nice job getting the throw off. 

You can  see here as the guard takes the blitzing inside linebacker the cb has a nice free run at the qb. Qb does a great job reading it and is well. coached to get the ball out. The safety does a nice job tackling the wr at 5 yards. 

Clip with it.

Man concepts cover 0 and cover 1

Below is an example of their alignment in bear cover 1. Cover 1 is man free

Here's how it looks vs man as they align the mike directly over the rb. You can also see the safety, play 
right over the man he is covering so you can see them in man pre snap.

 The Safety comes down to play the h back with the Mike Lb responsible for the RB. Easy for him as he goes where the rb goes. They play press to the single side and on the #2 wr to the passing strength.

Short yardage defense 

3rd and 1

Bear O

You will also see it in short yardage situations. Below is a diagram where they go bear cover 0 and bring the FS down as a run support defender. They play the Mike #30 to the A gap away from the rb and the safety comes down to play run

Arizona runs zone read and the defense plays it hard with the olb on dive, forces the pull read and the safety is coming down in cover 0 and plays the rb. Nice design by scalley as they get off  the field.  They get the first down but the scheme is great. 

Video of the bear cover 0

Another example of bear cover 0 vs unbalanced to the boundary.

You can see the safety make a great play on it as he's unblocked and comes down hard to make the play on the screen. #15 is on the h back and #13 is free. #30 is the offside A gap with #41 the nose guard playing half man behind. #92 is in a 4i to the tight end side. 

The safety makes a great play on it.

 

A few more cover 1 coverage clips

Vs USC in the Pac 12 championship game they ran a few bear pressures.

 Bear Pressures: 

Bear below is a nice pressure with the sam off the edge and the olb to the boundary dropping. It looks like quarter , quarter, half. 

USC 4 man slides and the pressure gets home as the guard is conflicted and no one takes the Nose. Nice design by Scalley. 

Another example, is going bear with a cover 3 fire zone. A nice 4 man pressure that forces the ball out quick. Nice job of disguise as they go cover 3 from it. Not sure if the DT is going the wrong way on this because they leave the #2 wr uncovered.

This is the 2nd article on Coach Scalley. He is an innovator who does a great job as a coordinator and one of the reasons they are going to the Rose Bowl! 

3rd down defense- Bear Front 5-1 Penny Pressures and Coverage

 3rd down defenses-How teams use the bear front to get advantages vs  protection

Teams use the bear front in passing situations and often send the mike in their bear scheme. Why do teams like to use the Bear front? It changes protection schemes  and can sometimes give you an advantage in protection.

Here are the most common without getting into matchups based on personnel:

1. Big on Big with the running back on the off the ball linebacker

2. Full slide protection leaving the rb on the defensive end

Here's an example of the Rams vs the 49ers. They put the RB on the outside LB as the whole line slides to the right.

3. 4 man slide protections. De on the rb on the LB or free releasing

Allows 1x1 matchups across the board.

3rd and 7 Giants vs the Vikings. Vikings run a game with the olb and defensive tackle. The issue is that the RG turns to help on the defensive tackle and can't flatten out to take the looper.

The OLB Loops inside as the right guard turns to help on the defensive tackle

The LB is by him and gets the sack.

Bengals vs Raiders

Bengals bring what looks like  6 and play man free, in reality 5 man pressure with LB adding in.

Mike and LDE run a nice 2 man game. LB comes free for the sack. RG is slow to pickup the looper.

Colts vs The Bills

Colts caused havoc running 2 under 3 deep with a 6 man pressure scheme. 

49ers defense vs Cowboys

On 3rd and 4 they go man free out of bear front, send the mike and drop the 2 de to be rat defenders. The one lb has the back if he releases. More man free concepts from the 49ers.

Vs Oklahoma, SD State runs a nice bear front pressure vs empty.

3rd and 8 the Rams are in a 5-1 look odd front. 

They run a nice 3 man game with the LB and Nickel Safety off the edge. The RG turns and takes the LB and the RB stays outside, thus no-one to take the looping Safety. They play man free with the concept as you can see on the film. Nice Design

3rd and 3 vs the Jets

Love what they did on the next 2 plays vs the Jets on 3rd and 3.

On both looks they show their odd  bear look. Not truly bear because you have a 4i and a bear but is identified the same way. They are in  dime personnel. The first time out of the odd look, they bring the mike.and peel the outside lb to take the  back.

Tennessee defense

Bear front 

de/mike game

peal the olb on the rb

Coverage Man Free

The lb is 2nd from the top in the b gap.

Runs a stunt with the de 3 tech to that side. Nice game and gets home as they free release the rb.

You see the olb take the RB and they are in man free coverage

The Jaguars go bear with the LB lined up over the center. He engages the center and makes the center block him before dropping into coverage.

From there, they get a mismatch with the rb in protection against the blitzing LB

The blitz gets home but Mahomes is Mahomes and he. gets it off on 3rd and 5 for the first down.

Force 1x1 with Mckinnon.

Here's a nice job by Marshall as they send only 3 and drop the olb into coverage. They are rat defenders and the left defensive end gets the interception. A nice job with man free on the outside and 3 LB's helping underneath in coverage.

Both OLB drop into coverage, mike has the rb but he blocks

Good job playing on the perimeter by the Marshall Defense.

These are just some 5-1 bear/penny package blitzes you may see.