Here come the Bears! The New Look Bears Offense !

 The Bears offense has made some dramatic changes in the last 3 weeks. It started 4 weeks ago with the playcalling going to Coach Lazor. It has played dividends as each week they get better and better as an offensive football team. They really made a commitment to running the football and the offense has hit on all cylinders.

They are noticeably different in 4 aspects.

1. The Bears have changed their identity. They are going under center. 1st down under center the last 3 weeks is 72% on 1st down as compared to 32% earlier in the year. Weeks 1-10 on 2nd down was 31% and the last 3 weeks is 58%. That is a huge difference. 

They are running the ball successfully. They are giving the ball to Montgomery and he has been playing great. Their wide zone play has really been good of late.This has a lot to do with running the ball under center with more down hill runs. 21/29 runs vs the Lions were under center. 

2. The Offensive Line changes have been a major upgrade. The interior was playing horrible and the best move they made was moving Whitehair to left guard and Mustipher to center. They are doing a nice job as a unit and the difference is night and day.  Right Guard Bars has been solid and Leno and Ilfedi have been good at tackle.

My other posts details the issues prior to the lineup changes 

https://coachkoufootball.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-bears-offensive-struggles.html

They are running more plays under center on 1st and 2nd down as mentioned above  and running more play action passes with Robinson and other wr benefitting. They are running plays sequentially. Jet sweep, wide zone etc. Much different than the rpo world they liked earlier in  the year. 

3.  Also, off the under center runs, you are seeing more bootlegs which is playing to Trubisky's strengths

4. They are getting into a rhythm on offense and it shows. Decisive decision making and play calling has definitely been different.

5. They are being smart. Not asking Jimmy Graham to be a point of attack blocker, using Patterson as primarily a running back and just playing to their players strengths. Getting efficiency from guys other than Robinson has been key. 

6.They are running simple route concepts on third down which is making the reads easy for Trubisky.There is an example down below of this concept.

Stats the last 3 games.

Lions
Rushing      31/140  4.5 ypc                                                       Passing. 26/34   249 yards 1 td o int

Texans        23/169   7.3 ypc                                                                     24/33.  267.   3 td,  o int 

Vikings       42/199    4.7ypc                                                                     15/21      201.  1 td,  1 int

Over the last four weeks, Montgomery has rushed for 434 yards, accounting for nearlyhalf of his season total. Over that period, he has averaged 6.1 yards per carry
Here's a perfect example how an improved running game sets up your play action.

The Bears gain 4 yards on first down against the Lions. On 2nd and 6 they go play action and hit Robinson on a dig route vs cover 3. They freeze the db's with  the jet fake and wide zone action. Easy throw to Robinson!

on 2nd and 10.

They run the same jet action as earlier in the game but give the ball to the HB on the zone slice play.

Good decision and part of their zone, jet play action package.

Down on the goal line they run the jet sweep action and wide zone off it. The Center, Left guard and left tackle to a nice job. The SS goes with the slice block so no real cut back player. Good scheme good blocking and a nice run by Montgomery for 13 yard gain.  Setting up plays nicely.

On 3rd down the Bears are giving Trubisky time but also running effective route concepts that are easy reads for the qb. Here they get man free and run Robinson on the in route at about 12 yards at a depth where the safety cant help. The Lions bring 5 so no underneath help from the lb.  Nice 20 yard gain.

The Bears are playing good football. They have a good team and will be a tough opponent should they make the playoffs.

Bears vs the Vikings

The thing that impressed me was the Bears were really good on 1st down vs the Vikings.
They had it going with their wide zone game, bootlegs and play action. That 1st down efficiency made the difference in putting them up 27-17 halfway thru the 3rd quarter. After that they got away from it and only scored 6 in the last quarter and a half. 

1st Half 

Rushing:    9 carries for 74 yards    8 yards per carry

first drive 2nd half 4 carries for 28 yards 7 yards per carry.

Passing on 1st down:     6/7 for 76 yards

2nd half  1st down 1/2 for 7 yards 

Out of the 9 passes on first down, 7 were boots and 2 were play action. 

Here's an example of their boot out of condensed formation. A nice 14 yard gain.

Robinson has man free coverage and easily beats him across the field on the boot.

Again, a major improvement by the bears who earlier in the year were averaging 1.4 ypc. Nice job by Coach Nagy and the Bears as addressing their issues and making the necessary changes. 

49ers run game analysis-Toss Play variations

 I wanted to take a closer look at the 49ers schemes and run game.

The one play that intrigues me is their toss play. They get great mileage out of this play and ran it 6 times for 47 yards against the rams. Under center and in the gun. 

They seem to love to run it to the 3 technique side but can run it either way and against different looks and fronts. The Rams do a great job scheming things up in their run games and creating great angles at the point of attack. 

Here they run the play against the Rams which are in a 6-1 look with a shade. The interesting thing is how the 49ers block back on the backside and run a zone scheme to the front side. 

fan the backside

In the next diagram the Rams are in a bear front but play it with the 4i to both sides. The Rams spark the DE to the tight end side and the right guard handles it and they get 9 yards. 

Rams spark as the toss is developing

Here are a few  clips of the plays below.

VS PATRIOTS 

Here they run Toss against the patriots for 15 yards out of 21 personnel.

They get a great block by the left side, great crack by the wr.

Fullback does a great job on the safety and the guard reaches the 4i.

A nice run lane is created with good angles on the perimeter.

They get the nice cracks on the perimeter with 

In the clips below these 2 slides you will see some great cut backs by their running backs vs the rams. Watch the 49ers back and his shoulders in conjunction with the offensive lineman like traditional wide zone. 

great execution with nice running lanes.

2nd clip vs rams look at the gap created by the tackle fan blocking on the olb. Great job by the back staying in phase with his rg , rt and te. Again, they block back to create that cutback lane on the backside.

Clips to go with the above.

GUN TOSS VS RAMS

They also run the toss out of different actions and motions.

Vs the Rams they ran it with Kittle in the backfield and motioned him as a lead blocker. 

They create angles for the tight end below and time things up perfectly

Here they run it out of t back 21 wit h the motion creating a great angle. 

49ers vs Patriots

49ers 12 personnel

Patriots 3-4 defense with 21 playing the backside lb roll

They double the edge with the wing and tight end get good combo blocks up front, and the tackle gets a good lateral movement on the dt which allows the running back to cut it back for a 5 yard gain. 

video below

12 personnel 

Get the edge doubled and the guard gets to the linebacker.

1st and goal on the 7

49ers in 21 personnel and they run toss to the twins side.

They get a great block from the fullback and do a nice job on the perimeter with their 2 wr blocking on the 2nd level.

video below

21 personnel. They lead with the fullback on the olb.

2 clips of the 2 toss plays above.

There you have some of the different ways the 49ers run toss both under center and out of gun. Look at some of the variations on how they cut off the backside. I hope you enjoyed this presentation.

Jacksonville Jaguars - RB James Robinson

 By Jim Jackson

James Robinson of the Jacksonville Jaguars is currently the third leading rusher in the NFL with 1,070 rushing yards through Week 15. He is having a great season for anyone, and has been productive his entire career at Illinois St (shoutout MVFC). He recently had a lower leg injury in the 4th Quarter vs. the Ravens so we hope his season is not done. 

James displays some of the most critical traits we look for in a Running Back. Vision is the most important trait that a RB can possess. This is very innate, and it is typically more difficult to coach for players in the box. He sees holes quickly and can accelerate through them. Second, he has great balance which is displayed by his ability to make people miss. In the 5 games we broke down, he repeatedly makes the first tackler miss. Finally, he is tough. His strength works well with the scheme in Jacksonville to make sure he gains positive yards. There were very few TFLs in the games we broke down. He loves to run in between the tackles (where the tough yards are).

Normally, we present pictures, but this article is best to attach more video clips. James is having a great season, and hopefully he can finish strong!

22 yard gain and stiff arm

14 yard gain and trucks DB

9 yard A-Gap run

9 yard gain and tough to tackle

15 yard gain on gun wide zone

13 yard gain on gun inside zone

11 yard gain and another missed tackle

16 yard TD and great finish

10 yard gain on Power

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Sean Mcvay offensive genius, condensed formations, adjustments vs Seahawks, Bucs

 
Sean Mcvay showed me week 10 and 11 why he is a great coach. As a defensive coordinator, you have to start thinking like him when game planning. If someone had success the game before against him, he will have those answers built in early.

He also uses his condensed sets often, It allows him do do a few things:

1, When they are balanced, he can run the wide zone or boot to either side. You often see Goff check the boot on the line of scrimmage based on SS alignment or where the pressure is coming from.

2. It dictated coverage. When teams are condensed with 3 wr, they often bring the safety down to that side. It opens up windows in the passing game.

Here is an example in the Bucs game. The Bucs show cover 3 presnap, Goff checks to the Deep over route off the jet motion. These checks are built in to what they do. 

Here the Bucs are showing but by alignment of the Safety and corner,  you can tell it's either a 2 deep fire zone or cover 3 firezone. They run the deep over concept and hit it for 37 yards. If you watch some of The Bucs that's what they like to do. They high low the curl defender and its a great route concept.

A perfect example of McVay adjusting is the last game vs the Hawks. The game before he got killed with edge pressure  on 1st down. The Dolphins brought edge pressure to disrupt his running game and take away boot.. The Rams also got torn up with empty formations with straight cover 0. 

How did he answer:

1. He ran at it right at him: 
Here they run at the edge rusher Adams and he gets pancaked for a 6 yard gain. He didn't like the look weak so he ran it strong.

2.2. 

2. He knew it was coming this week and ran screens on early downs to nullify it. He runs the screen right at Adams, who he knows is coming.

 

3. He ran boot away from Adams, He also gave Goff the ability to check out of plays on first down which on the 17 yard gain that set up their first touchdown, Goff audibled from a Boot left to a boot right opposite Adams who was walked down to the strong side and giving them cover 3. They thought he may be coming off the edge. He changes the play with an oscar call and they run boot weak. Great call.

4. He had hot reads built in to each route. Here adams is coming on an edge pressure, Goff sees it and throws into it. Great route design and scheme having the hot throw built in

5. Limited empty but when he figured out he was getting man free, he went to the Higbie route for 39 yards. That was the 2nd play in empty. On the first play, the Hawks went man free, once he realize thats what he was getting, he was smart and ran a great play against it. The hawks were not comfortable early following the Dolphins game plan of going cover 0. The rams made him pay.

 

Later on he goes empty on 3rd and 9 and calls a screen away from Adams the 5th rusher. The hawks go 3 under 3 deep. Big 14 yard gain for the first down.

Sean Mcvay is a great coach. He looked at his weaknesses from the week before, Anticipated what was coming and adjusted with a great game plan vs the Seahawks. He really had a feel of  what he was going to get, anticipated it and helped lead the offense to victory.