Haugh: How to fix the Bears' defense

[Xee]

How to fix the Bears' defense

David Haugh
10:48 PM CST, November 10, 2008

If probing into the problems of the Bears' defense is getting redundant, imagine how players and coaches feel watching videotape every Monday after another disappointing defensive effort.

Yes, disappointing is the appropriate word. Who cares if the Bears held the NFL's third-best rushing team, the Tennessee Titans, to 20 rushing yards Sunday—the franchise's lowest output in 43 years? It should be noted with an asterisk.

Maybe the Titans couldn't run on the Bears, or maybe they just couldn't resist throwing on them the way every team on the schedule has.

In closing one door against the Titans, the Bears opened a gigantic picture window through which the rest of their season must be viewed.

Whether it's coverage or pressure, the pass defense is broken. So fix it, in five not-so-easy steps.

1. Stop stacking the linebackers at the line of scrimmage so much to fake blitz.

The tactic has outlived its usefulness, and it isn't working. If having Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs dance at the line of scrimmage and fake blitz has resulted in quarterbacks checking out of runs into short passes, then it's not worth it. They're inviting passes into spots they can't cover. Putting Urlacher and Briggs at the line makes it harder for them to drop into coverage zones if they aren't blitzing. And they're not blitzing effectively enough to keep doing it anyway.

Quarterbacks aren't necessarily beating the Bears for big pass plays; the Titans didn't have a pass play longer than 25 yards. But they are chipping away at the defense with intermediate pass routes, many of which are completed in the spots where linebackers faking blitz have been a split-second late arriving. Linebackers, especially Urlacher in the middle, have a tough enough job dropping in the Cover-2 defense without making it harder.

2. Be sticklers and smarter about the alignment of cornerbacks and safeties.

Mix it up to disrupt the rhythm of the three-step passing game the Bears see so often. If teams know the Bears' cornerbacks typically funnel receivers inside against certain formations, disguise the look and jump inside to take away the slant and use the sideline as an ally, especially inside the 20-yard line. It's subtle, but subtleties matter in a game of inches. Play more man coverage underneath with safety help that requires cornerbacks to get a jam at the line of scrimmage that could hurt a quick passing game.

Now that the Bears have made Kevin Payne their free safety, switching spots with Mike Brown, reinforce that he can't play so deep. Payne routinely starts plays 18 yards off the ball, shuffles three yards deeper on the snap and by then is too deep to break quickly enough to disrupt those deep in-routes that have killed the Bears. You would be surprised how many passes the Bears might have broken up the last few games with better alignment.

3. Give right cornerback Nathan Vasher more time off.

Whether it's his surgically repaired right wrist or just a mid-career slump, Vasher hasn't been the same cornerback this season. He has been beaten for TDs in the last two games and the Bears' recommitment to physical play in the secondary would be better served by going with Corey Graham at right cornerback. Graham, more in the Charles Tillman mold, has emerged and can be trusted. Danieal Manning could resume his nickel-back role and Vasher could regain his health, confidence or whatever has been missing from his play by watching. The sideline can be a powerful career motivator.

It's not all Vasher's fault, obviously, and a demotion doesn't have to be permanent. But the talent in the secondary isn't the third worst in the NFL, as the statistics suggest. And standing pat with personnel can't be an option if they are serious about improving.

4. Consider a creative, out-of-the-box schematic adjustment to maximize talent.

Stubbornly defending the Cover-2 and refusing to throw out unorthodox alternatives to help stop the pass ignores the urgency of the situation. Tampa-2 architect Monte Kiffin of the Buccaneers told the St. Petersburg Times recently how he incorporated a three-man rush and devised a scheme to keep two of his best players who play the same position on the field, Derrick Brooks and Cato June. Atlanta moves defensive end John Abraham from side to side to maximize his pass-rush opportunities. Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo has built a reputation by using unconventional blitzes and coverage schemes and moving pass rushers around the line.

Wouldn't it be fun—and confusing to quarterbacks—to see Urlacher or Briggs occasionally coming off the edge as nickel pass rushers on third downs? Or see Alex Brown coming up the middle? Tommie Harris at defensive end matched up on a slow tackle? Do the Bears still blitz their cornerbacks?

5. Get Lovie Smith more involved in the defensive calls, and let people know it.

The biggest mystery at Halas Hall isn't why the Bears keep making thirtysomething quarterbacks look like legends, but how much control Smith asserts over defensive coordinator Bob Babich every Sunday. Babich receives the brunt of criticism, but what if he is just following Smith's orders like a good football soldier? When the New England defense struggles, for example, is it coordinator Dean Pees that people in Boston hold most accountable, or Bill Belichick?

With the season at a crossroads thanks to a pass defense that has cost the Bears three games, it's time to remember that this is Smith's defense. Smith announcing he was getting more involved in the calls would remind everybody of that—especially players whose curt and cryptic comments after Sunday's loss didn't exactly reflect positively on the defenses Babich called.

dhaugh@tribune.com

[Ormazd]

All good suggestions, IMO. The defense is stale and needs some shaking up.

[wab]

All good suggestions, IMO. The defense is stale and needs some shaking up.

Which is why it'll never happen...

[wab]

"Consider a creative, out-of-the-box schematic adjustment to maximize talent"

This is it right here... It's not so much the scheme as it is being creative within it...and Babich doesn't have the chops to pull it off.

[Beardude]

No BEARS players are questioning the scheme.