Lack of In-Game Adjustments Doom the Bears Two Years in a Row
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by user BU ICEMAN
OK, it's been 3 days since the Miami Mismanagement, and I've finally been able to control my emotions to the point I can objectively look at how the Chicago Bears lost to the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLI.
While everybody wants to put all the blame on QB Rex Grossman, that should NOT be the case. Yes, he absolutely deserves some blame, but as I've said before heresample and here, coaching should not be without blame. In fact, I place most of the blame on the coaching staff for the Bears' foibles in Super Bowl XLI.
Last year, in their lone playoff game against the Carolina Panthers, WR Steve Smith burned the Bears for 12 catches, 218 yards, 3 carries for 26 yards, and 2 receiving TDs. The Bears did not adjust to try and stop Smith by adding a double-team, and were roundly criticized. Fast forward to this year's playoffs and again, the Bears coaching staff did not make in-game adjustments to stop or slow down QB Peyton Manning and the Colts' offense AND did not adjust the offensive gameplan in response to the weather conditions and the Colts' defense. I'll adresss the offensive and defensive issues separately.
Let's start with the defense. The defense opened up in a deep cover 2 (tampa 2) alignment and S Chris Harris picked off a Manning pass on the first drive. The Colts immediately recognized this (the same strategy that the Houston Texans used in two Colts' losses) and immediately changed their strategy. Instead of looking downfield, Manning and the Colts used the ol' reliable K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple, Stupid!) philosophy. The Bears linebackers, staying in the deep cover 2 alignment, continued to to drop into deep hook zones. The Colts then used a series of intermediate and short passing routes, allowing Manning to simply pass underneath the zones all night. The strategy was helped by the Bears' inability to tackle, turning those short and intermediate routes (as well as runs) into bigger gains with yards after the catch (YAC). The Bears did not switch to a man defense or shorten up the zone, and force Manning beat them with a deep pass, which with the weather conditions, was a much riskier proposition for either offense. If what you're utilizing isn't working, you have to at least make the attempt to find something that will work instead of what isn't working.
Offensively, the Bears offense was struggling to find its identity and a rhythm all night. Obviously, their plans took a huge hit with the loss of RB Cedric Benson to a knee injury early. However, the Bears have one of the better 3rd backs in the league in RB Adrian Peterson, who could have stepped in, he was not utilized at all. The Bears seemed to try and establish a misdirection offense, pass when you should run, run when you should pass. However, the passing plays that were called were plays designed to go downfield, which as mentioned above, are tremendously more risky in those weather conditions! Multiply that by QB Rex Grossman's Brett Favre -itis of throwing it up for grabs, and the plan was doomed. The Bears showed no confidence in Grossman early and did not allow him to pass, so when it was necessary for him to pass, he was already behind the 8-ball, confidence-wise.
The Bears have personnel questions about next year's team, of that there is no doubt, but a little introspection by the coaching staff is certainly necessary, as well. Two years of serious coaching faults in the playoffs deserves an investigation.
