All-22 Breakdown Stream:
If you’re into All-22 film breakdowns, I stream every Tuesday Night during the season to talk through the ups and downs of the game! Come check it out!
I watched the Packers-Bears All-22 tape so that you don’t have to — here were some of my notes:
Getsy Gets Ahead of Himself:
Luke Getsy and the Bears started this game off strong, but as the contest wore on Getsy displayed a strange habit of telling on himself with the Bears’ formation — below is a screenshot of the infamous D’Onta Foreman screen pass that lost 7 yards, and if you look at the personnel that Chicago split out wide you too will see the screen coming.
On this first down, the #Bears go 3-wide with:
– Kmet (TE)
– Tonyan (TE)
– Blasingame (FB)Can you guess which playcall this is? Hint: It's not 4 verticals. pic.twitter.com/nq42iU5YPS
— Robert Schmitz (@robertkschmitz) September 11, 2023
But that wasn’t the only moment where it seemed as if Green Bay read Luke Getsy’s mind — here’s another example of the Bears’ formation tipping a play and resulting in a massive start to the second half. With Blasingame (a fullback) out wide to the left side, the Packers send Devonte Wyatt straight upfield in anticipation of a Justin Fields bootleg that Blasingame would usually block for. Wyatt ends up on top of Fields before the quarterback fully turns around.
I’ve heard speculation that Khari Blasingame might’ve replaced Robert Tonyan (injured early) in the game plan, but if you ask me that doesn’t make much sense considering the Bears could’ve simply activated ESB and used him in all blocking scenarios.
So Khari Blasingame might be a tell (he lines up out wide here and the Packers' DL ends up clearly ready for a bootleg to his side).
Also, Joe Barry nailed the call on this play. Wyatt penetrating & Smith scraping to cover his gap flummoxes the Bears front. Drive is DOA. pic.twitter.com/lId58M9VVV
— Robert Schmitz (@robertkschmitz) September 11, 2023
One more note on Luke Getsy’s gameplan — we discussed Cole Kmet’s strengths and weaknesses earlier this offseason, but on a key play near the goal line I was surprised to see Cole Kmet drawn up as an isolation target given that, well, Cole has never been particularly strong in contested catch (let alone red zone) situations. Cole initiates contact here so Douglas’ PI is legal and the Bears are forced to kick.
In a game where Green Bay had no trouble featuring Romeo Doubs and Aaron Jones at will, it felt strange to watch Luke Getsy allow the Packers to remove DJ Moore from the game’s key moments. One side dictated the pace of the game with their offense, the other side spent the whole game reacting to their opponent’s defense. The results of each attitude were unsurprising.
When you're an offense that 'takes what the defense gives you' rather than being an offense that dictates play, you get plays like this.
The Bears' 3 best weapons get used as decoys to set up a 1v1 between Kmet and Rasul Douglas. Kmet initiates contact, Douglas wins. pic.twitter.com/VVwJxo9QOF
— Robert Schmitz (@robertkschmitz) September 11, 2023
Darnell Wright:
In the lead-up to the season, we discussed how 1st round pick Darnell Wright might start the season inconsistent and that’s exactly what he did. Frankly, I thought he looked great as a run-blocker and as a pass-blocker I thought he held up well against everyone not named Rashan Gary. Plus, for all my concerns about Wright’s anchor at his new playing weight, he looked plenty strong against Lukas Van Ness in the play below:
1st round rookie on 1st round rookie!
Lukas Van Ness's bull rush gives us a great look at #Bears RT Darnell Wright's anchor at his new playing weight — early returns look good, he fights Van Ness off here. pic.twitter.com/9YccHOvJsn
— Robert Schmitz (@robertkschmitz) September 11, 2023
Wright’s troubles came when facing Gary, who did beat him quite a few times around the edge. Wright’s footwork along his arc struggled to keep up with Gary’s speed rush, so keep an eye on that over the next few weeks as Darnell looks to improve. All in all, I thought he had as strong of a debut as a rookie tackle could ask for.
Here's a look at the #Bears free play: Darnell Mooney comes WIDE open, looks like Fields is prepping to launch, but Rashan Gary beats Wright too cleanly around the edge for the play to have a chance — check Moon's body language.
Wright's arc needs work, esp before Shaq Barrett pic.twitter.com/qDXOYPBF9Q
— Robert Schmitz (@robertkschmitz) September 11, 2023
Chase Claypool:
The former 2nd round pick was rough all game long, and to make matters worse his effort on run plays became a legitimate issue. It’s hard to believe that a player in a contract year would play like this as early as Week 1, but here we are.
I consider myself a relatively moderate person, but it’s hard to overstate how abysmal Claypool’s effort looked on Sunday. I have to imagine that an old-school coach like Matt Eberflus will take particular exception to that, though he may have enough effort issues to deal with already (Nate Davis).
Tell me you don't want to block without telling me you don't want to block pic.twitter.com/Ra2XWRdaY2
— Robert Schmitz (@robertkschmitz) September 11, 2023
The Justin Fields Part:
I’m always shocked at how quickly Justin Fields does gets written about, regardless of what he does — by Sunday evening, Derrick Klassen had written about Fields. By Monday Morning, Tim Jenkins had a video out. If you’re the kind of Bears fan that reads this far into a tape-based blog post, you’ve already heard about what Fields did & didn’t do on Sunday so I’ll spare you a few of the details: while the score was still close, Fields hit checkdowns, didn’t take sacks, and also passed up opportunities to push the ball down the field.
Fields’ biggest issue right now is throwing with anticipation — Matt Bowen posted a great clip early yesterday that shows Fields seeing Darnell Mooney after 3+ seconds of protection before ultimately taking a sack. Had Fields gotten the ball out of his hands before Mooney’s route had resolved, Chicago would’ve had a chance at a completion. It’s tough to play Quarterback in the NFL without some level of anticipation.
When you hear analysts about QB anticipation, this is why.
OL protects for 3+ seconds, WR gets open, but that extra second Fields waits is the difference between a 1st down and a sack.
It makes the OL & WRs look worse than they are. Plus, Mesh is a “comfort concept” for JF. https://t.co/AQszYj1koP
— Robert Schmitz (@robertkschmitz) September 11, 2023
If you’re interested, I wrote a fairly long review of Fields’ performance and the offense’s showing in general — I’ll link it here.
Honest review of Fields' game yesterday: Justin looks like a QB that's been coached to take less sacks & not turn the ball over, and in the first half that's exactly what he did. Unfortunately, that seemed to cost him his trigger downfield.
Fields got the ball to *someone* more…
— Robert Schmitz (@robertkschmitz) September 12, 2023
The Bears have a lot to prove in Tampa Bay this weekend. With an aggressive Todd Bowles defense likely looking to make a statement, I can only imagine what Luke Getsy will cook up in an effort to score. The entire offense needs to step forward, from play-caller to quarterback to offensive line play — as hyperbolic as it may sound, the season may hang in the balance. A loss to Tampa would not portend good things for the rest of the year.
Your Turn: What did you think of the Bears’ offensive showing?