Chicago Bears head coach Matt Eberflus wants new offensive coordinator Thomas Brown to be more creative than Shane Waldron was over his nine games in charge.
“Working the guys into open positions on the field — that takes creativity,” Eberflus said.
What that looks like for the Bears started to take shape this week at Halas Hall. Brown’s first game plan will be revealed Sunday against the Green Bay Packers at Soldier Field.
What could be coming from the Bears? How can Brown help rookie quarterback Caleb Williams get the ball to the Bears’ playmakers?
The Athletic turned to ESPN analyst Matt Bowen, a former NFL safety from the Chicago area, for answers and even advice for the Bears. Nate Tice, a former quarterback and analyst for Yahoo Sports, also recently joined the Hoge & Jahns podcast. Here are their thoughts on what the Bears should do offensively.
“If you’re Thomas Brown or any other coach on that offensive side, you have to remind yourself that this young quarterback has got great talent, and we have to make him right,” Bowen said. “And we can do that with our coaching, with our scheme, with the personnel we have.”
Establish and reutilize your best plays
Bowen brought up facing Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning during his career. The Indianapolis Colts knew what they liked to do but also how to get it. They would have five to seven routes that worked for Manning and get them out of different formations.
“They got to the same thing they wanted in so many different ways,” Bowen said. “There was never a ton of tendencies you could key on.” The Bears became predictable under Waldron. New England Patriots players mentioned that after their 19-3 win.
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“It might be as simple as something as having that one play call they really like out of three different formations, out of three different motions or three different personnel grouping,” Bowen said. “There’s a lot of ways you can spin a play.”
Tice described Waldron’s offense as “siloed,” meaning it became predictable based on formations and situations.
“This offense a lot of the time, it just felt, especially on passing downs, third and fourth downs, second-and-long, it just felt static — and ‘Go win,’” said Tice, who is the son of Mike Tice, the former Bears offensive coordinator and longtime offensive line coach. “Everybody has to go win their route.”
The solutions and answers Waldron built into his offense for opposing defenses were easy to forecast, too.
“I thought too many answers were just throwing wide receiver screens,” Bowen said. “Wide receiver screens are great, but they didn’t block well in the perimeter, and it became a very obvious tendency when the Bears didn’t like something at the line of scrimmage, or they felt pressure, or they didn’t have an answer for split safety, they’re going to throw a wide receiver screen to DJ Moore.”
Return to the system
Waldron and Brown are from the Sean McVay tree of offensive philosophy. But there are examples that Waldron broke away from it. Citing the NFL’s Next Gen Stats, Tice used formation width as an example.
The Bears ranked eighth in terms of the usage of wider formations. McVay and his coaching tree around the league function differently. McVay’s Rams ranked 32nd in the same metric, while Kevin O’Connell’s Vikings were 31st, Zac Robinson’s Falcons 28th and Liam Coen’s Buccaneers 27th.
“One of these things is not like the others,” Tice said. “There’s just no cohesion with the offense. Everything is just like good ball play that doesn’t work off the other good ball plays.”
There are benefits to running those formations in today’s NFL.
“It dresses up staple concepts really well,” Tice said. “It just kind of creates that little window dressing that if it’s your base stuff, it becomes easier on the offense to do.”
Bowen highlighted how the Bears used motions under Waldron. It’s also a break from McVay. Generally speaking, the Bears receivers have struggled with separation all season. Motions could help.
“Everyone can have motion,” he said. “You can have it in Pop Warner Football. But what does it do for your offense? Outside of a coverage indicator, are you creating misdirection? Are you giving your wide receivers free access off the football off of motion? Which we see consistently with Sean McVay, who I think is the best play-caller in the game right now. Look at what LA does with Puka (Nacua) and Cooper Kupp. Those guys rarely get jammed at the line of scrimmage, rarely get rerouted. He puts him in a position to get free off the line and into the route. I thought we could have seen more of that from Shane Waldron.”
This extends to the run game as well. Bowen said the Bears didn’t utilize the “numbers” with personnel as McVay does with the Rams or others from the same tree.
“You see the creative run teams in the San Francisco’s, the Miami’s, the Rams, the Green Bay Packers, what they do at the run game, finding different ways to get those extra numbers in there,” Bowen said. “There’s multiple ways to do that. But I thought the Bears really struggled in that regard with Shane Waldron as well.”
It’s time to marry the run with pass again. And with it, there should be an acknowledgment of the limitations of the Bears’ offensive linemen.
“You’re going to have to engineer or manufacture ways to protect that offensive line,” Bowen said. “Do you get more movement passes? Do you get more play action? Do you find ways to keep them out of 25 true drop back situations a game? Yes, I would. Absolutely.”
Get No. 2 the football
Bowen suggested receiver DJ Moore should have his own section on the call sheet, consisting of at least four to five plays, since he’s the only receiver creating consistent separation on game days.
“And they have to have a bold heading in front of it and it should say, ‘Get the ball to DJ,’” Bowen said.
It’s a reminder.
“Hey, we’re midway through the second quarter and DJ Moore only has two targets, we got to get him the football,” Bowen said.
But get him the ball in different ways, whether it’s lining him up in the backfield, putting him in motion more often or using him on different designed runs. The Bears didn’t do that enough under Waldron.
Think players over plays.
“He’s a versatile player and he’s physical, and he’s got great ball carrier toughness, so there’s a lot of things you can do with DJ Moore,” Bowen said. “Instead of just throwing the basic, generic wide receiver screen, we’re going to do something different to get him loose in the perimeter.”
Should the Chicago Bears be finding opportunities to get receiver DJ Moore (2) the ball more often? (Mike Dinovo / Imagn Images)
Get No. 85 the football
The days of tight end Cole Kmet getting zero targets should end. He needs to be consciously involved in the offense.
“There has to be opportunities for him built into that call sheet that are repped throughout the week in practice, where you’re going to get him the football,” Bowen said. “Cole Kmet has the frame, has strong hands at the catch point. He’s very good in the open field. He can be very rugged in the open field. When you’re down in scoring position, where the Bears have struggled, I need to see more from Cole Kmet.”
The Bears need at least one or two plays for Kmet within the 10-yard line.
“Where we’re getting him the football, where we’re creating a matchup,” Bowen said. “If they’re a zone team, I’m going to get a matchup inside versus a linebacker and I’m going to run a pivot route, because I know Cole can beat him.”
The targets, catches and touchdowns will add up over the season because of that conscious effort.
“Suddenly, after three weeks, he’s got 14 targets,” Bowen said. “And now things are starting to roll at that position as well.”
Focus on No. 15’s development
Tice described the Bears offense as having “a Keenan Allen-sized problem.” At this point in his career, Allen, who is 32, must be used in a specific way, essentially in the slot.
“My comparison for Rome Odunze was Chris Godwin,” Tice said. “That’s where I thought he would be ideally used to start his career was from the slot. But now you need Keenan Allen there because he can’t win from the outside and he’s not a vertical threat, so that already causes limitations in the offense. He can only be used on short and intermediate routes and primarily from the slot.”
During the Bears’ three-game losing streak, Allen was on the field for 186 snaps compared to Odunze’s 153.
“He’s role player Keenan Allen now,” Tice said. “Rome Odunze needs those reps.”
The solution could be as simple as keeping Odunze on the field with Moore and sending off Allen when the Bears go into formations with two tight ends. Tice also suggested inserting receiver Tyler Scott into the offense to gain an extra speed element.
But if you’re going to prioritize Williams’ development, then Odunze deserves the same energy.
“That needs to accelerate as well. It has to,” Bowen said. “You spent a top 10 pick on him, and this is the perfect time for that to happen. … The game should be starting to slow down and he should become a more productive receiver. And maybe you might not see it in the box score every week, but the coaches can see it to where he’s playing at a higher level in terms of his game speed or his play speed, where he is developing more at the top of the breaks so he can create more separation.
“That’s another aspect of this offense that has to improve. You’re talking about two young players and — guess what? — young players need help. They need the help of the professional veterans around them, and more importantly, they need the help of the coaches around them. That’s why I think the Bears made the move (with Waldron) at this time. There’s a lot of key parts to it, but it ultimately comes down to No. 18.”
(Top photo: Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune / Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
