Preseasons do not always reveal a lot about a team. Players are usually auditioned more than schemes. And even when a system is being installed, as the Bears’ offense under new coordinator Matt Cavanaugh was this year, the idea is not to reveal too much.
But from the Bears’ 1997 preseason came one definitive statement: The run-first offensive tradition of Mike Ditka, Walter Payton, Gale Sayers and others is no more. The Bears may in fact be changing to the point where they are more likely to have a 1,000-yard receiver than they are a 1,000-yard rusher.
The Cavanaugh offense, even more than that of previous coordinator Ron Turner, has the pass as its foundation. Of the 317 offensive plays run this preseason, 132 were runs, 165 were passes–a 44-56 run-pass ratio–and that may be low for how Cavanaugh envisions balancing his offense.
“The easy way out would be to say 50-50,” Cavanaugh said. “But I think where we’re going to end up, because of third downs, second-and-longs, a penalty here and there, you end up throwing more. And I feel comfortable throwing the ball on first down. I’m just as comfortable that we can pick up 4, 5 yards throwing as we do running.
“So I think when it’s all done it’ll end up being 55-60 percent pass.”
The Bears have tilted more toward the pass each year under coach Dave Wannstedt. The 1997 season projects to be the latest, possibly biggest step in that trend. Cavanaugh’s last stop before Chicago was San Francisco, where the 1996 split was 55-45, pass over run.
But the Bears’ offense is changing in more ways than how often it passes. It is changing the ways it passes, and to whom.
“With this offense, the quarterback is more conscious of the running backs in their routes,” running back Rashaan Salaam said. “With Ron (Turner) we had routes for the backs, but they weren’t really as much looking for them.”
The most important changes, yet most difficult to spot, may involve the tight end, as one play last Friday night revealed.
Lost in the Ditkamania surrounding the final exhibition game against New Orleans was an 11-yard touchdown pass from Erik Kramer to tight end Keith Jennings. Jennings moved into a short zone across the middle, then stutter-stepped and accelerated straight down the middle, taking Kramer’s pass near the Saints’ 5-yard line and scoring.
Kramer and Jennings connected for six touchdowns in 1995, but none quite like this one. “We didn’t have that in for him last year,” Kramer said, “so that’s a play he wouldn’t have scored on last year.”
The Bears last year had one play designed specifically for the tight end, the position that former San Francisco coach Bill Walsh says was the central element of his West Coast offense, which few truly understood. Now there are multiple variations–depths, angles–on how to run that same tight end play. The point is to use the tight end to create opportunities elsewhere in the offense.
“When you’ve got a tight end who can win one-on-one against anybody, you’ve got something special,” Kramer said. “That puts incredible pressure on the defense. Defenses try to solidify from the inside out–good against the run inside, good against the pass inside. If they’ve got that covered, they can do things to adjust for the receivers on the outside.
“But if you’ve got to concentrate a big part of your defense to stop a tight end inside, it puts all kinds of pressure on the defense. That’s why this offense is so good at running wide, sweeps, pulling. Because the defense has to be so concentrated in the middle, it opens up a lot of stuff on the outside, running and passing.”
The passing game for the outside receivers will not change dramatically. But the preseason also showed that they, like the tight ends and running backs, will be interchangeable parts.
“The one thing you’ll see over the year with this offense is that everybody plays,” wideout Ricky Proehl said. “They mix and change up everybody. I can be playing `Z’ (outside) one time, the next time I’m inside, then I’m outside. The same thing with the running backs. You’ll see Tyrone Hughes in the slot, on the outside and in the backfield.
“That’s why this offense can be so explosive because you keep the defense off balance and have so many options.”
The plan this season always has been to pair running backs Raymont Harris and Salaam in the backfield as much as possible. The only question is how much of the time Salaam is on the field. Harris, who sometimes wondered what he had to do to stay on the field, now may start wondering what he has to do to get off it.
Harris is the fullback when he is with Salaam. The Bears will use more offset-I formations, with the up-back to one side of the formation instead of in front of the tailback, rather than the typical split-back package of many West Coast variations. Harris is also the third-down back, plus the starter in short-yardage and goal-line packages.
Yet the real changes may lie less in where players are than how Cavanaugh elects to use them in various situations, and that won’t start showing up until Monday night at Lambeau Field. Cavanaugh’s play-calling is the change from Turner that players are waiting to find out about.
“The main difference would be in the play-calling just because you’ve got two different people,” said tackle Andy Heck. “Somebody is going to call something differently than another guy.
“I can’t predict what Matt’s going to call yet, but after three years with Ron, I got to the point where, if it was second-and-8 in this quarter, I knew what he was going to dial up. I’m not there yet with Matt.”
