Once it was Bears opponents who were confused and unsure what they were looking at across the line of scrimmage. Sunday it was the Bears.
The Detroit Lions were missing three starters in their secondary, yet the Bears began four of their first five possessions with running plays with a net gain of zero yards. The reason, though, was not so much to establish the run as to find out what the Lions would do with their secondary of seconds.
It was in fact the Bears’ offense reacting to a yet-unseen defense instead of forcing a defense to react to the Bears as had been the case earlier this season.
“I didn’t know what they were going to do, what their plan would be,” said offensive coordinator Gary Crowton.
Part of the problem is that the Bears’ own system with its multiple looks forces teams into sometimes unorthodox responses. Thus a Bears’ strength became a weakness in preparing for the Lions.
“We can’t watch film and always predict what people are going to do,” said QB Jim Miller. “Then once we made our adjustments I thought we were moving the ball pretty good.”
The Bears did not figure out the undermanned Detroit defense until late in the second quarter, going without a first down for nearly the game’s first 19 minutes. They did not score until they trailed 21-0 and then just before halftime when they went to their two-minute offense with Miller calling all his own plays.
Bears backs gained eight yards in eight carries the first half, prompting one offensive linemen, after considering several possible reasons for the failures, to conclude, “To tell the truth, I’m not sure what it was.”
It was an erratic performance in which the Bears rarely attacked the Lions with anything resembling a diversified offense. After their futile efforts at running in the first quarter, they went almost exclusively to the shotgun formation in the second and called passes on their last eight plays of the half. The Bears then ran the ball four times and passed it 22 in the second half.
But the half was notable for what the Bears did not do offensively. After sending the Lions reeling backwards with their two-minute offense, the Bears considered going to a no-huddle scheme. They did not. With the Lions looking for the Bears to pass in the fourth quarter, the Bears failed to use one of their most effective packages this season, that of Curtis Enis as the single back to pass-protect and four receivers out, giving themselves a run-pass option against a defense back on its heels.
“I maybe should have done that the series before, in hindsight,” Crowton said.
When the Bears had the right play called, they did not always execute it, with costly results. With a first down on the Detroit 9 on their first possession of the second half, the Lions played well off Bears receivers; the Bears were unable even to throw into the corner of the end zone to take advantage of receiver Marcus Robinson’s height advantage.
But the alternate call, a flanker screen to Robinson, failed when Miller’s pass was behind Robinson, who failed to make the catch. The Bears settled for three points instead of seven and lost by four.
“I thought we would have had a touchdown but (Miller) got hurried and threw it a little bit behind Marcus,” Crowton said. “The blocks were all set up. Then we end up with a field goal.”
