When they drafted Michigan wide receiver David Terrell and running back Anthony Thomas, the Bears planned on immediate impact from their two top picks. The offense the two rookies will begin learning this week is expected to help that along.
Gone will be many of the on-the-fly reads and adjustments that receivers were required to make at the line of scrimmage and which led to confusion and mistakes in routes and who was supposed to be the primary receiver. For a young receiver–Terrell is entering the NFL as a junior–simpler assignments are easier to pick up.
Gone is the lip-service commitment to running the ball that evaporated at the first carry for no gain, leaving linemen and backs frustrated and quarterbacks forced to carry too much of the offense. At 226 pounds , Thomas carried the ball 310 and 319 times the past two seasons at Michigan. He is not a speed back; he is a workhorse in the style of backs who wear defenses down if the offense keeps them involved, which offensive coordinator John Shoop is pledging to do.
Gone is the one-back/three-receiver package as the base of the offense. It has been replaced by a two-back standard. The Bears will move the backs around, sometimes flanking one out, but more two-back offense means more Thomas and James Allen, not Thomas or James Allen.
Even quarterback Cade McNown, utterly lost in the system of former coordinator Gary Crowton, is expected to have an improved chance of succeeding in a simpler system. His lack of preparation was an issue last year, and no scheme will make up for a lack of professionalism in preparing. But an ordered system of reads–and if no one is open, run or get the ball to a vendor in the stands–makes McNown’s job simpler.
The Shoop system was not designed to fit the players. It does, however, look to have aspects that fit these three in particular and the skills of their veteran teammates in general. Interestingly, one goal in Crowton’s system was to increase the tempo of the offense. But the need to make reads of defenses resulted in tentativeness and hesitation, ultimately impeding execution.
“The idea is to get players playing as absolutely fast as they can,” Shoop said. “You never paralyze them. The issue isn’t the defense; it’s the offense. We don’t react to them, they react to us.
“I think that’ll help the quarterback with reads; everything will be happening faster. [Receiver] Marcus [Robinson] is one of the fastest guys in this league and he’s going to play like one of the fastest guys in this league. Nobody’s going to tiptoe off the line of scrimmage wondering if they’re `hot’ or not, to sight-adjust or not. You call the route, run it, and if you’re not open, we’re onto the next read, then the next guy and so on, as fast as we can.”
The key to Shoop’s thinking is creating what he terms “conflicts of assignment” on the defense, forcing a linebacker or safety to make decisions. In the past it was the Bears’ offensive players who were forced to make decisions, and not everyone was up to the task.
Now, instead of receivers coming to the line and needing to adjust their routes to what the defense shows–a difficult demand over the last two seasons on young receivers D’Wayne Bates, Marty Booker and Dez White–each will be assigned a route to run. The quarterback moves quickly from one to another to another without wondering if the inexperienced receivers have read the defense correctly and will be where they are supposed to be.
Terrell played both the outside receiver and the flanker positions. The new offense will use him at both but with clearer assignments than in the recent past, and Terrell is quite clear on how he’ll be at both.
“I’ve played flanker and I’ve played `X’ [outside],” Terrell said. “I was great at both and gained 1,000 yards at both positions.”
Not only is the quantity of the Bears’ ground game expected to suit Thomas, so too is the quality.
When Shoop took over the play calling for the final three games of last season, the Bears went from running the ball on 40 percent of its plays to 49 percent. The percentage likely would have gone over 50 percent but for McNown’s inaccuracy against the San Francisco 49ers and falling behind.
Terrell declared “I’m not here to play backup, I’m here to start and be a productive guy.” The mind-set and attitude appears to be in line with Shoop’s.
“We’re offensive players,” Shoop said. “We’re not going to react to the defense.”
