Two of the foundation blocks of the Bears’ Cover-2 defense are that it will not give up big plays and it will not be beaten by teams that are forced to sustain long drives. The cracks in both core elements were painfully exposed Sunday by the Detroit Lions, leaving inescapable questions as to whether they are fixable.
Five Lions had runs or catches of at least 23 yards in Detroit’s 16-7 victory, compared with only one Bear. Detroit had 15 plays of 10 yards or longer, meaning the Bears were unable to stop much either deep or underneath.
“They were hitting a lot of underneath routes that they did a good job with,” safety Adam Archuleta said. “We should make more plays on those.”
More disturbing, however, was that the Bears held the Lions without a first down on only three of 11 possessions and were pushed around on four Detroit drives of eight plays or more, including 12- and 13-play marches.
The defensive problems are deep, serious, frequent and widespread, for both coaches and players. The defense allowed eight scoring drives of 70 yards or longer in the three previous games before Sunday. The Lions battered the Bears backward for at least 62 yards on four of their first eight possessions, scoring on three and collecting their only touchdown on a drive of 93 yards, the longest this season against the Bears.
“Usually with big plays there’s a breakdown somewhere and there’s been numerous breakdowns from the defense in all different areas,” coordinator Bob Babich said.
The secondary continues to be the greatest area of concern. The front four produced four sacks and five quarterback hits, yet the pressure led to zero interceptions.
The Bears had chances to break the Lions early, but Danieal Manning and Charles Tillman let interceptions go through their hands in Detroit territory.
“I had a good break on it, had the ball in my hands, but just took my eyes off the ball, maybe tried to go score before I had it,” Manning said. “That’s a ‘routine out’ and you have to make those catches.”
Archuleta, who slipped and was beaten for a 23-yard pass on Detroit’s first scoring drive, committed a devastating pass-interference penalty worth 47 yards two plays earlier when he ran into receiver Roy Williams rather than break up the arriving pass on a third-and-15.
“I saw Danieal in good position so I was just trying to go through [Williams],” Archuleta said. “The ball hung in the air a long time and I should have looked back.”
The reasons for the problems are not complicated. Defensive tackle Tommie Harris cited expectations that have become unrealistic because of the team’s many injuries.
“It’s not hard to believe,” Harris said.
“The media made this more than it was. You know how you blow a big balloon up — puff, puff, puff — and people look at it and begin to believe this.
“No. You take away all these [injured players], all these guys missing games and you expect the same outcome. It’s not. We get [cornerback Nathan] Vasher back after the break and everybody should be healthy and you look forward to a great outcome with this team.”
