Take it from a legend: The slant can beat you.
Jerry Rice made a habit of it during his glory days with the San Francisco 49ers.
“The quick slant? Man, we used to live off that,” Rice said during a phone interview this week. “Everything was all about timing. The ball was always halfway there before you even made your break. If you catch it right at the seam, you can do some big things with it.
“But you have to have a quarterback capable of three steps and the ball is out. He has to see that picture before it happens. And you have to have a receiver who believes he can make the first guy miss and take it the distance.”
The Green Bay Packers don’t have a Joe Montana-John Taylor-Rice combination, but Aaron Rodgers and his top targets, Greg Jennings and Donald Driver, are capable of slanting opponents into submission.
The Bears are fully aware of it.
“The slant is something they do,” cornerback Charles Tillman said. “I think Driver and Jennings are probably the two best receivers in the league at getting a lot of yards after the catch, in my opinion.”
Bears coach Lovie Smith might be alarmed about his team’s porous pass defense, but the Bears coach saw no reason to panic over the way his team guards against the slant, a route commonly used to combat the Cover-2 scheme, particularly in third-and-medium distance situations.
“Every team deals with slants,” Smith said. “Slants normally don’t beat you. From time to time, they’ll frustrate you a little bit.”
The Bears felt such frustration last week. Titans quarterback Kerry Collins found ex-Bear Justin Gage on a third-quarter slant that turned into a 14-yard touchdown as Gage brushed by Nathan Vasher’s outside coverage and dipped inside for the score.
In contrast, the Bears enjoyed their share of success against the slant at Lambeau Field last season, thanks to Tillman. Then-Packers quarterback Brett Favre twice found James Jones on first-quarter, first-down slants and both times, Tillman knocked the ball free to cause turnovers.
“If I can have a game again like I did against Green Bay last year, that would be sweet,” Tillman said. “But I try to go into every game as if it’s a new one. Whether they do catch a couple of slants, we just have to keep to a minimal yards after the catch. It’s a simple as that.”
Extra points: It looks like Nick Roach will remain the starter at strong-side linebacker even with Hunter Hillenmeyer apparently recovered from thumb surgery. Hillenmeyer spent Friday working on the punt unit and the kickoff return team. … Hillenmeyer and Tillman (shoulder) are probable for Sunday. Tackle Fred Miller (shoulder) was the only player held out Friday. He is doubtful for the game, but has been inactive for the last two games with rookie Chris Williams back in the mix.
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vxmcclure@tribune.com
