The Green Bay Packers squeaked out a 20-19 victory against the Chicago Bears with a last-second blocked field goal to hold the lead. One of the game’s biggest storylines was the Bears’ relative efficiency on offense. Chicago converted three fourth downs, went 9/16 on third downs, and were generally a thorn in the Packers’ defense all day. In particular, the Bears were highly effective in the run game, averaging 5.3 yards per carry over 34 carries.
Thomas Brown, the Bears’ interim offensive coordinator who took over after Shane Waldron was fired earlier in the week, added several wrinkles to his ground game. Chicago included a significant number of designed quarterback runs that showed off Caleb Williams’ athleticism. Williams had nine carries for 70 yards, his highest rushing yardage in a game in his young NFL career.
The Bears challenged the Packers’ young rotation of edge players at defending the run. Partially, this was because the Packers traded away Preston Smith, their second-best run defender at the EDGE position, who boasted a 68.8 PFF grade, behind only Rashan Gary (71.4).
On several occasions, the Bears called draws to a running back where Williams had the option to pull the ball and run himself, depending upon the formation and pursuit of an edge player. On two of Williams’ runs, he successfully read a Packers defender crashing towards the running back to anticipate a tackle before the ball has been handed off. Williams pulled the ball and had a tight end blocking a cornerback to make a fairly easy chunk play. You can see those two plays below:
Simply put, the Packers’ young defensive linemen struggled with their lane discipline in defending the run the past Sunday. However, Chicago’s success wasn’t entirely attributed to sloppy play from Green Bay. Williams is a No. 1-overall pick for a reason, after all. He’s talented.
On a couple of snaps Williams displayed his elite ability to navigate a messy pocket, deal with pressure, and find either an open wide receiver or scramble when a play breaks down. For instance, take a look at Williams’ flexibility and elusive nature on this scamper:
Coming out of college, Williams’ was reported to have run a 4.56-second 40-yard dash time at his pro day. It’s clear to see he has enough speed to pull away from an athletic linebacker like Edgerrin Cooper.
That mobility surely saved Williams from a couple of would-be sacks. The most costly for the Packers came on a third down on the last drive of the game, where Williams avoids a sack and picks up a major chunk of yardage, getting the Bears close to field goal range.
When reflecting on the game, Matt LaFleur discussed this particular sequence and the Packers’ overall play on defense on third- and fourth-downs, “We got to play better. We got to do our job and you got to be able to rely on the guy next to you to do their job. We had multiple missed opportunities.”
The missed opportunities on the defensive line can be hard to quantify. Making the most of these situations requires gap integrity, playing disciplined with your eyes, and working with your fellow rushers in a cohesive way to defend the run on the way to rushing the passer. LaFleur emphasized it to the team after the game, saying, “I think you saw it on both sides of the ball, when rush lanes weren’t coordinated and there was room, Jordan hurt Chicago with his legs getting out and creating some off schedules, and same with Caleb.”
It’s a difficult balancing act, but one the Packers’ young defensive linemen will have to figure out. When a quarterback can move, a defender has to be sure to not take the bait of exploding out of a rush lane with visions of an easy sack; more often than not, especially with a mobile quarterback, it’s a trap.
