Part of what makes the NFL great on the field is it’s always changing. What may have been the standard 50 years ago just doesn’t work anymore. That’s the beauty of the game. Beneath the simple faceoff between offense and defense is an intricate chess match using personnel and formations to find weaknesses in each other. The Chicago Bears haven’t been at the forefront of an offensive innovation in many decades. Trey Burton and other newcomers feel that’s changing.
One innovation that is starting to sweep the league is the advent of college spread offense, specifically the utilization of the run-pass option or RPOs. It was first made famous in San Francisco by Alex Smith and then Colin Kaepernick during their great playoff runs between 2011 and 2013. Since then other teams have incorporated it more and more.
The reason is simple. Defenses to this day are still having a hard time stopping it when executed properly. Burton has a deeper understanding of this offensive
style than most, having come up in it over the past two seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles. He told JJ Stankevitz of NBC Sports Chicago why the RPOs are gaining so much popularity.
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Trey Burton feels the run-pass options can’t be stopped if done right
“They’re unguardable,” Burton said. “The RPOs, when we get to the line of scrimmage and are able to check to certain plays based on coverages, man, you make it unguardable. The old way of NFL, you line up and you run this play no matter how many guys are in the box, no matter what coverage it is. So we’re kind of evolving the game and the defensive guys can never be right no matter what they do.”
The offense is at its most lethal when it has a smart quarterback running the show. If he’s able to recognize what a defense is doing before the snap, he’s free to check the play into something that will take full advantage of it. He can hand it to the running back. He can keep it himself on a QB draw or he can drop back to pass. This can cause utter confusion and hesitation by defenses who can’t diagnose quickly.
This is what made Nick Foles, a backup quarterback so lethal during the final stretch of the Eagles’ season.
The trick to making the run-pass option work are two keys. It must have an athletic quarterback who can throw accurately and a good running back that defenses have to respect. With Mitch Trubisky and Jordan Howard checking both of those boxes, it’s little wonder Burton and others feel so optimistic about the coming season.
Trubisky ran quite a bit of RPO during his starting season at North Carolina. Howard has proven highly effective running out of shotgun formations. All the Bears needed was an array of wide receivers that wouldn’t allow defenses to crowd the line of scrimmage. The arrivals of Allen Robinson, Taylor Gabriel, and Anthony Miller fulfilled that mission.
Throw in a versatile target like Burton who knows the system already? This team could end up doing significant damage.
