Beating the Washington Commanders is not easy these days. They have a great head coach and a talented young quarterback. Reaching the NFC Championship last year didn’t feel like a fluke. That meant the Chicago Bears needed to play a smart football game to win. That has not been their style for years, largely due to the questionable competency of their coaching staffs. However, Monday night showed that things have changed in the past several months. It feels like, for the first time in ages, the Bears have intelligent individuals running the show.
Few things are more important in the NFL than adjustments. Going into the bye week, it was evident the Bears had two problems. They couldn’t run the ball well and couldn’t stop it either. That meant head coach Ben Johnson and defensive coordinator Dennis Allen had to find solutions. On Monday night, they rolled them out against the unsuspecting Commanders.
It started with Johnson.
Self-scouting is a vital component of good coaching. It appears during the bye week that he recognized the problem with the Bears’ rushing attack. They can’t run inside well. So, they switched to attacking the edges in Washington. Of the eight runs of 7+ yards they had on the night, all eight were either outside zone or toss plays.
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The Chicago Bears weren’t done there.
Allen had some adjustments of his own. However, his weren’t schematic. They were personnel-driven. It involved multiple position switches for key players. Most notably, he had linebackers Tremaine Edmunds and T.J. Edwards switch spots. For years, Edmunds had been the middle linebacker, and Edwards played the weakside. That changed Monday night. The two combined for 22 tackles and were essential to slowing down one of the NFL’s best rushing attacks. If that weren’t enough, Allen also deployed rookie Shemar Turner at defensive end, which was a change from his usual defensive tackle spot.
These adjustments were logical and effective. They were also something previous Bears staffs would’ve overlooked or outright ignored. They would’ve been too stubborn to change. Johnson and Allen aren’t about that life. They are only interested in what wins the football game. It seems their homework during the bye week was wasted.
