The Chicago Bears passing game is a somewhat curious beast. On the surface it looks like a mishmash of certain elements that have worked for teams elsewhere but still lacking an identity of its own. Granted, that identity can’t be forged until the personnel required to run it are in place. Remember there could be as many as 3-4 new starters on that side of the ball alone based on how preseason and training camp go.
That being said, what if one were to look ahead? Take a second and play the most likely scenario out regarding who starts. Mike Glennon at quarterback. Cameron Meredith, Kevin White and Victor Cruz at wide receiver. Zach Miller and Adam Shaheen at tight end. Seeing those players and what they bring to the table, it turns out the Bears do in fact resemble something similar in the NFL.
The Baltimore Ravens.
Bears passing game reflects the Ravens?
Mirroring the Ravens isn’t exactly a terrible plan. They’ve won two Super Bowls since the year 2000 and have made the playoffs 10 times. Clearly they’re an organization that knows what they’re doing. Maybe that’s why GM Ryan Pace covets a number of their discarded players. Pernell McPhee and Deonte Thompson both came from there. They also reportedly made an aggressive run at Ravens offensive tackle Ricky Wagner before he signed with Detroit.
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Buffalo and Chicago all over Rickey Wagner from Baltimore. He is about to blow the right tackle market up…
— Michael Lombardi (@mlombardiNFL) March 8, 2017
It’s not a stretch to think Pace might be trying to duplicate the system implemented by the Ravens. Their long-term success speaks for itself. Now take a look at the structure of their passing game. Upon closer inspection it’s pretty clear the Bears are mirroring much of what they do.
Big pocket quarterback
- Joe Flacco: 6’6″, 232 lbs
- Mike Glennon: 6’7″, 225 lbs
Receivers built through speed
- Mike Wallace (4.33), Breshad Perriman (4.27), Michael Campanaro (4.46)
- Kevin White (4.35), Cameron Meredith (4.42), Victor Cruz (4.47)
Stockpiled tight ends
- Dennis Pitta, Benjamin Watson, Maxx Williams
- Zach Miller, Adam Shaheen, Dion Sims
Now people are going to scoff at the idea the Bears mimicking the approach Baltimore has taken. Why not Green Bay, or New Orleans or New England? Well they don’t have any of those elite QBs, first off. Flacco is above average but not elite. Glennon is sort of a poor man’s version of him. That makes this offensive approach more viable.
Then there’s the fact that it’s more effective than people care to realize. In 2016 the Ravens ranked 12th in the NFL in passing offense. Flacco threw for 4,317 yards, the highest of his career. Baltimore also ranked fifth in the league with yards after the catch at 2,142. A big reason for that was the investment in speed they’d made, just like the Bears have.
In the end though the offense only ranked 17th overall. That contributed to their disappointing 8-8 finish. What went wrong? Put simply they couldn’t run the ball.
They didn’t have Jordan Howard
That’s right. Normally a franchise all about ground and pound, the Ravens just couldn’t establish their running game last year. They ranked a dismal 28th in that category with their leading rusher having just 774 yards on the ground. Imagine how different it might’ve been had Jordan Howard been on their roster.
That could end up being the vital difference between the two. Chicago can run the football much better than Baltimore. If the two passing attack are even reasonably similar, then the Bears might be in better shape than people realize. Of course much of this depends on Glennon living up to the contract they gave him and the receivers staying healthy. A problem that is already nerve-racking after Cameron Meredith bowed out of OTAs with a thumb issue.
Things still have to go right. At the same time it’s easier to see now what Pace is going for. He’s trying to build a balanced attack that fits the desires of his head coach. John Fox and John Harbaugh aren’t too different in terms of styles after all. The picture is clearing up, and it’s not a bad plan.
