LAZOR’S FOCUS
As play-calling duties shift, coordinator must get a feel for what will work with banged-up offensive line
Not long ago, the Chicago Bears were 5-1 and riding high. Now suddenly, they’re on a three-game losing streak and underdogs at home against a 3-5 Minnesota Vikings team. The Vikings, meanwhile, have won two straight and arrive in Chicago with momentum and confidence. In the leadup to Monday night’s game at Soldier Field, here are four things to keep an eye on.
Pressing question
Just howmuch of a boost will a play-calling change from Matt Nagy to Bill Lazor provide the Bears offense?
Nagy announced that major move after practice Friday and expressed confidence that Lazor will be able to spark something in a stagnant offense.
“This is Bill’s opportunity to do what hewants to do and call what hewants to call,” Nagy said.
For starters, Lazor must have a feel for just how much he can trust the protection of his offensive line, which figures to take the field MondaynightwithEricKushasthe team’s fourth starting center in as many games. Kush likely will have Alex Bars and Charles Leno to his left and Germain Ifedi and Rashaad Coward to his right. And the goal for the line will be to establish a consistent pocket in which Nick Foles can feel comfortable.
If the Bears succeed with that, they should have opportunities to test aVikings pass defense that has been shaky much of the season. The Vikings rank 30th in passing yards allowed per game (287.9). They also have given up 19 touchdownpasses in eight games (t-28), and five opposing players have topped 100 receiving yards, a list that includes Davante Adams, Mo Alie-Cox, Kalif Raymond, Will Fuller and Julio Jones.
The Bearswould be wise to test rookie cornerbacks Cameron Dantzler and Jeff Gladney as well as Kris Boyd. But to do so, Foles will need time to throw and a sense for where he can securely move within the pocket. And providing that pocket comfort has been a consistent problem over the last month-plus.
“With footwork and everything, I feel good,” Foles said. “It’s somethingwework every day.”
Nagy is harping on the need for the offensive line to be more in unison with its pass protection, especially when it comes to handling stunts and line games. Lazor, in his first opportunity calling plays for the Bears, will have to develop his own feel for what the Bears realistically can accomplish and call things accordingly.
Player in the spotlight
On the first play of the second quarter Sunday against the Tennessee Titans, Roquan Smith dodged running back JeremyMcNichols’ block on a blitz, wrapped up quarterback Ryan Tannehill andpulledhimdownfor an 8-yard loss, forcing a punt.
It was Smith’s first sack this season but one of many plays in recent weeks that had inside linebackers coachMark DeLeone pronouncing that Smith is playing “like a crazed dog.”
After an up-and-down 2019 that ended in early December because of a torn pectoral muscle, Smith said this offseason he was
out to prove any doubters wrong. So far that drive has added up to 82 tackles — 62 solo — five passes defended, a career-high 12 tackles for a loss, a forced fumble and that sack Sunday.
Smith and the Bears defense will have another big testMonday as they try to slow down Vikings running back Dalvin Cook, who has amassed 478 yards from scrimmage and six touchdowns over the last two games.
Defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano said Friday that Smith has taken his preparation and leadership to a new level, which has helped him play fast and let his instincts take over.
Smith, the No. 8 draft pick in
2018, believeshe iscomingintohis own this season but said there’s always room for improvement.
“(I’m) leading by example and then have been a little more assertive,” Smith said. “It’s just about being myself out there and not forcing things and always trying to do the right things somy teammates can depend on me.”
Keep an eye on …
Dalvin Cook has been the Vikings’ workhorse during their two-game winning streak, touching the ball or being targeted on 57 of theVikings’ 104 offensive plays. In that stretch, he has accounted for 59% of the team’s yards from scrimmage and six of their nine touchdowns. Yet while the Bears secondary will be needed in helping to slow Cook, it also will have to remain alert with the Vikings’ play-action passing game.
“It’s going to take greatcommunication and everybody being on the same page,” defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano said. “We need great discipline, great technique and everybody being very good with their eyes.”
Adam Thielen remains Kirk Cousins’ security blanket. Thielen leads the team with 37 catches for 480 yards and seven touchdowns and has the Bears’ attention. Rookie Justin Jefferson, meanwhile, has proved to be a big-play threat as well with 34 receptions for 627 yards and three scores.
Said Bears safety Eddie Jackson: “With the 50-50 balls, a lot of times when the ball’s in the air, he’s coming down with it. And to see that from a young guy, that’s something special this early on in his career.”
Etc.
Bears quarterback Nick Foles and Vikings coach Mike Zimmer have two very different feelings from the last time they met on the football field.
It was the NFC championship game in January 2018, and Foles led the Philadelphia Eagles to a resounding 38-7 victory by completing 26 of 33 passes for 352 yards and three touchdowns. Foles of course went on to be Super BowlMVPtwoweeks later.
“He played great that night, as did their team,” Zimmer said. “He made some great deep-ball throws. It seemed like he converted on all the key plays throughout the ballgame. He did a great job of getting themin the right callsandplaysand things like that. And he did it under pressure.”
Foles is under a different type of pressure now, three years and two teams later as he tries to help dig the Bears out of an offensive rut that has resulted in a three-game losing streak.
The Bears quarterback spoke thisweek of the energy he and the Eagles felt during that NFC title game and used it as an example of the energy the Bears need to create for themselves as they try to get into a groove for the first time inweeks.
“It had nothing to do with any of the plays or anything. I just remember the energy (from the NFC championship game),” Foles said. “Meek Mill came on, and the place went crazy. It’ll always be a special moment in my life just being right there, taking a moment, looking at my teammates, looking atmy coaches and taking a step back from the game of football and realizing it’s more than a game. It’s about the people you do it with. That’s what I remember. And then obviously the energywas then transferred to the field and it was just an explosion on the field. It was a good night.”