How Bears Buy Time

If there's one quality all Bears players need above all others heading into the 2023 season, it's patience.

It might seem like a holdover from last year and to some extent this is true. They had to be flexible and persevere last year as changes seemed to occur weekly with their lineup.

The flexibility isn't necessary with a regular lineup now, but at least for the first half of their schedule patience again is necessary for every player from Justin Fields right down through Thyrick Pitts, the undrafted wide receiver who has been given the unlikely jersey No. 38.

The reason for this is their schedule and one quality they really lack: time on task.

The Bears talked extensively at OTAs and minicamp about the benefits of a second time around within the Matt Eberflus defense and HITS principle, the second time around in the Luke Getsy offense.

It's true this should and definitely will matter.

"It’s like anything," Eberflus said. "When I became the defensive coordinator at Missouri and I was 29 years old, the second year was better than the first year. And it kept getting better and we kept adding talent. And the same thing when I became the coordinator at the Colts. Same thing.

"You get more comfortable in the position. You know how to flex a little bit better. You’re more comfortable with the coaches. The coaches are more comfortable with the players. It’s just the second time through it."

The problem is many of those players who are in their second time around are performing different tasks this time. When it comes to experience, time on task at some point trumps general playing experience. It's this way on offense and defense, and defensive tackle Justin Jones described best how training camp and early season will look for a while.

"We're learning the ins and outs of each other, so that when game time comes, you know we are all on one accord and that's in all three phases and that's huge," Jones said.

Here's how it's effect works with the Bears:

They have one of their five offensive line positions manned by the player who held his spot last year, second-year left tackle Braxton Jones. Sure, Cody Whitehair played center in the past for the Bears but not for 2 1/2 seasons. As for the other three spots, Teven Jenkins was at right guard and not left, Nate Davis was in Tennessee and not Chicago and Darnell Wright was in Tennessee and not Chicago but at another level of football.

Only one of the starting front four defensive positions will be manned by a player who was on the team in 2022.

None of the three linebacker positions will have player starting at it who was at the position in 2022.

There is a different starting running back, although he at least was a running back who started for them in the past a few games.

Their chief receiving threat was with a different team.

It can't be argued they've up graded the receiver position, the offensive line, linebacker and even the defensive line—although upgrading the defensive line wasn't exactly difficult when it was so porous.

However, the talent at those positions now hasn't played together. They're not like the expansion team they were last year because they at least have better talent but they lack time on task. Most opponents they face don't have this handicap.

Combine all of that newness with a schedule that begins with their biggest rival and then a game in 90-degree Tampa humidity during early September, then the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 3, and the possibility of a poor start exists.

The Bears have every reason to expect the operation at full speed and clicking by the time they finish the season with three opponents who had losing records last year in Atlanta, Arizona and the Packers. However, before they get to that soft schedule spot they will need to survive lack of time on task.

Here's how it's done.

1. Lean on Justin Fields

What else? That's all they did last year. It's exactly what they did last year on offense when there was no hope a little talent. Now, at least Fields has better raw talent around him and can flourish when they've played together a while. Until then, it might be a case of Justin passes, Justin runs, Justin scrambles for a first down until the full offense has played together several games. If he carried the team with no talent, surely he can do it for a team with capable talent but lacking cohesiveness.

2. Ground and Pound

The most difficult aspect to get clicking immediately will be the passing game. They finished No. 1 in rushing last year even with offensive line changes every other week. It wasn't all Fields' running, either. If he had just half of the rushing total he had they still would have ranked in the top 10 in rushing.

One thing they have now that they didn't have last year is a good way to combat the mesh charge techniques teams like Detroit and Atlanta used to bottle up Fields' running at times. A good way to battle a team that is waiting and watching to see which route the RPO takes is to simply give it to a power back on a quicker handoff. They deliver a good face full of D'Onta Foreman—236 pounds of hard-charging running back. Think the Bears didn't notice how Foreman had a career-best 165 yards rushing and his Panthers 320 yards rushing against the Lions in a 37-23 win? Guess again. The Panthers overwhelmed Detroit's front and no one is calling Carolina a playoff team.

3. Blitz

The Bears think they have a better rush coming from the inside with their tackles and with ends who move inside to tackle. However, the defensive line lacks an edge and even when or if they add one time won't be on their side. At least the players on the roster in the offseason had time on task in OTAs and minicamp to get used to playing alongside each other.

So how do they generate a rush until the one they plan takes root? They can't be afraid to blitz.

They can blitz Kyler Gordon out of the slot if not one of their linebackers.

"I like to blitz and stuff like that," Gordon said. "Them giving me the ability to go and do that, that's what I love a lot about being in the nickel is being in the nickel and being in the run fit."

The trouble is, he only blitzed 18 times all last year. The Bears rarely blitzed, doing it 18.2% of the time for 25th in the league according to Sportradar. If they amp that up a bit, they do have a weakside linebacker now in Edwards who has blitzed 54 times, including 53 the last three years. And safety Jaquan Brisker actually led the Bears in sacks last year (4). Going after the QB can buy their defensive line time to sort things out and take over the task.

4. Takeaways

The Bears would seem to be a matter of takeaways waiting to happen at the moment. They upped their total last year to tie for 13th with 24. They tied for top 12 in interceptions with 14.

However, the history of Eberflus' defenses is higher even than that.

Expect more gambling by jumping routes, more picks and more fumble recoveries going forward. With the ball in their possession, they take pressure off their reforming defensive line. They buy time for all the units who need it if they possess the football. Possession clears up a lot of problems.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven

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