Packaging Success for Bears Offense

The various offensive personnel packages Bears can use this season and why they would use each.

Football was once played with the same men on offense who also played defense, and formation or other personnel changes were limited.

Those guys wore leather helmets, or plastic helmets without facemasks, which made even less sense.

Now it has evolved into specialized management of personnel every bit as much as it is a physical battle up front. 

The jargon has followed. 

No longer are double-tight formations or "naked" backfields good enough for coaches. Now it's 11-personnel, 12-personnel.  A high-tech digital age requires numbers, not words.

The Bears come out with their depth chart this week and it lists a standard starter at each position and then the backups in order.

However, the game is actually played offensively with these personnel packages now and not a depth chart. Each personnel package on offense has Justin Fields and all five offensive linemen in it. The rest changes according to intention. 

Here's a look at the various offensive Bears personnel packages with a note on each. Players could be substituted within the packages but these are listed as most likely according to the intention of the formation. 

Bears Offensive Personnel Packages

11 Personnel

RB Khalil Herbert / TE Cole Kmet / WR DJ Moore / WR Chase Claypool / WR Darnell Mooney

• Of Note: This is standard operating procedure. It's a common grouping they'd be in with Fields lining up in a shotgun.

12 Personnel

RB Khalil Herbert / TE Kmet / TE Robert Tonyan Jr. / WR Moore / WR Mooney

• Of Note: This could be a run or pass formation so Herbert fits as the back and a potential receiver. If they were in a shorter down and distance, it could be D'Onta Foreman instead, or if longer they could use Travis Homer or Roschon Johnson for blocking or receiving purposes.

13 Personnel

RB D'Onta Foreman / TE Kmet / TE Tonyan  / TE Marcedes Lewis / WR Moore

• Of Note: This is the heavy run formation for short yardage or goal line and as such they could use St. Brown or 238-pound Claypool at receiver instead. 

10 Personnel

RB Travis Homer / WR Moore / WR Mooney / WR Claypool / WR Equanimeous St. Brown

• Of Note: Homer as a receiver and blocker is the choice here in a four-wide set but they could also use Blasingame for blocking emphasis or Johnson/Trestan Ebnber for a blocker/receiver.

00 Personnel

WR Moore / WR Mooney / WR Claypool / WR St. Brown / WR Velus Jones Jr.

• Of Note: No running backs or fullback, a real passing formation. In this one they could use Tyler Scott as an extra slot receiver instead of St. Brown or Jones.

02 Personnel

TE Kmet / TE Tonyan  / WR Moore / WR Mooney / WR Claypool

• Of Note: No running back obviously makes this a passing formation but the extra tight end means they can pull one into the backfield to pass block.

01 Personnel

RB Homer / WR Moore / WR Mooney / WR Jones / WR Claypool

• Of Note: A heavy passing formation and Homer as a receiving back is a good choice here since he also blocks, but Johnson and Ebner can play it as well.

20 Personnel

RB Herbert / FB Khari Blasingame / WR Moore / WR Mooney / WR Claypool

• Of Note: No tight end makes this a passing formation but the fullback means this can be personnel for an I-formation or for a play-action pass deep.

21 Personnel

RB Herbert / FB Blasingame / TE Kmet / WR Moore / WR Claypool

• Of Note: Classic I-formation, your grandfather's style, with Matt Suhey in front of Walter Payton, Emery Moorehead at tight end and Willie Gault and Dennis McKinnon at the wideouts. It doesn't have to be the I, but that's a personnel grouping they'd use with the I. You could use it with shotgun and one of the backs and fullback on either side of Fields, but using this grouping doesn't make a lot of sense if you're in passing mode because there are only two wide receivers. So the shotgun doesn't really fit this. Then again, with Fields on a planned run they can make this group work for a running formation.

22 Personnel

RB Foreman / FB Blasingame / TE Kmet / TE Tonyan / WR Moore

• Of Note: A run-heavy formation that could use St. Brown or Claypool instead of Moore because of their blocking ability.

23 Personnel

RB D'Foreman / FB Blasingame / TE Kmet / TE Tonyan / TE Lewis

• Of Note: Blast away. Get your hard hat on. This is pure jackhammer stuff at the goal line. They might even add an extra tackle at one tight end position instead of Tonyan.

Wildcat

Total guessing game at this point. They haven't been running wildcat yet with media watching, unless they've been doing it behind a wall of players so prying eyes couldn't see it. And they did run a series of plays a few times behind a wall of players so maybe they used it. 

Here's one suggestion: Johnson as the wildcat quarterback because he was one and actually passed. Most likely Khalil Herbert would be the wildcat quarterback now because Johnson has a lot on his plate right now just learning the basic offense. 

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven