To borrow a phrase from John Fox, when it comes to the 2019 Bears offense, “It’s all a problem.”
Aside from Allen Robinson, every offensive player has underperformed to a certain degree. Every position grouping can be scrutinized for ruining the operation.
Entering Week 7, the Bears are 30th in the NFL in yards per play, 27th in points, 30th in passing yards per play, 29th in rushing yards per carry and 22nd in sacks allowed per pass attempt.
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Two position groups that have stood out in terms of their struggles are offensive line and tight end.
Shared blame up front
The Bears’ offensive linemen have struggled to win 1-on-1 blocks consistently. Penalties have been an issue. There aren’t wide enough holes for the running backs and the blockers aren’t getting to the second level, as Dan Durkin illustrated in his film study this week. This is a veteran group, though, one with the continuity that was supposed to be a steady, reliable part of the offense.
With experienced players, and a well-regarded position coach in Harry Hiestand, comes the idea that Sunday’s game against New Orleans provides an opportunity for the group to get right.
As Hiestand self-scouted his group during the bye, he noticed something that Matt Nagy alluded to Monday — mistakes are being spread out. It wasn’t only Kyle Long, playing through a hip injury. It hasn’t just been center James Daniels, adjusting to his position switch. It hasn’t all been Charles Leno Jr.’s penalties.
“I think the biggest thing that stuck out to me is we were kind of taking turns on making a mistake that really hurt the production of the play,” Hiestand said Tuesday. “That’s what we really focused on was dialing in and zeroing in on the details of getting five guys in our case to be doing exactly what we need to be done with detail and trying to improve it.”
Leno said he spent his flights to and from his home in California during the bye as an opportunity to watch the tape.
“I was just looking at myself, looking at things that I can improve and I’m really excited because I see the things I got to work on and I know I’m going to get it done,” he said.
Being able to use those eight hours to watch himself makes the corrections easier than during a non-bye week, Leno explained.
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“Because you don’t really get the chance to look at it when you’re going from week-to-week, so it’s really hard to self-scout,” he said. “I try to during the week, but it just happens like that, yeah.”
Leno leads the team with eight penalties this season — four for holding, two false starts and two illegal hands to the face. Four of those flags have stalled drives. He had seven penalties total in 2018.
Before you castigate Leno too much, put these penalties in the context of the season. Hiestand pointed to the well-publicized officiating errors in Monday night’s Packers-Lions game as “phantom” calls that are plaguing the game. While a few of Leno’s penalties have been legitimate, his position coach isn’t worried.
“He’ll be fine,” Hiestand said. “He works too hard. He’s very prideful. He comes every day to get better. If it was happening because he was being lazy or not giving effort and sloppy, that’d be different, but it’s the opposite.”
Leno is a technician, which he needs to be considering he’s slightly shorter than other players at his position. He made the Pro Bowl last year as an alternate and has been reliable since taking over at left tackle in 2015. He’s only 28, so there’s reason to think that his play can improve. As Hiestand mentioned, there’s an adjustment to the way the game is being called right now.
The O-line has three hands-to-the-face penalties, something Hiestand is working with his group to avoid.
“The No. 1 thing is when you go to throw your hands that your hands are low enough, that they’re not getting up high,” he said. “We can’t control whether the guy comes at us down or not, if he’s really low. But that’s the idea, just aim your hands into his numbers, into his chest area. That’s all you can do.”
Daniels has two penalties in the first five games. He has missed blocks here and there, but Hiestand sees progress.
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“Yeah he’s improving like any young player, it’s day-to-day and learning on the job and experiencing the things you experience as a player,” he said. “There’s no substitute for being out on that game field with the lights on and everything has got to get done. So each time he’s out there he’s learning and getting better.”
Hiestand said being consistent snap to snap as the person who starts the play is more important for Daniels than any adjustment to the speed of the defenders.
Next to Daniels this week will be a new starting right guard after Long went on IR. The Bears have two options who could be long-term starters there if things pan out, beginning with Rashaad Coward.
“He’s a tough guy,” Hiestand said. “He plays very, very hard. It’s super important to him and he’s very prideful. He’s very determined to keep his guy from making a play and that’s a big part of this.”
Alex Bars was activated from the practice squad Tuesday — he took Akiem Hicks’ spot on the 53-man roster after the Bears placed Hicks on injured reserve. The undrafted rookie impressed at both guard and tackle in the preseason, and played for Hiestand at Notre Dame.
“He’s got experience playing the position for a long time,” Hiestand said. “He’s gotten a lot of really good work playing against our defense from the first quarter of the season so yeah, he’s definitely on the right track.”
Leno referred to Bars as “real technical. He’s the type of player that kind of reminds me of me. Really a thinker. He likes to think things through. He’s not going to be really physically dominant or dominate you, but he’s going to beat you mentally and he’s going to beat you with technique.”
Sunday, we’ll get to see how much the bye really helped the O-line. The Saints are sixth in the NFL in sacks per pass attempt.
“The lack of consistency’s really hurt us and that’s something we’re zeroed in on,” Hiestand said, “and going to make sure we eliminate those mistakes that shut us down and quit taking turns and let’s be 5-for-5 and giving a play a chance and keep working our technique, keep working our execution and we’ll work our way through this.”
Getting production from the ‘U’ and the ‘Y’
Tight ends coach Kevin Gilbride is hopeful. He sees Trey Burton trending up. He saw Burton catch 54 balls last season, including six touchdown passes.
“It hasn’t shown up yet, but I think it will,” Gilbride said, referring to the numbers. “I’m not too worried about that happening. I think that will happen.”
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Burton has 11 catches for only 57 yards — a 5.2-yard average, half of what he produced per catch last season. Offseason hernia surgery and then an injured groin prior to the start of the season has kept Burton from physically matching last season.
“You can’t force it,” Gilbride said. “As far as anxious, I haven’t been that anxious because I’ve seen the physical — it’s not development, but the improvement, getting himself back to where he needs to be. As far as his productivity, there’s always ebbs and flows through the course of the season within productivity and then within the offense. I think it’s going to get there. It’s a matter of when it’s gonna happen and then how often, but again, that’s not always dictated by Trey and how he performs.
“A lot of times that’s dictated by the defense, the coverage, the situation that we’re in. He’s markedly improved in comparison to where he was. If he continues to take steps, and I think he will, he’ll be 100 percent. He’s pretty close right now.”
Burton caught all three passes thrown his way in London for only 16 yards. He did play 75.8 percent of the snaps, his highest participation rate this season — in 2018, Burton played nearly 80 percent of the snaps.
In that Raiders game, Gilbride saw things that didn’t show up on the stat sheet that told him the Bears’ highly-paid tight end is showing improvement.
“The way he gets in and out of his routes,” Gilbride said. “The burst that he has up the field that wasn’t always quite there, now it’s starting to get to where it was last year. Those are the things that, it might not show up, it’s not going to show up necessarily on film, you haven’t seen a ton of catches in that game, that’s OK. That’s also dictated by the defense at times. That’ll come. But we know the physical side of it is improving, and that’s what’s important.”
While there is still hope for Burton to start producing if he hasn’t been at 100 percent — which the play counts indicate — it’s hard to feel similarly about 2017 second-round pick Adam Shaheen.
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He has seven catches for 50 yards and was blanked against the Raiders — not even a target. Shaheen played only 12 snaps in London.
“With him, it’s always going to be the same,” Gilbride said. “It’s always putting himself in those positions in practice, which will lead him towards success in the game or not as much success as we want him to get. What I’ve been happy with the last, I’d say three, four weeks is he’s had much improved practices as far as his mental approach, which then transitions to his physical approach. That’s a good thing to see.”
It could help Shaheen if the Bears get to the red zone more often — they have been allergic to getting inside the opponent’s 20, and Shaheen’s skill set has been on display in those situations in the past.
Shaheen’s role as the “Y” tight end is also crucial to helping the Bears get the run game back on track. The tight ends as a group are one part of fixing the team’s biggest weakness.
“Hey, we’ve gotta take responsibility to where we’ve come up short,” Gilbride said. “Adding J.P. (Holtz) to that mix has helped. He’s shown up as far as having some catches and things of that nature because of the toughness that he’s shown in the running game that have now led to open completions. That’s the reality of it. It’s all interwoven.”
Holtz has been a bit of a revelation, even on limited snaps, considering he came to the team prior to Week 3 and has two catches for 23 yards along with playing a fullback role in the run game. He’s been a bright spot for the group and should ascend as he gets to know the offense more, but it’s the starters who have to up their level of play.
Burton, Shaheen and the four starting O-linemen all have an opportunity against the Saints to prove that the bye came at a good time and that their issues were fixable, whether it was time to get healthy or time to improve.
If it’s any solace, it’ll be difficult for the two units to be less effective than they were to begin the season.
(Top photo: Isaiah J. Downing / USA Today)