1 CHICAGO: Bears
WATCHING the Bears practice this preseason, you think, They've finally joined the NFL mainstream! They got big at receiver, and they made peace with the running back they have to have—and have to have happy—in order to stand a chance of unseating the Packers atop the NFC North.
First, the man who made it happen: new G.M. Phil Emery, who put his stamp on the team quickly this off-season. Just the fifth G.M. in Bears history—George Halas was the first, 49 years ago—Emery made the unlikely rise, in only 14 years, from strength and conditioning coach at the Naval Academy to running one of the NFL's flagship franchises.
Emery believes that almost everything you need to know about a player can be culled from tape. When it comes to receivers, for instance, he believes that you can glean something from how hard a player runs, whether he takes plays off, whether he's a willing blocker, whether he's competitive for the ball. Which brings us to the two wide receivers he imported.
First, he traded two third-round picks for Brandon Marshall, who'd become such a headache in Miami, one Dolphins source said, that the club would have cut him if it hadn't found a trading partner. This obviously puts pressure on Emery, who on tape saw a guy with a willingness to run-block and fight for the ball. If Marshall implodes—he has borderline personality disorder, which can result in severe mood swings—those are two valuable draft picks wasted.
Then, in the second round of the draft, he chose South Carolina's Alshon Jeffery, who had lost his first-round status because he caught only 49 balls in 2011, compared with 88 the year before. Emery didn't buy Jeffery's decline. On the tape he saw 23 college touchdown catches (eight in '11—just one less than in '10), and he saw consistent effort in every one of Jeffrey's games his last two years in Columbia.
Fast-forward to training camp, on a hot Saturday in August. Marshall, at 6'4", and Jeffery, 6'3", are making their presence felt in a way the aerially challenged Bears—26th in passing yards last season—haven't seen before. In individual drills against veteran Bears cornerback Charles Tillman, Marshall shreds the coverage in five of six matchups, three times going for long gains. On the other side of the field, Jeffery twice catches balls over the top of shorter corners, just the way Chicago hopes he'll use his size advantage over NFC North covermen.
There's no question this will be a different Bears offense, and quarterback Jay Cutler will be the beneficiary, no longer having to make do with a smaller group of wideouts (or the failed Roy Williams experiment), as in his three previous Chicago seasons. With the fleet and shifty Devin Hester and possession receiver Earl Bennett rounding out the Bears' top four wideouts, Chicago finally can join the rest of the NFL in playing the vertical passing game.
"There are a lot of ways to mix up coverages," says coach Lovie Smith. "But in the end, the passing game is about matchups—a receiver on a corner. And the big-body receiver has an advantage. We needed to change our look."
Well, not entirely. "We'll always be the Bears of Gale Sayers and Walter Payton," Smith says, as if catching himself. "We're going to run." Enter Matt Forte, who signed a four-year, $31.5 million deal in July after a long year of fighting for a new contract. Even with the well-documented struggles of the offensive line, Forte averaged a stunning 4.9 yards per rush last year. This season, offensive coordinator Mike Tice plans to use him more in the passing game, feeling that such a dangerous player in space needs to have three or four chances a game at screens or hot routes.
But Tice will make that call sparingly—he doesn't want to risk Cutler taking a sack because the secondary is flooded with receiving options. With Marshall's size and ability to win jump balls, Tice will be O.K. max-protecting to make sure Cutler—who has been sacked an average of 2.68 times per game during the last three seasons—stays upright.
And that's the thing about these Bears: They'll have a chance to beat out Green Bay and Detroit for the division, but only if leaky protection doesn't get Cutler mangled again. Marshall and Jeffery are going to have to beat double teams to make sure Tice's protection strategy is sound.
Projected Lineup
WITH 2011 STATS
OFFENSE 2011 RANK: 24
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(N) New acquisition
(R) Rookie—College stats
TTD Total touchdowns
OFFENSIVE LINEMEN
SACKS Sacks allowed
HOLD Holding penalties
FALSE False starts
SCHEDULE
2011 Record: 8--8
SEPTEMBER
9 Indianapolis
13 at Green Bay (Thu)
23 St. Louis
OCTOBER
1 at Dallas
7 at Jacksonville
14 BYE
22 Detroit
28 Carolina
NOVEMBER
4 at Tennessee
11 Houston
19 at San Francisco (Mon)
25 Minnesota
DECEMBER
2 Seattle
9 at Minnesota
16 Green Bay
23 at Arizona
30 at Detroit
SPOTLIGHT
Gabe Carimi
Tackle
The Bears have to take for granted that the left tackle position is going to be messed up this year, regardless of whether J'Marcus Webb or Chris Williams ends up playing the position. Both have been disappointing in camp. "I don't even know which one's out there," Jay Cutler said, suggesting a position battle in which the winner will be the less incapable of the pair.
G.M. Phil Emery couldn't fix every hole he had during the draft (he had Alshon Jeffery rated higher than the remaining tackles on the board when pick No. 45 came around), so it's going to be up to offensive coordinator Mike Tice to shift the pocket to the right, behind promising second-year tackle Carimi. It's not a traditional approach, but Cutler will roll Carimi's way often this season—he's always felt comfortable throwing on the run.
Matt Forte, too, will take advantage of the return of Carimi, who was limited to just two starts and 100 rookie-year snaps while recovering from knee surgery. Carimi made his mark at Wisconsin as the best run-blocker in the 2011 draft, and Forte loves rushing behind him. When Tice game-plans this year, look for him to run Forte to the right as much as he rolls Cutler that way.
NUMBERS
570
Pass-rushing attempts in 2011 by quarterback-fixated defensive end Israel Idonije, more than any other NFL edge rusher.
39
Pressures by Henry Melton, third among defensive tackles and better than fellow NFC North tackles Ndamukong Suh, Kevin Williams and B.J. Raji.
14
Penalties called on J'Marcus Webb in the 16 games he started at left tackle, making him the league's most penalized offensive lineman in 2011.
PHOTO
JEFF HAYNES/REUTERS (MARSHALL)
The Marshall report goes like this: big stats, bigger headache. Emery was willing to take the chance.
PHOTO
WARREN WIMMER/ICON SMI (CARIMI)