People are trying to find out what the problem is with the Chicago Bears defense. It started out the season so well but recently things have become problematic. They’ve allowed 55 points scored over the past two games and have developed a reputation for being unable to get stops late when they’re needed most. A lot of people have blamed the teams’ inability to consistently run the football as a primary cause.
Normally when a team has a good defense that isn’t playing well, that’s the classic explanation. By not running the ball well, it means the team isn’t controlling the clock. That puts the defense on the field too much. This leads to them getting tired late in games and to the painful collapses in the 4th quarter.
Except for this year that explanation doesn’t hold up. I went back and looked at each of their losses this season to see if the trend was true. The revelation was interesting.
Chicago Bears defense may have a conditioning issue
Against Green Bay when the defense allowed 21 points in the 4th quarter, the Bears actually won the time of possession 33:22 to 26:38. In Miami? This time it was true, but not to an egregious extent. The Dolphins won the TOP 36:35 to 33:25. That’s barely over a three-minute different. This leads one to think that the heat absolutely was a factor in that game.
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Then there was New England. Again the defense allowed extended drives in the 4th quarter when they needed a stop and it looked like they ran out of gas. Tom Brady engineered a nine-play drive for a touchdown and an eight-play drive to drain the claim in the final minutes. Yet even those two sequences weren’t enough to win the time of possession as the Bears claimed a 30:09 to 29:51 edge.
So two out of their three losses where the defense wilted late were games where the offense controlled the ball for longer than the opponent. That is not a good sign. It calls into question whether the Bears defensive players are in proper condition to handle being on the field a bit more than usual because the offense can actually score now.
BILL RUNS THE HILL: #Patriots head coach Bill Belichick gets a workout in before training camp by running up and down the hill his players do conditioning sprints on.
Made famous by the "Do Your Job" documentaries. "Put it in the bank!"#PatsCamp @ABC6 pic.twitter.com/rw64trbnKq
— Ian Steele (@ISteeleABC6) July 27, 2018
This is interesting because while the strength and conditioning staff has been great about preventing major injuries this year, this would be something that could call them into question. Now to be fair health has been an issue for the defense. Khalil Mack isn’t 100% with that bad ankle, but the unit was faltering late in games even when he was healthy.
So perhaps it’s time to question whether the defense has enough wind to survive games when they might have to be on the field longer than planned. These next few weeks may reveal much if the offense continues to struggle running the ball.
