If you’d been following the update from the Chicago Bears training camp, you would hear a common trend. The offense would struggle in 11-on-11 drills. Either the defense would stop them to force a punt or force a turnover. Caleb Williams and the starters couldn’t get anything going. So, one can understand why people became confused when the offense actually looked pretty solid in both of their appearances in the preseason. They scored 21 points in less than three quarters against Houston. Then the starter mounted back-to-back scoring drives against Buffalo, including one that started at their own 3-yard line. So what gives? Keenan Allen provided an answer.
Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune and other reporters caught up with the Pro Bowler after the game. When asked why the offense looks so much more cohesive, Allen pointed out a key fact many who’ve watched camp constantly overlook.
“We’re not playing against our defense, which is one of the best in the league and they play against us every day,” wide receiver Keenan Allen said. “It’s kind of hard to be successful against those guys. They have a lot of talent on the defense. We have a lot of talent on offense, but in practice it’s tougher because you’re going against guys who see everything and they know exactly what you are doing. Got a chance to go against some different guys (Saturday) and pretty successful.”
He wasn’t the only one saying that.
Veteran tight end Gerald Everett made the same comments himself. It’s hard to execute anything against any defense when they know which play is coming, much less one as talented and well-coached as the Bears’
“We’re going against the same defense since April or May,” Everett said. “Seventy, 80% of the time, they know what play is coming. They’ve seen it. They can ID from motion, landmarks, splits, the whole nine yards. Being able to go against a new team that hasn’t seen things from us, it gives us a true look of what we really have.”
Keenan Allen understands the context of things.
There is a reason Bears players haven’t seemed overly concerned about the camp’s ups and downs. They know the defense is good, that it often knows what plays are coming, and also that there is still plenty of time. Chicago doesn’t play Tennessee until September 8th. They have almost a full month left to prepare. It is reasonable to think the offense will start coming together by that point. That is not to say they will suddenly become elite, but they should be able to handle most of their responsibilities.
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Keenan Allen has been through more than a decade of these camps. He understands how they ebb and flow. If he’s not expressing any panic on the subject, then fans and media shouldn’t. His firm belief in Caleb Williams might be the most encouraging part of all of this. For a guy who played with Philip Rivers and Justin Herbert to express such confidence is a good sign. We saw glimpses of why in Buffalo. If that kid is the real deal, this offense won’t be disjointed for long.
I have a few takeaways from the article…
1) Our defense is good, recognizes what our offense is doing in practice, and can stop most plays from being executed successfully, 2) Our defense may not be as badass against opposing offenses since our D does not know what the opp is going to do, and 3) Our offense, though full of playmakers, is still miles away from being a top offense. Once they’re able to consistently beat our defense, then we’ve got a scary team!
Fair assessment?
@Tred I get your apprehension, but trying to stop an offense the first time you see them even if you know what’s coming isn’t as easy as it is for a top-15 defense to do it seeing the same thing for 31/2 months.
I’m not disputing your point, but in practice, you do the same thing over and over. Game planning in a game is much different for both sides.
We saw the difference Saturday, let’s hope that continues.
OK, correct me if I’m wrong, but I translate this as – “once the rest of the league gets tape on the offense we run, we’ll have a rough time.” Look, the basic concepts of this offense are used by a number of teams around the NFL. They aren’t Waldron -specific. Furthermore, Waldron just got here – he hasn’t been running this offense against our defense for years or something like that. Something doesn’t quite add up. Anyway, I don’t care unless they said it was Williams. Then I’d be upset. As long as it isn’t on the QB, they’ll… Read more »
I skimmed the article, but I was able to piece together the defense is cheating.
A practice is a slap fight. A game is a knife fight.
“. . .we talkin’ ’bout practice. ..”