There are many facets of successful offensive football in the NFL. Converting on 3rd down is a big one. Managing the clock is another. However, easily one of the most important that never gets enough attention is red zone execution. Nothing can prove more dangerous or even disheartening to an offense than constantly getting close to the end zone but never being able to punch it in for touchdowns. So what does this have to do with the Chicago Bears receivers?
Red zone performance was a persistent problem for the Bears in 2017. Most of their success at scoring from inside the opposing 20 and 10-yard lines came from their excellent running game spearheaded by Jordan Howard and Tarik Cohen. It was throwing the football that continued to haunt them. The congested conditions and lack of imaginative scheming played a part.
Perhaps the biggest drawback was how ineffective their receivers were in that part of the field. As a team, the Bears threw 78 passes in the red zone in 2017. Only 44 of those were completed. Just six of those completions went to wide receivers. According to SharpFootballStats.com, the team ran 20 total offensive plays with their receivers as the go-to targets. Only four of those plays were deemed “successful.”
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By contrast, the world champion Philadelphia Eagles were outstanding in the red zone. Out of 45 plays run towards their primary three receivers, 17 were considered successful and resulted in 12 touchdowns. That’s a major reason why they were so hard to defend.
Chicago Bears wide receivers overhaul was directed at this issue
So what could Chicago do to fix the problem? Simply saying find better receivers is not the point. Finding the right receivers is. While it’s obvious the Bears found talent with their additions in free agency and the draft, if one looks closer they’ll notice that the majority of them share a particular trait: effectiveness in the red zone.
Just look at Allen Robinson alone. Between 2015 and 2016, the former Jacksonville Jaguars star caught 20 touchdown passes in total. No fewer than 18 of them were caught inside the red zone. Memphis had 23 touchdown passes in that area in 2017 alone. Considering Anthony Miller caught 18 total that season, one has to imagine a large chunk of them were from inside the 20.
What brings this home is how this could impact Mitch Trubisky. Despite his struggles in 2017 as a rookie, he was outstanding in the red zone with 13 completing including four touchdowns and just one interception. His 48.15 completion percentage was a bit rough but this can be attributed to his limited options at receiver.
So what will happen now that the Bears appear to have solved that issue? If things progress as expected, one can say quite big things. Buckle up.
