By Dan PompeiTime for one more look back at the Bears' Sunday loss to the Packers, and a play that might have cost them the game.
It was the Packers' first play from scrimmage, a 62-yard run by Ryan Grant, that put the Bears on their heels and set the tone for most of the four quarters that followed.
So what went wrong?
Photo: The Packers' Ryan Grant outraces Kevin Payne en route to a game-opening TD. (Nam Y. Huh/AP)
Some wondered why nickel safety Josh Bullocks was running from
right to left across the line and away from the direction of the play.
But he was doing what he was supposed to do, covering tight end
Jermichael Finley man-to-man.
Finley motioned from his left to the right side of the formation pre-snap as a form of misdirection. This also induced Bears safety Al Afalava to crash the defensive left side of the formation, helping to open up the right.
What happened next is just perfect execution by the Packers against an eight-man front. They blocked everyone as Grant hit the gap between the left guard and left tackle and never was touched.
Strong-side linebacker Nick Roach was blown out of the way by tight end Donald Lee. Right end Alex Brown got locked up with left tackle Chad Clifton. Left guard Daryn Colledge first helped center Scott Wells take care of nose tackle Marcus Harrison, then slammed into weak-side linebacker Lance Briggs, who was too late getting off the block to make a play. Middle linebacker Hunter Hillenmeyer took on fullback John Kuhn hard and took himself out of the play.
The only unblocked man was safety Kevin Payne, who took a bad angle and didn't break down when Grant got near him.
Charles Tillman was playing cornerback on the other side of the field, and really never had a chance to catch Grant.
It was the type of play in which Brian Urlacher might have made a difference.
Finley motioned from his left to the right side of the formation pre-snap as a form of misdirection. This also induced Bears safety Al Afalava to crash the defensive left side of the formation, helping to open up the right.
What happened next is just perfect execution by the Packers against an eight-man front. They blocked everyone as Grant hit the gap between the left guard and left tackle and never was touched.
Strong-side linebacker Nick Roach was blown out of the way by tight end Donald Lee. Right end Alex Brown got locked up with left tackle Chad Clifton. Left guard Daryn Colledge first helped center Scott Wells take care of nose tackle Marcus Harrison, then slammed into weak-side linebacker Lance Briggs, who was too late getting off the block to make a play. Middle linebacker Hunter Hillenmeyer took on fullback John Kuhn hard and took himself out of the play.
The only unblocked man was safety Kevin Payne, who took a bad angle and didn't break down when Grant got near him.
Charles Tillman was playing cornerback on the other side of the field, and really never had a chance to catch Grant.
It was the type of play in which Brian Urlacher might have made a difference.
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Thank you Lil Laura! What game yall watching?
C'mon, we're such a great team with Hillenmeyer pretending to be a linebacker ? Like it or not this team missed Urlacher bigtime this year. He's got thirty five pounds on HH for starters ....
Oh, here we go... if ONLY Urlacher wasn't out this would never have happened!
Or, and fully acknowledging he is an enormously talented MLB who will someday hold mythical stature in this city, Brian Urlacher may well have been blasted out, too. For as great as he plays in space he very often reverts to a mere mortal when taking on a blocker.
That was ONE play, the type of which can and will happen to any team and any combination of players in the course of so many plays. Even a team with an active Urlacher.
The defense stepped up after and played quite well while the offense snatched defeat from the jaws of viotory.
Interceptions, penalties, injuries, poor game and time management, false starts (a LOT of false starts, it seems), an offensive line that has not gelled for two seasons now and is dong a crack sieve impression. That is the key to this and other losses. Yes, the defense is not what it could be. So be it. It is not as awful as it was earlier this year when there was a lot of free-lancing and overcompensation for BUs absence.
Interesting article, with fine analysis of a defensive breakdown (or an exceptionally executed offensive play, take your pick), right up until your last overly assumptive sentence.
Brian Urlacher? Seriously? The play that broke the game was the red zone interception. Not this one. Wake up