We need more big plays from defense

[Greg C.]

There has been a lot of talk about our offense's turnovers against the Bears, and rightly so, but the Bears are going to do that to you sometimes. What's been overlooked is that the defense made very few big plays against a Bears offense that is one of the worst in the league. How many sacks did the Packers have? I remember one in the second half. The first half is hard to remember because I listened to it on the radio. The Bears were vulnerable on the O-line and the Packers failed to take advantage of it. Even the one interception was on a throw downfield, and there was no return, so it was like a punt.

I'm not blaming the defense for the loss by any means, but they can play a lot better. They were a little soft against the Vikings too, although in that game they made the big stops when they needed to. I'm hoping to see a strong pass rush and some jarring hits against the Redskins on Sunday.

 

[4thand26]

There has been a lot of talk about our offense's turnovers against the Bears, and rightly so, but the Bears are going to do that to you sometimes. What's been overlooked is that the defense made very few big plays against a Bears offense that is one of the worst in the league. How many sacks did the Packers have? I remember one in the second half. The first half is hard to remember because I listened to it on the radio. The Bears were vulnerable on the O-line and the Packers failed to take advantage of it. Even the one interception was on a throw downfield, and there was no return, so it was like a punt.

I'm not blaming the defense for the loss by any means, but they can play a lot better. They were a little soft against the Vikings too, although in that game they made the big stops when they needed to. I'm hoping to see a strong pass rush and some jarring hits against the Redskins on Sunday.

The biggest stop that the pack d had in the vikings game was having the numb nut coach for minny stop running AP.

 

[Bobby Roberts]

The defense stuffed Chicago steadily all game. It was 3 or 4 of Chicago's first possessions that ended in punts. The defense did just fine on Sunday. Griese had to get rid of the ball quickly to avoid the pass rush and he did just that. The run game was continually stuffed for losses.

The difference was the offense and one special teams play handing the ball over to the Bears as if they didn't want it. Blaming the defense for not winning the game after the offense gave up the ball is definitely a case of overanalyzing the game.

 

[Greg C.]

Blaming the defense for not winning the game after the offense gave up the ball is definitely a case of overanalyzing the game.

I said, "I'm not blaming the defense for the loss by any means...." Way to miss the point.

The Bears are a team that is going to get you into a defensive struggle with some turnovers and big special teams plays, so when your defense only gets one or two sacks and one downfield interception against them, there's a good chance you're going to lose.

My point was not that the defense played bad, because it didn't, but that it can play better.

 

[Bobby Roberts]

Re: We need more big plays from Offense

There has been a lot of talk about our offense's turnovers against the Bears, and rightly so, but the Bears are going to do that to you sometimes.
What's been overlooked is that the defense made very few big plays against a Bears offense that is one of the worst in the league.

Your statement makes it clear that we should expect the Bears to come up with turnovers, therefore our defense must come up with big plays.

What you're overlooking is that our defense did come up with several big plays! They stuffed the Bears' drives several times and got the ball back to our offense. Sure, they didn't come up with many turnovers, but stuffing their offense to 3 and out put our offense back onto the field quickly for plenty of chances to put the game away.

The defense has been playing great. I hope their able to consistently keep up this high level of play. They gave us great chances to win the game on Sunday and their solid play against Philly basically won the game for us there.

GO PACK GO!!!

 

[Greg C.]

Re: We need more big plays from Offense

There has been a lot of talk about our offense's turnovers against the Bears, and rightly so, but the Bears are going to do that to you sometimes.
What's been overlooked is that the defense made very few big plays against a Bears offense that is one of the worst in the league.

Your statement makes it clear that we should expect the Bears to come up with turnovers, therefore our defense must come up with big plays.

What you're overlooking is that our defense did come up with several big plays! They stuffed the Bears' drives several times and got the ball back to our offense. Sure, they didn't come up with many turnovers, but stuffing their offense to 3 and out put our offense back onto the field quickly for plenty of chances to put the game away.

The defense has been playing great. I hope their able to consistently keep up this high level of play. They gave us great chances to win the game on Sunday and their solid play against Philly basically won the game for us there.

GO PACK GO!!!

Yes, Bobby, the D has been very good this year. Maybe I'm getting too picky. I want them to be at least top 10 if not top 5, and they're not quite there yet. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[TheKanataThrilla]

I wouldn't want to lay too much the blame on the Packers D for this game. Griese made some really good passes and deserves quite a bit of credit. My big concern with the D lies in their ability to tackle. They seem to miss a lot of tackles (by either over-pursuit or poor fundamentals) and sometimes try to tackle when the easier play is to bump the player out of bounds. Mental mistakes, but I would much prefer those than lack of ability.

 

[cheesey]

I wouldn't want to lay too much the blame on the Packers D for this game. Griese made some really good passes and deserves quite a bit of credit. My big concern with the D lies in their ability to tackle. They seem to miss a lot of tackles (by either over-pursuit or poor fundamentals) and sometimes try to tackle when the easier play is to bump the player out of bounds. Mental mistakes, but I would much prefer those than lack of ability.

I agree........the missed tackles were a BIG problem. We would have stopped them more times had we wrapped up.
Also.......where are the interceptions? Our D hasn't had many picks so far.

 

[warhawk]

I wouldn't want to lay too much the blame on the Packers D for this game. Griese made some really good passes and deserves quite a bit of credit. My big concern with the D lies in their ability to tackle. They seem to miss a lot of tackles (by either over-pursuit or poor fundamentals) and sometimes try to tackle when the easier play is to bump the player out of bounds. Mental mistakes, but I would much prefer those than lack of ability.

I think the d got away from the fundamentals too much in this game at times and it cost us.

The last TD they scored the TE should have gotten jammed at the line and Collins knows better then to get sucked in like that. Two errors on one play. It get's real easy when that happens.

On the first TD Poppinga was playing outside the tackle and went running up inside and got tangled up in there and the back came off tackle for a TD. Just a real lousy read there. It looked like he just took it upon himself to do that and it cost us.

When you see guys diving they either didn't read the play or took themselves out of position by not following the basics and getting caught. When guys make decisions outside of what they were taught to do they get in trouble.

I think we should have shut down Minny last week better than we did and giving up 27 to the Bears is just no good. We're a better d than this but I see guys starting to get caught with their shorts down making bad decisions on their own.

 

[Obi1]

I wouldn't want to lay too much the blame on the Packers D for this game. Griese made some really good passes and deserves quite a bit of credit. My big concern with the D lies in their ability to tackle. They seem to miss a lot of tackles (by either over-pursuit or poor fundamentals) and sometimes try to tackle when the easier play is to bump the player out of bounds. Mental mistakes, but I would much prefer those than lack of ability.

I think the d got away from the fundamentals too much in this game at times and it cost us.

The last TD they scored the TE should have gotten jammed at the line and Collins knows better then to get sucked in like that. Two errors on one play. It get's real easy when that happens.

On the first TD Poppinga was playing outside the tackle and went running up inside and got tangled up in there and the back came off tackle for a TD. Just a real lousy read there. It looked like he just took it upon himself to do that and it cost us.

When you see guys diving they either didn't read the play or took themselves out of position by not following the basics and getting caught. When guys make decisions outside of what they were taught to do they get in trouble.

I think we should have shut down Minny last week better than we did and giving up 27 to the Bears is just no good. We're a better d than this but I see guys starting to get caught with their shorts down making bad decisions on their own.

Good points.

I felt the same way about Collins.

We need a couple of playmakers on the defense with the courage, daring, bravado, and the dexterity of Jackie Chan... Hell, we need Jackie Chan.

 

[abztractmynd]

he's basically saying our defense couldnt get any forced fumbles.

 

[Zombieslayer]

You want to hear a little secret to da Bears' D success last year?
Takeaways.

We need more of those. We had 23 INTs in 16 games last year. This year, we only have 5 INTs in 5 games. I want to see more INTs. I want to see more forced fumbles.

Those are the big plays I want to see more out of our D.

 

[yooperfan]

We know the potential is there for big plays.
I think once it all starts coming together we will see more barring more serious injuries to our corners.

 

[matteogb4]

ok...the season i strted from 5 weeks...it is time to make these damn big plays...we need them.

 

[spardo62]

This kind of plays into the thread asking if our defense was overrated. To this point we have performed well save for some sloppy tackling AND the inability to come up with the big play(sack, fumble, int.). If this defense can start causing turnovers and frequently putting the offense in 3rd and long situations, it will rise to our pre-season expectations. If not, they are middle of the pack.

It is time for Hawk, Woodson and a few others to step up to the plate and become defensive difference makers.

 

[yooperfan]

I think Jarrett Bush needs to step up or step out.
I thought Walker (our big FA signing) looked better inm his meager playing time.

 

[Greg C.]

This kind of plays into the thread asking if our defense was overrated.

SHHHHHH! Don't say that too loud or the mods will merge the threads.

After watching the game on tape the other night (not a pleasant experience), I stand by the original post. They do need to get some more big plays. That final 79-yard TD drive by the Bears really sticks in my craw. I give the Bears and especially Griese a lot of credit, though. They played hard and they played smart in a game that they desperately needed to win.