Chicago Bears’ Offense Needs to Pick Up Pace, Run No-Huddle

By Paul Kakert @edpvideo on October 9, 2014

Slow, methodical, plodding. Welcome to the pace of the Chicago Bears‘ offense. The Bears are the equivalent of the heavyweight boxer, built to go 12 rounds exchanging powerful short jabs while only striking a knockout blow on occasion. This is what fans have seen through five games from the 2014 version of the Marc Trestman offense that showed so much explosive potential in 2013.

The Trestman predictable, sluggish gameplan centers on the following key elements. On each play, the team must use nearly all of the play clock, working slowing when lining up to allow the defense ample time to get set and substitute proper personnel. Occasionally, it is permissible to run a no-huddle offense to give the illusion of a faster pace, but at no time is it permissible to run to the line of scrimmage and get set in a hurried manner. And even in no-huddle, the team must use all of the play clock so as not to deviate from the consistent pacing that could potentially catch the defense off guard, and unprepared. And in any key short-yardage situations, never sprint to the line and run a quarterback sneak (reference Tom Brady) on a quick count before the defense is set. Instead, always take excessive amounts of time to decide what play to call, often opting to call a timeout to allow the defense to get equally prepared for the upcoming play.

To avoid any loss of meaning due to subtle references, the point of this rant is to condemn any urge to continue as usual. If failure does anything, it should inspire change. And the Bears have experienced plenty of failures this season. You can’t escape injuries and lack of depth at key positions. So change and innovation have to come from areas within your control. Namely, play-calling and pace. If the Bears broke form and came out against the Atlanta Falcons on the opening drive and ran a true hurry-up offense, the football world would come to a standstill from shock. The Falcons would be caught off guard and maybe, just maybe, the Bears could change their luck and jump-start their stagnant offense.

I’m not expecting this to happen, as NFL teams rarely change their ways midseason. But I’m holding out hope.

Paul Kakert is a blogger for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @edpvideo, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.