Detailing Reasons for Defensive Failure Against Packers

The devil is in the details, it's often said.

The details definitely seemed bedeviling to the Bears in their 38-20 loss to the Green Bay Packers.

"Details, details," Bears defensive end DeMarcus Walker said afterward when asked about the problems his group experienced in their first game together, counting preseason.

After the game, offensive players could point at six flags thrown as evidence of how they had cost their team yardage, four alone against left tackle Braxton Jones. However, the defense didn't commit a single penalty.

Their mistakes came in ways they don't want to discuss too specifically because it can tip off something about their scheme. Most likely it has to do with "alignment, assignment, technique," as defensive coordinator Alan Williams likes to say.

When they try to correct this situation against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Sunday, it might be without slot cornerback Kyler Gordon. He suffered a hand injury and Matt Eberflus wouldn't discuss the severity until at least Wednesday—if then.

This could mean undrafted second-year player Josh Blackwell will take over slot cornerback. Cornerback Jaylon Johnson seemed to tip off a bit about the injury's severity when he commented on Blackwell's ability.

"I'll say what gives me confidence is I've seen him do it," Johnson said. "I mean, shoot, he played against Aaron Rodgers and the Packers last year and he did a really good job. He’s definitely been out there in the fire. He's been thrown out there. He knows what it looks like. He knows how it feels to be out there in a real game playing against some real competition.

"So, I'm looking forward to him going out there, learning that chemistry with ones and then playing ball."

Blackwell did go in for 10 plays Sunday after Gordon's injury. He had 135 plays on defense last year with inconclusive results. Although receivers caught only 53.8% of passes when he was targeted, he also had a 100.5 passer rating against and gave up a TD.

Regardless of who plays defense, it has to be better than Sunday's second half in terms of allowing big plays.

“I would just say we got to raise the bar a little bit," Johnson said. "I think the only thing we can do is attack our Wednesday practice and go out there and compete against each other, push each other to be better, push each other to get in better shape, push each other to be locked in on our assignments and then continue that through the week, and I feel like at the end of the week it comes down to Sunday.

"We can preach all we want about practice and doing things and having energy and juice. We do that. We know our routine. We practice hard. We do what we are supposed to do in practice. But it comes down to executing on Sundays. I think having that motivation from this loss will give us an extra push, an extra energy to go in and take that nasty taste out of our mouth. But at the end of the day, it all comes down to Sunday."

Much of the pregame concern from a defensive standpoint focused on the lack of playing time together for the starting group. Until practices started for the Packers game, the entire starting defense hadn't been on a field together—in a stadium or at Halas Hall. 

Injuries had kept some players "ramping up," to 100% health to be ready for the opener. Also, edge rusher Yannick Ngakoue hadn't been with the team until the first week of August.

"I think for the team to go out there with the (first team) defense for the first time and have only, I think it was nine missed tackles, I think that's pretty good," Johnson said. "I don't think we had a defensive penalty out there. So I think those are good signs that as a defense that (no practice time together) was not a big factor for us."

Walker said the details requiring adjustment involve pass rush. The Bears had one sack. They allowed 9 of 16 on third-down conversions.

"The rush and the cover and the cover and rush," coach Matt Eberflus added. "It is about the rush, no question, but it's also about the coverage. It's us having precision and detail there to be able to get off the field on those third downs. For exasmple, the first drive, we ended up having three of them, didn't get off the field. We have to do that at a better rate."

Eberflus said the answer in the pass rush is "four equals one."

"Meaning that the rush has to be coordinated and when it is, it's great," he said. "When it's not, you leave pockets for the quarterback to escape from or throw from. And that's what he's talking about, precision and detail. We've gotta keep improving on that."

Walker looked at what he deemed a positive after the game.

"We stopped the run," Walker said. "You know what I'm saying?"

The Packers had 92 yards on 32 rushing attempts.

"We didn't get the big win but the small win we'll take from that and continue working and continue getting better as a team," Walker said.

He stressed the latter part.

"We're going to get better," Walker said.