The Chicago Bears offensive unit took a major step forward in Week 4 against the Los Angeles Rams, but still struggled in a key area.
The Bears' offense has continued to stumble out of the gate during games this season and it's forcing the unit to play from behind more often than not.
Finding a way to start out games quicker seems to be the main emphasis going into Week 5 against the Carolina Panthers for offensive coordinator Shane Waldron's unit.
"It's something we actually addressed at the beginning of this week and moving forward in this week," Waldron said Thursday. "It really goes back to some of the negative plays that we've had in the first half right there."
Through the first four weeks of the season, the Bears' offense ranks 31st in first quarter points and last in first quarter yards per play. Clearly, things need to be adjusted.
With a rookie under center learning from each passing week, things are adjusted more slowly than you'd like. However, last week, quarterback Caleb Williams did a much better job of taking what the defense was giving him to stay ahead of the chains.
"If a defense makes a good call on a play, Caleb did a really nice job of taking a check down to Swift and then all of a sudden it goes now from a first-and-10 to another first-and-10," Waldron added. "We know that explosives will happen within the context of the game but playing efficient football, that's what's going to lead us to playing good complementary football and that drive was really a primary example of it."
The real drive killer early in games for the Bears' offense has been the pre-snap penalties. Through four games, the Bears have committed two pre-snap penalties in the first quarter alone, including a 15-yarder on first down in Week 4.
"Just doing a really good job with our operation, starting with some of those pre-snap penalties, really eliminating those," Waldron explained. "Eliminating the negative plays in the first half so we don't feel like we're playing behind the sticks, which we did a really good job in the second half of eliminating those and along with the run game, as we start to get that going, those are all things to me that end up leading to a faster start. All the stuff that we can eliminate before any physical activity even occurs is a point of emphasis this week."
Another frustrating area the Bears' offense has struggled with is finding and hitting the shot plays down the field. Which is something that first needs to be set up early in the games instead of hunting them when they aren't there.
"I think moving forward, it's about not pressing to find big plays, not pressing to find explosives, letting them occur within the context of what the defense is showing each individual snap," Waldron said. "So that balance of getting the ball out when it is a deep to short defensive structure, it keeps us on on pace. And then when those shots are there, just keep doing a good job of being in rhythm, starts with protection, not just the quarterback, receivers, running backs, tight ends, all connected to those plays and being efficient, which will lead to shots down the field."
So, it sounds like everything starts and ends with being smart before the snap and then sticking to the rhythm out of the gate. Once the Bears can do that, everything else will keep on opening up for the offense, and if the unit fails, they'll need to adapt.
"If something doesn't go right in the first quarter, let's learn from it and move forward but always, the goal is to going to be to start fast, put points up and try to play with a lead in the game," Waldron said.
