When an offense is struggling with a young quarterback like the Bears have been, timing can be everything with their scoring.
Playing from behind all the time has been a Bears offensive problem all season because it leads to predictability, and one big reason they've been behind is they don't score in first quarters. The last thing a rookie QB like Caleb Williams need is to be behind all the time.
They have three points to show for four games in the first quarter, and it's definitely got the attention of offensive coordinator Shane Waldron, not to mention coach Matt Eberflus.
"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."
It's a case of playing from behind in two ways. They're behind in the score and behind the sticks when it comes to first down yardage.
"So just doing a really good job with our operation, starting with some of those pre-snap penalties, really eliminating those," Waldron said. "Had another drive that started out with a 15-yard penalty.
"So 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 and knowing that the attention to detail right from the jump from a mental aspect, all the stuff that we can eliminate before any physical activity even occurs is a point of emphasis this week."
Until last week, they had only 13 points to show for the first half of games. They started the season with a three-and-out. Last week they had five plays on the opening drive. The other two games on their first drive resulted in a long field goal miss and a Cairo Santos field goal.
Waldron addressed this problem with a bit of humor courtesy of his former head coach in Seattle, Pete Carroll.
"You want to start fast but like every single game, the mantra is always going to be 'keep playing football,' because you can’t always control how the beginning of the game ends. I know different guys have been around coach Carroll in the past and he's referenced that you can’t win the game in the first quarter but you can win it in the fourth quarter.
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"We always want to start fast. That's our goal. That's what we’re looking to do. But I think that forward thinking mindset as well in game, just like it happens during the week. 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."
Besides eliminating their presnap penalties, the Bears expect to continue the progress they had with the running game last week. It helped lead to an early lead and they stayed in front from the second quarter on.
Their chances look good considering Carolina has the 29th ranked run defense and also has allowed the second-most touchdown passes (9).
"I think the combination of playing efficient in the run game," Waldron said. "I thought our guys really started to feel the game and staying in phase, the running backs, O line.
"So we're getting positive plays in those and then also the element of shot call doesn't always mean shot taken.
"If a defense makes a good call on a play, Caleb did a really nice job of taking a checkdown to Swift and then all of a sudden it goes now from a first-and-10 to another first-and-10. A checkdown, 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."
A week ago the Bears on offense were telling Waldron they needed to be coached harder during meetings with team leaders on that side of the ball.
Now, it appears they need to be coached harder to start games. Even against a team with a defense struggling like Carolina's is, coaching of any kind can't hurt.
"I know they have some moving pieces with some injuries right there but it’s a good structure, it’s always going to be a competitive defense," Waldron said. "There’s a lot of different challenges that they present but it always will go back to us and us feeling like if we’re going with the guys that we have operating at a high level, communicating, using great detail, great technique, that we’re going to have a chance to operate at an efficient level throughout the course of the game regardless of the opponent knowing that every single week, it’s the NFL"
That includes in the first quarter.
