San Diego Chargers Pass Defense vs. Bears: 27/40, 345 Yards, 2 TD, 1 INT, 100.5 Passer Rating

3rd Quarter

Pass #18

Situation: 1st and 10 CHI 40
Description: Q3-(13:25) J. Cutler Pass Short Right to Z. Miller to CHI 38 for -2 Yards (K. Conner)

The Chargers cover this play action pass very well as no one in the secondary bit on the fake and the linebackers do a good job locating receivers once the fake happens. Jay Cutler has no time to wait for the routes to open up as Attaochu plays perfect contain technique and is in his face. His only option is to dump it off to TE Zach Miller who is wrapped up immediately by Conner.

Pass #19

Situation: 2nd and 12 CHI 38
Description: Q3-(12:49) J. Cutler Pass Short Left to J. Langford to SD 46 for 16 Yards (J. Addae)

The Chargers secondary needs to be able to defeat a block on this play. The Bears run a swing screen to Langford and Jeffery, Mariani, and Wilson are up against Flowers, Weddle, and Mager. One of these three defenders needs to defeat a stalk block and make a play on Langford. None of the defenders can though and Langford gets an alley for a big gain. Some of the blame has to go to Conner though. Conner does two things wrong on this play. The first is Conner does not recognizes the flare screen coming and is slow getting out to the flat. The second thing that he did wrong was his pursuit angle to Langford. He is running upfield on his angle to Langford and while Conner is athletic for a LB, Langford is faster. He needs to take a more downfield angle and stop Conner for a medium yard gain instead of trying to cut Langford off for a short gain and missing.

Pass #20

Situation: 1st and 10 SD 46
Description: Q3-(12:13) J. Cutler Pass Short Left to M. Wilson to SD 31 for 15 Yards (C. Mager)

The Chargers man coverage in this game has been decent up to this point but it fails in two ways on this play. The first is Mager vs. Wilson. Mager is playing off man coverage and his goal is never to give up a deep route to Wilson. Wilson has some speed but isn’t a speed burner so Mager can try to be more aggressive on his coverage. Instead he bails the whole time and is slow to break on the comeback route of Wilson. This gives Cutler and easy pass for the first down to Wilson. Flowers also needs to be pointed out as well as Mariani has gotten over the top on him on the post route. His positioning of his hips fails him here as he is facing the outside of the field. Once Mariani cuts inside, Flowers has to flip the hips and with him already being in trail position he has no chance to keep up with him. With Addae facing to the outside of the field, I don’t think Addae could of gotten over the top of this route and Mariani has split the Cover 2.

Pass #21

Situation: 2nd and 5 SD 26
Description: Q3-(11:13) J. Cutler Pass Incomplete Short Left to M. Bennett (C. Mager)

This play isn’t going anywhere as the Chargers do a good job diagnosing this screen pass to Bennett. Mager gets beat to the inside but does a good job of staying on the slant route and is going to take down Bennett as soon as he catches it. On top of that, Butler is sitting in the middle of the field and is going to tackle Bennett if he gets past Mager. This should be a completion though as Bennett is open but Cutler misses the pass towards Bennett’s upfield shoulder and Bennett cannot reel the pass in for a completion.

Pass #22

Situation: 3rd and 5 SD 26
Description: Q3-(11:08) J. Cutler Pass Short Left to A. Jeffery to SD 18 for 8 Yards (E. Weddle)

Weddle is a great safety and one of the best cover safeties in the league. But no safety in the NFL has a favorable match up against Jeffery in man coverage. Weddle is playing off man coverage thanks to the disguise the Charger run and is bailing in his coverage. He has no chance to cover the curl route of Jeffery tightly and is beaten easily by Jeffery for a first down. The pass rush has to do a better job getting to Cutler on the blitz and Conner specifically should do a much better job on his blitz as he is held up by Langford way to easily.

Pass #23

Situation: 1st and 10 SD 18
Description: Q3-(10:22) J. Cutler Pass Incomplete Deep Right to A. Jeffery

Cutler makes a predetermined throw on this play and bails the Chargers out. Williams has great press coverage on Jeffery which gives nowhere for Cutler to throw this ball. Mariani on the other hand has Flowers playing off coverage on him and he opens up on the zipper route. Cutler should just pass the ball to Mariani underneath for a decent gain and maybe even a first down instead of trying to force this pass deep to Jeffery who isn’t open.

Pass #24

Situation: 3rd and 8 SD 16
Description: Q3-(9:36) J. Cutler Pass Incomplete Short Left to A. Jeffery

This should be a first down for the Bears again but Cutler bails the Chargers out with a poor throw. The back shoulder fade is one of the most difficult routes to cover in man coverage and Williams doesn’t have much of a chance against Jeffery if he is going to run this route. Cutler goes after this route but throws it too far to the outside and Jeffery cannot pull it in. The man coverage across the board is good against the Chargers (Mariani does himself no favors by stopping on his slant route against Flowers) so I don’t have any real complaints about the coverage.

Pass #25

Situation: 3rd and 8 CHI 9
Description: Q3-(5:58) J. Cutler Pass Short Right to M. Mariani to CHI 19 for 10 Yards (C. Mager)

There is nothing special that the Bears do on this play. Mager is playing off coverage and is trying to react to what Mariani does in his man coverage. Mariani makes a quick out cut and Mager is slow to react to the cut. Mager’s footwork is the reason for this as he takes multiple steps to transition from the backpedal to drive phase on the out route of Mariani. His footwork has to be one step, plant his foot in the ground, and go if he is going to keep up with Mariani on the out route with inside leverage. This slow transition opens up Mariani for the easy catch and a first down.

Pass #26

Situation: 1st and 10 CHI 19
Description: Q3-(5:23) J. Cutler Pass Short Right to M. Bennett Pushed Out of Bounds at CHI 24 for 5 Yards (K. Conner)

I have to give credit to Ingram, he is playing a good game against the Bears in terms of pass defense to this point and is great position again. He doesn’t bite fully on the play action fake and keeps contain on Cutler on the bootleg. This forces Cutler to dump it off short to Bennett instead of waiting for Jeffery to open up on the comeback route on Williams. Conner does bite on the fake a bit but he does a good job to recover and find Bennett after the catch. Conner’s tackling technique is poor though as this play should of been stop for a two yard gain. Bennett does a stutter step and freezes Conner in his tracks. Conner is in great position to drive through Bennett’s inside shoulder and drive him out of bounds if he doesn’t freeze. His freeze and his poor tackling technique (he bends at the hips instead of getting low and his head is down) though gives time for Bennett to work to the outside and pick up a few more yards.

Pass #27

Situation: 2nd and 5 CHI 24
Description: Q3-(4:46) J. Cutler Pass Incomplete Deep Right to M. Wilson

Mager is in good position initially on this play and forces Cutler to have to throw a perfect pass to try to get it to Wilson. Mager’s transition out of the backpedal is good as his turn ends up being even with Wilson. Mager isn’t as fast as Wilson and it shows as Wilson starts opening a gap on Mager as Wilson’s route goes deeper. Mager’s great early position though forces Cutler to try to attempt a perfect throw. Cutler actually throws a pretty good ball here but Mager’s and Wilson’s feet tangle and both of them fall over, leading to the incompletion. Conner needs to be called out again though as he react to Mariani running an crossing route in front of him very slowly. Weddle is playing deep off coverage on Mariani due to playing the disguise for Flowers blitz so Conner has to help Weddle out here. He doesn’t do this and a pass to Mariani would of led to an easy first down.

Pass #28

Situation: 3rd and 5 CHI 24
Description: Q3-(4:40) J. Cutler Pass Short Right to A. Jeffery to CHI 30 for 6 Yards (E. Weddle, S. Williams)

Williams can try to be a scrappy CB all he wants, but he is at a physical mismatch against Jeffery. Williams is 5’10”, 185 lbs while Jeffery is 6’3″, 216 lbs. Williams tries to jam Jeffery on his curl route but Jeffery just out muscles him and get him on his back. Cutler sees this and even with the very late throw timing wise, Jeffery is able to make the catch for a first down. Also I don’t know exactly what Flower is trying to do on this play. Mariani runs the slant route and Flowers looks like he is passing him off to Weddle (I guess). But Weddle is in no position to cover Mariani initially (he is focused on his man Langford instead) and Flowers stops trying to follow Mariani once Bennett and Ingram run by him. Maybe this was by design but it looks really odd on the film as the rest of the back seven which isn’t blitzing is playing Cover 1 Man.

Pass #29

Situation: 1st and 20 CHI 20
Description: Q3-(3:41) J. Cutler Pass Short Left to A. Jeffery to CHI 29 for 9 Yards (B. Flowers, E. Weddle)

This screen play should of been stopped for a much shorter gain and Conner and Williams need to take heat for this play. Conner reads this play really well and hits Jeffery close to the line of scrimmage. He doesn’t bring his feet with the attempted tackle and falls off Jeffery because Jeffery is a strong WR. Williams also deserves some blame as he barely reacts to the screen. He is initially an unblocked player in the secondary and should be screaming upfield to hit Jeffery. Instead he sit back and allows Mariani to come around the block of Flowers by WR Josh Bellamy and block him downfield.

Pass #30

Situation: 2nd and 11 CHI 29
Description: Q3-(2:59) J. Cutler Pass Short Left to J. Bellamy to CHI 35 for 6 Yards (S. Williams)

Weddle needs to be more aggressive on this play as he just lets Bellamy work back to the inside. This is a two defenders vs. one blocker on the screen pass to Bellamy so this should be shut down for a short gain. Langford lays a good pop into Williams so Weddle has to chase Bellamy down hard. Instead he sit on the outside and lets Bellamy work inside behind the block of Langford. To be fair to Weddle, he does push this play back into the inside so Williams can make a tackle on Bellamy but Weddle is a fast and tough safety. He should be the one chasing this play down and stopping this play short instead of waiting for Bellamy to make his move.

Pass #31

Situation: 3rd and 5 CHI 35
Description: Q3-(2:12) J. Cutler Pass Short Left to J. Langford Pushed Out of Bounds at SD 42 for 23 Yards (J. Wilson)

Jimmy Wilson has no chance to cover Langford out of the backfield due to positioning and I don’t think its his fault on the play. Wilson is in man coverage on Bennett based on alignment so expecting him to cover Langford on the quick flare route is ridiculous. On a blitz like this, the Chargers should have a player who is responsible for the RB leaking out of the backfield on a route. If I had to make a guess, either Attaochu or Butler has to peel off of his pass rush and cover Langford out of the backfield. Someone blew this rule though and Langford picks up a big gain for a first down.

Pass #32

Situation: 1st and 10 SD 42
Description: Q3-(1:48) J. Cutler Pass Short Right to A. Jeffery to SD 32 for 10 Yards (M. Ingram)

Williams is a small CB compared to Jeffery, but this is atrocious tackling technique. Williams is a free defender in the secondary thanks to Flowers forcing Mariani and Wilson to both block him on the screen pass. Williams does a great job rallying up and going for the tackle but he dives at Jeffery’s ankles. Jeffery spins and steps over him to avoid Williams. Conner compounds this error by completely whiffing on his attempt of a tackle. Conner when he goes in for the tackle put his head down and is looking at the turf. I have never had a coach tell me the turf will lead you to the ball carrier and Conner whiffs because he doesn’t keep his eyes up. This should of been a short gain at best but two poor attempted tackles allows Jeffery to get a first down.

Pass #33

Situation: 1st and 10 SD 21
Description: Q3-(0:23) J. Cutler Pass Short Right to A. Jeffery to SD 5 for 16 Yards (J. Addae)

I don’t know what else you can expect from Williams on this play as he is in good position in coverage. A great throw will always beat good coverage though and Cutler throws this back shoulder fade with perfect timing to Jeffery. Williams has no chance to cover this throw.

For the 3rd Quarter passes, click on the next page