Coach John Fox’s emphasis on running the ball is seemingly putting rookie quarterback Mitch Trubisky in too many tough situations.
If you’re going to run the ball as much as the Bears do, accepting that negative runs will occur is important. But if you’re having trouble with that realization, coach John Fox has a history lesson for you.
“I know the year the Panthers had the two 1,000-yard runners when Foxy was there… and led the league in rushing, they also led the league in negative runs,” offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains said. “It’s part of the process of facing eight-man fronts. [The defenses are] really aggressive. You’ve got to make them pay with the passing game. It is a really difficult spot to put a quarterback in.”
But that’s what Bears are doing to rookie Mitch Trubisky.
The run game is supposed to protect and help him. As Fox said Wednesday on a conference call with the Detroit media, it’s is the “quarterback’s best friend.”
Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky and running back Tarik Cohen. (Getty)
Instead, Fox’s over-emphasis on running the ball is putting Trubisky in tough situations every week. In the long run, that might help Trubisky’s development. But it’s not helping the rookie settle in this season.
The Bears lead the league with 45 negative runs, which includes the most to the left (26) and to the right (16). In Trubisky’s five starts, the Bears had 28 runs that went for minus-75 yards.
On the Bears’ first possession against the Packers on Sunday, Howard carried the ball three times for minus-5 yards during the first four plays.
It all puts Trubisky at a disadvantage when he already has enough to learn and experience.
According to Pro Football reference, Trubisky has attempted 24 passes on second downs of 10 yards or more. It’s Trubisky’s most frequent passing situation after first-and-10 (31 pass attempts). He completed only 7 of those 24 passes for 63 yards, two first downs, one interception and a 22.2 passer rating.
“It’s difficult because there’s not a great play call for second-and-15,” Loggains said. “All of a sudden, it turns into an automatic pass situation because you don’t want to go first-and-10, negative run, and create second-and-13, and then run it to create third-and-11. You want to really stay in between third-and-6 or less, and we’re pretty good on third-and-6 or less.
“That’s the frustrating thing as a group when you talk about helping Trubisky. How’s he going to grow as a quarterback and how are we going to be more efficient and move the football? How we stack more good plays and more first downs is we’ve got to stop hurting ourselves with negative runs, sacks and penalties. That’s where that stuff really shows up. Negative runs are obviously a big part of that now.”
It’s a multi-faceted issue.
Rookie Tarik Cohen’s decision-making has hurt his production, while right guard Kyle Long, left guard Josh Sitton and center Cody Whitehair have dealt with injuries this season.
It also would help if Loggains calls more passes on first down for Trubisky. It’s featuring the pass to set up the run.
According to NFL.com’s advanced statistics, Howard has faced eight-man fronts on 45.76 percent of his carries this season. Among starters, he trails only Jaguars rookie Leonard Fournette (49.66 percent).
But part of the problem is Fox’s approach with a rookie under center.
The 2009 Panthers are a bad example. Jonathan Stewart (1,133 rushing yards) and DeAngelo Williams (1,117 yards) produced, but the Panthers went 8-8. Quarterback Jake Delhomme was in his seventh season with the Panthers and threw 18 interceptions in 11 starts. Delhomme also had receivers Steve Smith and Muhsin Muhammad.
The Bears’ situation is completely different.
“It’s executing better,” Fox said when asked about negative runs. “It was apparent that we struggled a little bit in that area. We’ve been that way in a couple games, been a little bit more successful in some than others. Hopefully, we get back more whole this week [on the offensive line] and see where that takes us.”
