Bears offensive coordinator Bill Lazor acknowledged the „shared“ responsibility for the meltdown vs. the Browns \u2014 the scheme, the offensive line, the quarterback and the coaching staff\u2019s failure to respond to the onslaught. „Let\u2019s learn from it and not have it happen again.“<\/b>
\nFor years, Bears coaches have tortured their fans with one offensive implosion after another, then turned the knife by doubling down on the plan that failed. \u201cI\u2019d do the same thing again, just with better results,\u201d or some form of that lament. Like a breath of fresh air, Bears offensive coordinator Bill Lazor thankfully did not go there Thursday \u2014 instead expressing regret over the game plan that ended with rookie quarterback Justin Fields getting sacked nine times in a 26-6 loss to the Browns last week. \u201cWhen you have those type of protection issues, if I could go back a week\u2026 I\u2019d have a different protection plan,\u201d Lazor said. \u201cWe had some things in there \u2014 some of it just didn\u2019t work the way we thought it would. We thought it was a good answer, but it just didn\u2019t work. \u201cSome of it \u2014 obviously the mechanisms to help the protection, whether it be to throw the ball faster, to move the pocket more, to help on the edges, to turn the line and help with more guys, to use tight ends more in protection \u2014 they\u2019re all in the offense. It\u2019s easy to say I would go back and do things differently because of what the results are. So let\u2019s learn from it and not have it happen again. \u201c\u201cAnd I do think also \u2014 [evaluating] ourselves as coaches \u2014 [that] as it was going, could we have reacted better and moved to some of those things differently? Again, today, I\u2019d say yes.\u201d The blame game after the quarterback is sacked nine times always starts with the offensive line. Most pointedly, the matchup against expert pass rushers Myles Garrett and Jadeveon Clowney exposed the Bears makeshift tackle duo of 39-year-old Jason Peters and Germain Ifedi as a critical weakness against elite competition. \u201cThe hard thing with Germain, just like Jason, Germain missed a lot of time [in the offseason],\u201d offensive line coach Juan Castillo said. \u201cJason has been here only a month. So the thing that I am pushing is, \u2018Hey, we have to be more consistent with fundamentals and it takes time.\u2019 \u201cIt takes time against good players. Those are elite players [Garrett and Clowney], so your technique has to be on-point and you have to be consistent with your fundamentals and we\u2019re not there yet. You can get away with that against lesser players \u2014 those guys were athletes. And it was a challenge.\u201d Guards James Daniels and Cody Whitehair and center Sam Mustipher didn\u2019t fare much better as the entire line was overwhelmed. \u201cFundamentals \u2014 just being consistent with our technique,\u201d Castillo said. \u201cThat\u2019s the thing we can correct and work on.\u201d If only it were as simple as that. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to have that many pass protection issues and not honestly say it was shared,\u201d Lazor said. \u201cScheme, throwing the ball on time, technique, do we have more answers and different things we could do.\u201d And Lazor knows that when a collapse is that complete, even teams that don\u2019t have a Garrett and Clowney \u2014 like the Lions on Sunday at Solider Field \u2014 will be trying to attack the Bears\u2019 protection vulnerability. \u201cThe players have to look in the mirror \u2014 \u2018Ok, this is what I put on film. So be ready,\u2019\u201d Lazor said. \u201cAnd then as an offense, we have to make sure, \u2018Ok, this is what they\u2019re going to see.\u2026 So we better solve it.\u201d What next? The Bears\u2019 protection issues were so pervasive and embarrassing that the Bears figure to go all out to avoid a repeat. When Mitch Trubisky was sacked five times in the 2019 opener against the Packers, he was not sacked at all the following week against the Broncos. \u201cWhat we need to do,\u201d coach Matt Nagy said, \u201cis make sure that, \u2018Hey, on your end, in certain plays you can be little better. But on our end, too, we can help you. And that\u2019s gonna be what we need to do.\u201d<\/p>\n