A quarterback’s best friend is a good running game, and although the Bears have two decent running backs in Matt Forte and Michael Bush, offensive coordinator Mike Tice often has strayed from attempting to establish the ground game, and is way too focused on passing.
The biggest weakness for the Bears from an offensive-structure standpoint is their pass protection. They continually expose Jay Cutler, or subsequent QBs, to hits, knock downs and sacks, which eventually take their toll.
An established ground game protects the quarterback by allowing 1st and 2nd down passes to come off a variety of play action schemes emulating the run action that has been utilized rather than just dropping back and winging it.
Mike Martz was far too pass happy in his heyday as offensive coordinator for the Bears, and Tice has improved the ratio of run to pass, but he still has room for improvement, especially in light of the precarious health situation for Cutler if he is cleared for the Monday night game.
The Bears’ run-to-pass ratio will be especially important if Jason Campbell is the QB and Cutler is out for Monday night.
Based on the Rams’ success with the run game, it would be derelict of Tice not to make a concerted effort to run the ball on the Niners.
To win, the Bears need to run it at least 35 times against the Niners.
Advantage: Bears
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I fully expect the Bears to run on this defense looking to expose the cracks and crevasses like the others before them. The Bears offense threw more because of Cutlers’ skillset. Campbell throws the deep ball well and it will be off of playaction to either Hester or Marshall. Stop the run Monday Night and you stop the Bears.
Forte is better than decent, the one thing martz knew how to do was use his versatility as he is one of the most versatile backs in the league.
Chicago Bears:
average pass attempts per game: 30.6
average run attempts per game: 29.0
I’d say Tice is doing a pretty good job of keeping it balanced and that is what every play caller out there will tell you they are trying to achieve.
The key is not how many runs or passes you call but when you call them. Just trying to be 50-50 doesn’t cut it and doesn’t impress anybody. What do you do best and who are your play makers? It is all about touches and productivity. Get the ball in the hands of those who can be the difference in the outcome of the game.
I’m saying this as non challenging and sarcastically as possible but what is your point?
My point was to counter Grant’s suggestion that:”offensive coordinator Mike Tice often has strayed from attempting to establish the ground game, and is way too focused on passing.”
seems pretty balanced to me
Congrats to Buster Posey!!!
Thats great and all, but not every niner fan is a giants fan…
Your loss. LOL JK
How about them Blue Jays!!
Doesn’t mean you can’t congratulate a great season by a player from another team MJ.
Midwest
There are limits to that. No way am I Congratulating a Raider player.
Unless if it was because they didn’t miss the toilet. What is worse than the Raiders? Their waste products. I’d feel sorry for whomever has to clean that up.
If he does everything right on and off the field, then I would. Just because the organization sucks doesn’t mean one of their players does as well. Now if you had said the Cowboys I would have agreed with you DS. That team consists of prima donna whiners.
MidWest
The hate of the Raiders is not due to the actual team. More of its fan base ever since they moved to LA.
If you never lived in CA or the bay area, you never experienced it. Before the move, they attracted hard working good people to be fans. After their move, they are a bunch of gang bangers.
I would try to talk football with them, and they would say “I like the Raiders because they fight. You wanna fight? You like the Niners, they are a bunch of fagots. You are too.” They didn’t know a damn thing about the team at all, or football. Just used the Raiders to hate. And the Raiders allowed it to go on because they sold a lot of merchandise.
That is why I actually hate the Raiders. Every other team I just hate because they aren’t us. Nothing beyond that.
Grant, who are you giving the advantage to here,?
The Bears. I think their defense will keep the score low and allow the Bears offense to run the ball more than 35 times. Mike Tice could always choose to call more passes than runs, though, but I doubt it, especially if Campbell starts.
13-9
If playing in Chicago it’s low scoring. At the stick, it is
24 -13 9ers win. There is no way the defense comes out flat in this game!
I’m withholding my prediction until I know which QB will be starting for the Bears.
Doesn’t matter who the qb is. 24-9. The 9ers get back to doing what they do. They got caught looking ahead last week….not this week. They get a lead, take them away from the run game then pin their ears back and sack that qb a few times. I’m thinking its gonna be alot like that steelers game last year!
I agree. The Niners have had a hard time stopping the run this season. Forte and Bush could potentially rack up 125-175 yards on our run defense.
MidWest,
The Bears don’t have a slot receiver the likes of Amendola, Cruz or Harvin. The defense will look much improved this week, especially if Campbell plays.
If Campbell plays, then I agree. If Cutler plays then I see the Bears winning a tight game.
You’re over-rating Cutler.
Actually I’m not. My thinking is that if Cutler plays the Bears offense will be a little more balanced than if Campbell plays. And we all knows how well the Niners have done against a balanced attack this season.
Jack,
based on the fact that the Patriots have two large fluid tight ends and an amandola type WR in Welker, how do you see our defense doing against them?
Bay,
If the Patriots get back to running the ball like they were doing early in the year that will be a tough game.
You need 3 things to beat this defense, a run game that you aren’t afraid to keep going to even when stopped early, a quick slot receiver, and an accurate QB who can get the ball out of his hands quickly and accurately.
When faced with this scenario, they have lost or tied each game so far this season.
Grant where did you get the number 35 from? I’ve looked at our losses/tie and the those teams had a similar number of runs each game so I thought maybe you were taking something of an average from those games. If so how many of those runs especially in week 3 and 6 came in the third and fourth quarter then the other teams were eating up clock with the lead? If we have a lead does Chicago still need to run it 35 times to win?
Not to toot my own horn but if you’ve got the horn….
Below is what I posted to the Harbaugh Presser blog posting on 11/12:
This probably sounds like sacrilege to some but Brian Urlacher has lost a few steps. If the 9ers are in a situation where Urlacher is covering Vernon Davis then they must expose Urlacher as a liability in pass coverage. If there was ever a game for VD to return to form, this is it.
Houston,
Most people who watch football are well aware that Urlacher has lost a step, and have been for a while now. This is not news. But, if you really need to toot your horn, go right ahead.
I’m looking for a big rebound game for the 49ers front 7. They have been embarrassed a few times this year, and last week was regarded as their worst of the season by many commentators. I think they will respond with a shutdown performance regardless of who the qb is. The bears will mostly abandon the run and the RBs will total about 57 yards of rushing on combined 22 attempts.
To win, the Bears will need to score more points than the Niners.
Hey Grant…Could Haurbagh be wearing out his welcome with Niners players already?Check out the tweet B Jacobs sent out about haring his boss then re tweeted by LaMichael James..Also remember hearin BJ bieng a smart a** in an interview about not bieng good enough to play and then LMJ saying the same thing..Seems like hes in the rookies ear..Never thought this would go on with this coaching staff but seems something is going on..Plus V Davis said a remark the other day that made me stop andthink he sounded very un happy.
why make two posts about the same subject in different areas?
For a more recent post fool..Why do you care?This aint your blog..Lol
Nice, well I just noticed the time and realized that we’ll probably only have a couple more hours of your nonsense before your mother calls you to dinner so I’ll just wait it out.
You know what. Jacobs is here for one season, if he doesn’t like winning he can kick rocks. LMJ should be happy he was drafted by SF and not by Az or NYJ or Carolina.
Also, vernons stats are pretty much identical to last seasons up until this point. He’s been targeted one less time but has caught fewer passes, thats on him, but he has more yards. He said it himself in September, its about winning.
And Jacobs just denied what he said.
Harbaughs welcome is as fresh and accepted now as it ever was. Are you one of those fans who wants a losing team so you have something to complain about, it sure seems that way.
This is bunch of BS! if any player is unhappy then they should look for another team. Beat the bears, GO NINERS
MeOw! Fssst!
Grant, that was the best piece you have written in the past two weeks. Well done!
If Jacobs can’t be quiet on the bench, they should cut him. He isn’t contributing and it would send a message to LJ to know his role.
Of course hes gonna say its not about the Niners but its pretty obvious it was…Worst oc all he seems like hes got LMJ aboard..Dont like it here then go over to the Jets or Arizona and see how you like it there!
Wrong Grant. The advantage goes to the Niner D and here’s why.
Chicago managed 3.8 yards per carry against Houston which has a run D not as good as the Niners (giving up 4.1 yards/carry compared to the Niners 3.7) on only 23 carries. There’s no way that Chicago can post better rushing numbers on the Niner D and carry the ball 35+ times.
On flip side, Houston’s Foster and Forsett ran down Chicago’s throat. Expect the Niners to rack up big yards on the ground on Monday night.
The Niners win this one easily 23-0 – reminiscent of the 1984/85 NFCCG.
The 49ers are giving up 4.3 yards per carry three of the last four weeks, against the Giants, the Seahawks and the Rams.
Grant,
Another way of looking at it is that Niners are 4th in the league this season in rushing defense measured in yards per attempt at 3.7 — the Bears are 17th with 4.2 ypa. Niners 4.3 ypa are against 3 of the better RBs in the league.
ESPN ranks the Niners D 3rd ahead of Chicago at 4th. From reading the blogs, you’d think that the Niners’D has collapsed.
But the Bears O-line isn’t like that of those 3 teams Grant. I brought this up a few weeks ago about the Giants setting the blueprint by extra-spacing their O-line and how it gave our defense fits. I watched it on Playbook on the NFL channel when they broke down the game. I haven’t heard any more about it but I believe the Giants, Seahawks and Rams were able to do that. I don’t think the Bears or the Cards are talented enough on the O-line to pull that off. But it sure isn’t a coincidence that as soon as the Giants did that to us, all of a sudden our run D started to suck.
On another note, I’m not really sure why ur giving this Bears team so much respect. Who have they really beat? The defense looks like the best against bad teams and they should. But the Bears just went to Carolina and got it handed to them for most of the game until they made a late, furious comeback. The Bears are way over rated and this game won’t be close. They couldn’t convert 3rd downs against Houston and they wont against us either.
Montana
(Are you still gobbling after Turkey Day?)
The teams we’ve struggled against to stop the run have Great RB’s in S. Jackson (wish we had him) who I’ve always respected since I saw him. And Lynch isn’t too shabby either.
You may be onto something with the positioning thing. But you still need a Grade A+ RB to pull it off.
The 49ers recent struggle against the run are correctable. They need to go back to the basics of tackling and gap assignments. They’ll be fine in that regard.
“Offensive coordinator Mike Tice often has strayed from attempting to establish the ground game, and is way too focused on passing.”
I believe you spelled Greg Roman’s name incorrectly.
ha!
Grant there is no way in hell the bears will win by running the ball. Jackson, Peterson are beasts. They wear down defenses. Chicago has nobody that can do the same. The 49ers wake up and stuff their running game which forces them to pass. I’ll bet you a nickel they don’t get 100 yards on our defense.
PW and NB have been called out on their play last week and this year as a whole. They will be ready for the run and they will be ready for Monday prime time. Stay tuned….
True. Chicago doesn’t have the power running backs like stl, sea, minn, and NY. Grants way off on this one. I think last week was a REAL wake up call for this defense. Message gotten!!!! You watch. They are going to tear up the league from here on out.
I sure hope so MD because I don’t think I can stomach another embarrassing performance by our defense. And let’s add special teams into that mixture as well.
Our defense is going to show up again on Monday night. My concern is the chicago speical teams and Hester! We must keep the ball away from Hester and hang on to the ball! GO NINERS