We’ve got a playoff game to talk about.

You wouldn’t know it, because it seems like the Nick Foles vs. Carson Wentz discussion is dominating Philly sports for the third straight week. Stuff like this:

Should the Eagles trade Wentz?

Should they re-sign Foles?

Will the Giants give us Saquon Barkley?

Over and over and over again.

Let’s table that discussion for now and see what happens on Sunday. Here’s part two of a Chicago Bears preview focusing on their uber-elite defense. You can read part one here:

Wild Card Weekend – A Look at Chicago’s Offense

The numbers

Brace yourself for some outrageous stats:

  • 3rd in total defense (299 yards per game)
  • 7th in pass defense (219 YPG)
  • 1st in rush defense (80 YPG)
  • 1st in scoring defense (17.7 points allowed per game)
  • 1st in first downs allowed (278)
  • 7th in penalty first downs allowed (25)
  • 4th in opponent third down conversion rate (32.2%)
  • 18th in opponent fourth down conversion rate (16-28 for 57%)
  • 1st in yards per pass allowed (6.3)
  • 8th in pass touchdowns allowed (22)
  • 1st in interceptions (27)
  • 3rd in sacks (50)
  • 1st in limiting opponent passer rating (72.9)
  • 4th in yards per rush allowed (3.8)
  • 1st in rushing touchdowns allowed (5)
  • 7th in forced fumbles (19)
  • 1st in pick-sixes (5)
  • 1st in total takeaways (36)
  • 5th in red zone defense (opponents only scored touchdowns on 50% of red zone trips)

They’re really good. The only weakness on paper is that they do allow some fourth down conversions while being slightly more vulnerable to the pass than the run, where they excel. The Eagles aren’t going to be able to do much of anything on the ground and will need Nick Foles to throw his way to victory. Both defenses do the same things well, which is stuff the run game, buckle down in the red zone, and make opponents one-dimensional. The Eagles and the Bears both finished top-three in time of possession.

Here are some of the individual numbers:

Nastiness from front to back.

It’s a 3-4 base defense, so they’ll move pieces around and show you some funky and varied looks. Khalil Mack, specifically, will pop up in different areas, which makes it hard to keep tabs on him. Leonard Floyd does a lot of great stuff at the other outside linebacker spot, and both guys are really good in space. Chicago doesn’t have any issue staying in their base and letting those guys match up in the slot and try their luck in the open field, where they excel more often than not (more on this later).

On the back end, Kyle Fuller and Prince Amukamara combined for ten interceptions in the corner spots while free safety Eddie Jackson added six. Jackson missed the last two games with an ankle injury and I can’t imagine he’s going to be 100% for this game, which is a big positive for the Eagles.

The inside linebackers are tackling machines, guys who get up to stuff the run and move well laterally. Roquan Smith finished with 121 tackles as a rookie. Danny Trevathan had his best season since 2013.

I could sit here all day long and show you video clips of what Chicago does well, but you’ve probably seen enough of that online already, so let’s go through their weakness(es) instead. Their defense only really struggled in a couple of games, which were the losses to the Patriots, Dolphins, and Giants. Mitch Trubisky didn’t play in the Giants’ loss, but those were the only three matchups this season where the Bears’ D gave up 30 or more points.

New England did a really nice job of negating the Chicago pass rush by doing what they normally do, which is throwing a bunch of short bullshit all over the field, stuff like little screens, flares, and quick hits. Tom Brady is the best in the NFL at getting the ball out quickly. In this game, James White and Julian Edelman caught 13 passes for less than 100 yards, but scored three touchdowns.

Here’s a three clip sequence that shows the Pats’ commitment to the early release:

The sequence:

  1. Quick hit on the slant – check.
  2. Screen attempt – blown up.
  3. Right back to the screen again – touchdown.

That’s Darren Sproles territory right there. Get the ball out right away and Chicago’s pass rush can’t really do much. You have to try to circumnavigate them. You have to pull a Ferdinand Magellan or a John Glenn here.

Another example of something similar from the Dolphins game:

Again, a quick screen to avoid the pass rush.

This is a good example of how Chicago stays in their base. They have no issue starting Mack wide of the strong side tight end, but they try to blow up the play and instead get caught in a 3v2 after Brock Osweiler just throws right around Mack to Albert Wilson:

That’s one area where maybe Mack’s versatility can actually kind of bite them in the ass.

Here’s Doug Pederson on Khalil:

He’ll line up on both sides of the formation. We just have to know where he’s at, obviously and he’s a tremendous player, especially on third down when he can gear up and get after the quarterback and he’s very disruptive.

So yeah, it makes it a challenge, but our backs and tight ends just have to know by scheme or by protection call or formation where he is, and quite frankly, the entire front, because it’s a good front. It’s a much improved front than obviously what we’ve seen last year or the year before. It’s a challenge for us.

Case in point, on a play like this, he’s a down lineman on the opposite side of the formation, which is a right-handed quarterback’s blind side. Watch him bulldoze his way in for a sack:

Jared Goff tries to get the ball out, but nobody is really truly open.

Chicago generates pressure with a four-man rush while rolling a single-high safety and blanketing four receivers with a shallow zone:

Just really effective stuff right there. They absolutely clobbered the Rams offense in that 15-6 win.

If you go back and watch the Eagles and Raiders game from last year, you see they used their tight ends to help block Mack on the edge. Should be interesting to see if they do that in this game and use their 12-personnel look, or if they try to get their slot receivers more involved.

Right then, this is how it’s gonna go on Sunday:

  1. the Eagles probably won’t be able to run the ball at all
  2. the Bears also won’t be able to run the ball
  3. Nick Foles will have to get the ball out quickly as the Birds involve Darren Sproles in the quick-hit and screen game
  4. whichever offensive line does a better job is probably going to lead their team to a win

It’s pretty simple with Chicago. They just gobble up everything at the line of scrimmage and they have a secondary that does a good job at recognizing and jumping routes. The only real weakness that shows up on film is their inability to consistently deal with short throws, screens, and the usage of quick tosses as an extension of the running game. The Eagles are going to have to dink and dunk and horse shit their way down the field, kick a couple of field goals, and play solid defense of their own to win a low-scoring game.

Time’s yours.