Teams Finding "New" Hole in Bears Tampa 2

I was at the game Sunday and was in the endzone seats (section 219). From there it was very easy to spot this happening. Urlacher got beat countless times in the middle, and I kept wondering whether it was his poor positioning or what. I was actually going to research this, so thanks!

I don’t know if you want to have any other LB than #54 dropping back to the deep middle – nobody does it like him. However, I like the idea of faking the deep drop, then coming up to take away the middle pass. Of course, this is a gamble in the Tampa-2 where you leave the deep middle open, so it can’t be done too much.

No defense can stop everything all the time. If you have to take away an offensive weapon, you go with the deep pass. Cover-2 gives up more short plays and yards, but it forces teams to eat up more clock – not always good unless you have the lead, which the Bears fortunately did.

the defense is predicated by d-line push. Maybe not so much in the way of sacks, but by getting in QB’s face and forcing him to make quick reads. Hence, MLB (Urlacher) not having to sustain the deeper drop. The d-line did a great job on Sunday vs da Eagles.

I like how you’ve pointed out d-line dropping into coverage. Peppers has dropped into the flats many times, but the soft spot over the middle remains. Still, the personell is there like you’ve stated.

Great post!

I have is when Urlacher feigns dropping deep like he normally does, and Briggs/Pisa do the same with their normal responsibility, there’s going to be openings because they’re switching responsibilities. The quick slant from Briggs side will be wide open for an instant. There will also be a problem with Lach getting over to cover a slot WR who just runs a five yard curl or something similar.

With that said, I’m in favor of mixing things up a bit every once in awhile in order to give the opposing QB a different look.

I love reading stuff like this.

for years now. Their opponents know it but they are a top 5 defense.

Why? I think its because of their improved front four- with Peppers leading the way and it creates pressure on the QB before he can let the play develop.

At the same time, the reason that spot was open so much late in the game is the bears felt they had a big enough lead to play their safeties 25 yards off the line of scrimmage therefore making the ground urlacher has to cover even greater. It’s pretty obvious this team is built around a bend don’t break philosophy of giving up a lot of yards but hoping to get a couple interceptions or forcing a fumble when a receiver does get the ball in his hands.

I really don’t like this tampa defense to be honest, but I am glad it is nasty.

I really don’t like this tampa defense to be honest, but I am glad it is nasty.

Its not new, but we hardly ever talk about it.

As the other posters have said above, every defense has its holes. And this has been one on our defense for YEARS. But when we are healthy on D, it doesn’t matter. I’ll give up that small 4 yard gain from time to time. Why? Because I know that it’s a small price to pay for not giving away the big play, and I know that the opposing receiver will get tired of being smeared across the field by going across the middle on our ferocious D.

Last year, when Urlacher was out and we were getting NO pass rush, we could never get off the field, especially on third downs. All the QB had to was hit the guy underneath for the first down on a quick slant. Or if our MLB committed to underneath, we’d get burned for long completions deep down the middle. The opposing QB had all day to wait for the opening to develop.

That’s precisely why Urlacher is the key to this defense. Every single play he has to make that judgement call, whether to start going deep with the TE/slot, or sit on the underneath route/runner. And only he is athletic and smart enough to fly to where he needs to be. Look at that chart above. Urlacher has more ground to cover than the safeties! As much I loved HH, he didn’t have the athleticism to do what was asked of him. Even if he made the right read, the receiver would get way more yardage than what Urlacher would’ve allowed underneath, or over the top he would get burned. Roach would commit way too early and get caught out of position.

So besides Urlacher being healthy, why the big change from being awful last year and good this year? Here are a few:
-Good tackling. The defense is playing with INTENSITY this year with Peppers and Urlacher leading the way. Every tackle they make looks like it hurts. Last year, I don’t know how many broken or missed tackles opponents got on us. This year, it’s not happening. Sure, go across the middle. You’ll get 3-5 yards, but it will hurt.
-Pressure. Alot of times, the dump off over the middle for a sure gain takes a little time to develop if a runner has to come out of the backfield, etc. Peppers and Co. aren’t giving the Q that much time anymore. Sure we still get the quickslant thrown on us, or the QB will fit a tight ball between urlacher and a safety for a completion, but it’s been way harder to do this year.
-Tight coverage. Last year, the zone was really, really sloppy. Manning was suffering from DMS, a quarter of the D was constantly injured, and the pass rush sucked. How many times did you see a good QB hit a guy wide open and think “How was he not covered?” That should never happen in a zone. Undisciplined coverage will kill a defense, especially a zone. I think that when we have healthy and superior athletes on the field, the less we complicate things, the better. Cut down on mistakes, and let your athleticism be the difference maker.
-Accountability. We saw it early on. You won’t play disciplined? You’ll ride the pine, buddy. Mental error? Plenty of time to think about that on the bench, kid. The combination of leadership on the field and on the sidelines has helped this team tremendously.

If we get a key injury again this season, our D could go from great from mediocre real soon. So lets all cross our fingers, knock on wood, do whatever you can to give us the luck to keep the injury bug away.

The players and scheme have to work together and the Bears D is in sync with the scheme.

you are correct, that talent makes a defense as much as any scheme. To my mind, Urlacher is the prototype of a MLB for the Tampa 2. His loss obviates how much he matters to the Bears success on defense. Add Peppers and the Bears defense is top 5. For the Eagles game and Mike Vick especially, the Tampa 2 was the best defensive scheme to play regardless of what a team’s base D is. The problems I have with the way the Tampa 2 has been run in Chicago under Lovie are:
1. It relies too heavily on Urlacher to be great.
2. Lovie has done an abysmal job of getting the proper safeties through FA or developed through the draft.
3. Lovie stayed waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too long with T Harris as a bad excuse for the 3-tech.
4. Lovie has relied far too heavily on the talent to make up for the scheme’s weaknesses.

My biggest criticism of Lovie all along is his inability to adjust his tactics, he simply installed his defense and demanded the players execute it. Rivera understood how to mix in elements of Jim Johnson’s pressure blitzes and it helped to augment the Tampa2 base and confuse opposing offenses. Lovie’s arrogance and inflexibility has wasted 3+ years of a good players and draft talent. I am ecstatic the Bears have found success running this defense thus far this season, but if Lovie wants to do more than just enough to keep his job (like actually winning the SB) he either needs to get better at picking/developing talent and/or get a DC that can think outside of the Tampa2 once in a while.

I’m calling BS on this …

Cover 2 = Tampa 2 = The Steel Curtain defense. There’s no difference. Dungy took it from the Steelers, Lovie took it from Dungy. Call it the Chicago 2 if anything cos that’s what it is. Smith and Maranelli will have their own wrinkles in there. The only difference will be in sight adjustments, and no one here knows Maranelli’s adjustments. The MLB can drop deep in Cover 2 if he reads pass. You want to call the defense something else because the Mike drops back? Go ahead. Have him drop back just a bit and call it the Christmas defense. Knock yourself out. Just because there aren’t any nice yellow holes in the ‘Tampa 2’ diagram doesn’t mean there aren’t any holes. There are holes and seams and vulnerable points in all defensive schemes.

This article and ensuing comments kept me entertained at the Baltimore airport today, but I was too lazy to sign in on my blackberry to rec it, (“a technicality that will shortly be remedied”)

Mr. LAW,

Very good explanation and diagram of the cover two, but especially Tampa cover two.
I’ve seen X’s and O’s many times and kind of understood, much clearer and cleaner sense of our defnse.
Thank you
parkee