Under Review: Bears exploit Eagles' softness

Andy Reid was asked a very direct question: Are the Eagles soft?

He said no, which is hardly surprising. He routinely sticks up for his players and thats why the players like him and are loyal. But it is hard to believe that Reid can watch the tape of Mondays 30-24 loss to Chicago and not see what we are seeing.

Other coaches see it. Mike Martz, the Bears' offensive coordinator, saw it and so did Mike
Tice, the line coach. They drew up a game plan that spelled out exactly what they thought of the Eagles' defense. They thought it was soft and they proved it.

The opening series tells you everything you need to know, said NFL Network analyst Brian Baldinger. Those are scripted plays, the ones they chose and practiced all week to start the game. It was pure power football. It was, Here we come and you cant stop us.

The Bears went 79 yards on 12 plays to take a 7-0 lead and suck the life out of the home crowd. They ran the ball eight times and threw it four, which is unlike Martz, who prefers attacking through the air. In this case, however, he saw a defense he could bully so thats what he did.

Martz targeted the left side of the Eagles' defense. He felt he could run at left end Jason Babin and linebacker Moise Fokou. He felt he could run and throw and do pretty much whatever he felt like doing on Asante Samuel. He went there time after time successfully.

The design was simple: The Bears pulled a guard to block on the perimeter, usually kicking out Fokou. The other linemen executed down blocks, that is, pushing the Eagles' front four to the inside. It opened a lane for running back Matt Forte and with Samuel typically slow to provide support, Forte picked up nice chunks of yardage.

Forte had six carries on the opening drive and gained 52 yards. He was halfway to 100 and the game wasnt even six minutes old. Marion Barber had two carries for eight yards. It was as if Martz borrowed the playbook of George Halas and Forte and Barber became Red Grange and Bronko Nagurski. It was old school football, but it worked.

The Eagles did not open in the wide nine. Their ends were lined up inside. Babin was head up with either the tight end or tackle and he isnt as effective there. He is better in space where he can use his speed. But when he lines up wide and rushes upfield, teams run the ball inside and Babin takes himself out of the play.

There were hopeful signs regarding the Eagles' run defense in the win over Washington when they held the Redskins to 42 yards rushing. It looked like they finally plugged the holes that allowed their first five opponents to run for an average of 140 yards per game.

Then came the 34-7 blowout of Dallas and people thought all the problems were solved.

But lost in the fine print of the Dallas victory was a troubling statistic. DeMarco Murray, a Cowboy rookie, carried the ball eight times for 74 yards. Thats an average of 9.3 yards per carry. It wasnt talked about much because most of the focus was on LeSean McCoy, Mike Vick and the Eagles' offense, but it did not escape the attention of Martz and Tice.

Im sure those two watched the tape and saw those (Murray) runs, Baldinger said. I can just hear them saying, They think theyve got this (defense) fixed? This will be easy. Well come right out of the chute running the ball.

Dallas only stopped running because they fell so far behind. The Bears werent going to do that. The first series is telling. It tells you what your opponent thinks of you. They had a full week to study the tape and find your Achilles heel. The Bears are saying, Were going to run on you because we can.

On the fourth play from scrimmage, the Bears ran the same play. By the time Forte got to the edge, there were four green jerseys on the turf. Mike Patterson, Jamar Chaney, Cullen Jenkins and Trent Cole were already down. Samuel stood flat-footed and watched Forte reverse field and run for 14 yards. He made no attempt to pursue.

Thats disgusting, Baldinger said. This is the fourth play of the game. You should be pumped up. Youre playing at home on Monday night, a game you have to win. Where is the effort? It is no accident Martz keeps coming this way. He is going right at Asante. He is going at him because of this (lack of effort).

Everyone criticizes Juan (Castillo, defensive coordinator) and he didnt do a good job in this game, he got out-coached by Martz, but on a play like this, whats a coach supposed to do? The only thing you can do is get (Samuel) off the field and play somebody else.

But this is why people say the Eagles are soft, because of plays like this.

That softness also was evident in the passing game. On the opening drive, quarterback Jay Cutler completed a third down pass to Earl Bennett. Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie had Bennett in man coverage and was beaten on the play. Rodgers-Cromartie clapped his handsin frustration for allowing the catch, I supposeinstead of wrapping up Bennett and taking him to the ground. It was almost comical.

Almost.

What is he doing? Baldinger asked, rerunning the play for the sixth time. The man is not down, hes still running, and (Rodgers-Cromartie) just lets him go. I dont even know what youd call that. He just stops in the middle of a play.

Watching tape of earlier games, we saw instances where players in the secondary loafed. One memorable example was the play in Buffalo where Rodgers-Cromartie ran alongside a Bills receiver rather than tackling him. There were instances where Rodgers-Cromartie, Samuel and Nnamdi Asomugha could be seen walking on plays that were still alive.

Other teams swarm to the football. The Eagles, not so much.

It all factors into why the Eagles are 3-5. It is part of the reason why they have blown four fourth-quarter leads and why they rank 23rd in the league against the run and why they are 0-5 against teams with winning records.

There was a play in Mondays game where McCoy carried the ball and linebacker Lance Briggswho along with Brian Urlacher played an outstanding gamehit him and drove him to the ground. It was a hard tackle, the kind the Bears made all night.

Thats a good hit, Baldinger said. Whens the last time you could say that about the Eagles.

We tried to think of one, but we couldnt.

Thats soft.

NFL Network analyst Brian Baldinger and Ray Didinger break down every Eagles game on Under Review Thursday, Friday and Saturday on Sports Nite and Sports Rise on Comcast Sports Net.
E-mail Ray Didinger at viewfromthehall@comcast.net