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    • Packers must adjust to changes from new Bears offensive coordinator
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    Packers must adjust to changes from new Bears offensive coordinator

    Umito Posted on

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    GREEN BAY, Wis. – THE Green Bay Packers will be the first to play against Caleb Williams 2.0.

    It remains to be seen how different this will be compared to the Chicago Bear rookie performance through the first nine games of the 2024 season, but the packers need to make sure they are ready to adopt a different look when face the Bears on Sunday in the soldiers’ field.

    This will be Williams’ first game under Thomas Brown, who was promoted to offensive coordinator after coach Matt Eberflus. fired Shane Waldron Tuesday. Offensive changes are expected and the Packers“The job is to determine to what extent the Bear can go with just three days of preparation.

    “I guess everyone’s questions are the same ones we all have right now,” Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley joked when asked what to expect Sunday. “If you understand or hear anything, call me and let me know.”

    It’s no secret that the Bears offense has been an abomination over the last three games.

    In consecutive losses to Washington, Arizona and New England, Williams, the No. 1 pick in the draft, completed 50.5 percent of his passes for 468 yards and no touchdowns. He was sacked 18 times, including nine against the Patriots in a 19-3 loss at Soldier Field.

    The Bears went 23 straight possessions without a touchdown. They rank 30th in yards per game, 30th in passing yards per game, last in sack percentage, 31st in third down completions and 24th in points per game.

    During a three-game winning streak in which the Bears beat the Los Angeles Rams, Carolina and Jacksonville, Williams completed 74.1 percent of his passes for 687 yards and seven touchdowns with one interception (rating passer rating of 122.8). In the next three matches, he posted ratings of 59.5, 68.9 and 63.2.

    Brown and Waldron both served under Rams coach Sean McVay and, like Matt LaFleur, ran a similar program. But as LaFleur showed, it’s possible to tailor the system to your talent and Brown is likely to install plays he hasn’t used and use personnel in different ways.

    More importantly, Brown needs to make Williams play like he did during the three-game winning streak, and so it wouldn’t be surprising if he tries to regain his confidence with quick, high-percentage passes to a body talented front desk staffed by veteran DJs. Moore and Keenan Allen and rookie Rome Odunze.

    Williams’ impression is that Brown will do what LaFleur did for quarterback Jordan Love, which is take the pressure off him with plays that aren’t predictable and create enough defensive hesitation for him allow the ball to be removed without too much pressure.

    “I think we’ll do a good job of marrying everything together and making everything look the same,” Williams said Wednesday. “And then from there, get a few easier passes, a few more layups. This will help us in the running game. This will help us in the passing game.

    “From there, it will give us a little more explosiveness as an offense, being able to help with complementary football and be a little more offensive.”

    Williams ranks 28th in the league in passer rating (81.0) and has been sacked more than any NFL quarterback (38) this year. Due to the Bears’ inability to protect him, he is tied for last in the league in completions of 20 yards or more (18) and tied for 30th in average passing yards per attempt (6.3).

    He was the No. 1 pick in the draft because of his golden arm, but the Bears haven’t been able to capitalize on it under Waldron and are hoping Brown can create more ways to use him.

    “As far as his natural ability to throw the ball, that’s clear and obvious,” Brown said. “Being able to understand how to get the ball out of his hands as quickly as possible in terms of the concepts we’re coming up with, but also being able to let him use his natural, God-given ability at times when it’s relevant.

    “Not every play, but when it comes to particularly situational ball – third down, red zone – and come alive with that.”

    Hafley can assume the Bears will find ways to make it easy for Williams to succeed, but he can’t build a game plan around that. Just as the Bears only had three days to make changes offensively, Hafley had three days to guess what they might do.

    Chicago could be without guard Teven Jenkins, who injured his ankle against New England and did not practice Wednesday and Thursday, but they are expected to have starting tackles Braxton Jones and Darnell Wright after both were absent last week. New England simply outplayed their backups on the offensive line, but Hafley will have to work a little harder to find ways to get to Williams.

    “Like, here’s the thing, right? Hafley said. “You come in and you say, ‘All right, they changed coordinators,’ and you spent part of your week off and a whole day watching the tape (of the previous program).

    “And now you can guess: ‘Are they going to do this?’ Are they going to do this? We just have to go play and then we have to react and we have to adjust, from the first series to the last.

    More: Packers safety Xavier McKinney shoots Bears receiver DJ Moore for perceived slight

    The Packers enter the game ranked 12th in yards allowed per game, tied for second in takeaways and third in third-down success. They are also 22nd in scoring, 23rd in rushing yards allowed per game and tied for 19th in sacks.

    Something that lets Hafley sleep better this week is that he’ll be able to throw some things at the Bears that they weren’t expecting since he and his assistants had more time during the bye to evaluate the first half of the season and add more. new wrinkles of their own.

    “We’re going to play our defense,” Hafley said. “You know, we had a bye week, so I think you’ll start to see us evolve the way we have, and there’ll be some creative things coming out of us as well.”

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    Umito
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