In my previous article, I broke down what went wrong for the Saints rushing attack. Its not fair to pick only on poor offensive phase of the game though and after watching the Monday Night Football game this week I decided to break down the San Diego Charger’s pass defense. The Chargers at first glance look like they have at least an average pass defense as they are 17th in yards per game allowed versus the pass (249.2). But this is likely due to teams attacking a rush defense that is one of the worst in the league as every other passing defense stat is in the bottom half in the league. They have allowed a 65.1 completion % (21st), 8.3 Y/A (29th), 102.3 Passer Rating (28th), and 16 TDs (T-21st) throughout the season and these struggles continued against the Bears. The Bears are not a prolific passing attack as they only average 237.4 yards per game (21st) on 6.9 Y/A (24th) so this is even more worrying for the Chargers. This film breakdown will look into why the Chargers struggled so much against the Bears and what areas need to be improved if the Chargers are going to turn in around.

1st Quarter

Pass #1

Situation: 1st and 10 CHI 27

Description: Q1-(14:54) J. Cutler Pass Short Left to M. Mariani to CHI 40 for 13 Yards (B. Flowers)

How was WR Alshon Jeffery not called for offensive pass interference on this play? It would be one thing if Jeffery was just running his route but Jeffery gave CB Brandon Flowers a forearm into his chest and knocks Flowers on his back during the rub route. Since this is man coverage on the outside, no one is on WR Marc Mariani when Flowers hit the ground and QB Jay Cutler buys enough time to find Mariani for a first down.

Pass #2

Situation: 2nd and 4 CHI 46

Description: Q1-(13:53) J. Cutler Pass Short Left to M. Bennett to SD 42 for 12 Yards (M. Ingram; K. Conner)

This is too easy for the Bears as the whole LB core gets sucked up by the play action fake of Cutler. TE Martellus Bennett leaks out short left opposite of the play action movement and is wide open underneath as CB Jason Verrett is playing man coverage on Jeffery. If I had to blame one player on this, I would blame ROLB Melvin Ingram as he is the cutback and likely flat defender (The Coverage looks like the Seattle Cover 2 where the backside CB plays man coverage while the rest of the back seven plays zone). He should of seen Bennett leaking out to the flat and followed him out there. Instead he gets sucked up inside and upfield, opening up Bennett for an easy completion and a first down.

Pass #3

Situation: 1st and 10 SD 31

Description: Q1-(12:19) J. Cutler Pass Incomplete Deep Right to M. Mariani [J. Attaochu]

There are some good and bad things about this play. The good is that the blitz got to Cutler quickly forcing a poor throw by Cutler. LOLB Jeremiah Attaochu and Ingram on the stunt pin Cutler in the backfield, forcing Cutler to throw the ball to his first read or take the sack. Cutler overthrows the ball but this was a good thing for him as there was no way his pass to Mariani was going to be complete. While Mariani gets inside leverage on Flowers on his out and up, FS Eric Weddle does a great job getting over the top of the route giving Cutler nowhere to throw the ball. The bad is this coverage is a complete mess on the left and there appears to be confusion before the play. Three defenders are within seven yards of each other and no one following the crossing route on WR Marquess Wilson underneath. ILB Kavell Conner is the most at fault here as he has his head turned around and is looking at Bennett instead of being aware of what is around him and following Wilson. If Cutler has more time, he goes to Wilson underneath and the Bears get a big gain.

Pass #4

Situation: 3rd and 7 SD 28

Description: Q1-(11:41) J. Cutler Pass Incomplete Deep Right to A. Jeffery (J. Verrett)

The coverage on this play is good across the board. If you want to be hypercritical, you could argue that Weddle got beat to the outside by Mariani’s out route but knowing Weddle’s skill he would be able to break on the ball and break up the pass. Verrett could of not played this pass better against Jeffery on this go route as he sat on Jeffery’s inside hip and jumped with him to break up the pass. This is even more impressive considering Verrett is 5’9″ and Jeffery is 6’3″.

Pass #5

Situation: 3rd and 2 CHI 25

Description: Q1-(5:54) J. Cutler Pass Short Middle to M. Bennett to CHI 45 for 17 Yards (E. Weddle)

The Chargers are in tight man to man coverage on the third and short and the Bears take advantage of it with another rub route. While the rub is not as blatant as the first pass play of the game, the Chargers may have a case for offensive pass interference as Mariani barrels into SS Jahleel Addae. Mariani looks like he is just trying to run his route at first glance but he does lower the shoulder into Addae, giving evidence for offensive pass interference. Either way, the rub route works and Bennett is wide open on the slant route as the Chargers have ILB Donald Butler being a QB spy instead of droping into coverage.

Pass #6

Situation: 3rd and 3 SD 48

Description: Q1-(3:57) J. Cutler Pass Deep Left to J. Langford to SD 17 for 31 Yards (E. Weddle)

I had never heard of Conner before watching the film so I went back to his scouting report to see what he he was good and bad at. One of the glaring weaknesses is that he is very uncomfortable in man coverage. This contrasts with injured ILB Manti Te’o who is very comfortable in coverage. Conner is matched up in man coverage against RB Jeremy Langford and it is a complete mismatch as Langford runs right by him. Conner is standing still waiting for Langford to make a cut instead of back peddling and reacting to a cut like he should do. Cutler sees this and takes advantage for a big play. Weddle maybe deserves a little blame as well. The Bears are in a Quads left formation and Weddle lines up in the middle of the field. If I was the defensive coordinator, I would of said he should of shaded to the quads side a bit. This would of allowed him to get over the top of Langford’s route and break up the pass. But I do not know the Charger’s rules in pass coverage so Weddle could of been correct in his alignment.

Pass #7

Situation: 2nd and 6 SD 13

Description: Q1-(2:40) J. Cutler Pass Short Left to M. Bennett to SD 10 for 3 Yards (B. Flowers)

This is a great play by Flowers to recognize the route combination and stop Bennett in his tracks. Flowers has flat coverage in the Seattle Cover 2 and initially jams Mariani on the out route. Instead of following Mariani to the flat, he sits on the slant route of Bennett and is right there to make the tackle for the short gain. If he doesn’t do this, Bennett’s slant route may go for a first down as Addae is occupied by Wilson’s seam route and Butler is sitting in the middle of the field.

Pass #8

Situation: 3rd and 8 SD 15

Description: Q1-(1:40) J. Cutler Sacked at SD 23 for -8 Yards (M. Ingram). Fumbles (M. Ingram) [M. Ingram], Recovered by SD-E. Weddle at SD 23. E. Weddle to SD 23 for No Gain (C. Leno Jr.)

Its hard to talk about the back seven when the routes don’t even have time to develop thanks to the pass rush. Ingram beats LT Charles Leno Jr. immediately and is on top of Cutler for the strip sack. If anyone was open for the Bears, it was Jeffery vs. Verrett as Jeffery got separation from Verrett on his turn of the curl route. But Cutler has no time to wait for this route due to the quick pressure.

For the 2nd Quarter passes, click on the next page