[CBFF] Bears hope to learn lessons from ugly film session

[mom2iancal]

Bears hope to learn lessons from ugly film session 

By Larry Mayer 

LAKE FOREST, Ill. – Members of the Bears defense felt like they were 
watching a horror movie Monday when they reviewed tape of Sunday’s debacle against 
the Minnesota Vikings. 

Rather than breaking into position groups as is normally the case the day 
after a game, the defense viewed the tape as a unit during a meeting that 
lasted about an hour longer than usual. 

“It was ugly,” said linebacker Hunter Hillenmeyer, a fifth-year pro. “That 
was terrible yesterday. We just watched the film as a whole defense to make 
sure everybody’s accountable. It was bad. We played as bad a football game as 
I think we’ve played since I’ve been here.” 

Asked to describe the mood in the room, defensive end Alex Brown said: “We 
know we stunk, so it was bad. We know we played bad. It’s embarrassing. We don’
t play like that. Well, I take that back. We do because we did yesterday. 
Hopefully we won’t see that again.” 

Rather than attend part of the meeting as he normally does, Lovie Smith didn’
t leave the room Monday as coaches and players dealt with the carnage 
inflicted by the Vikings. 

Minnesota gashed the Bears run defense for 311 yards and 3 touchdowns with 
rookie running back Adrian Peterson gaining 224 yards on 20 carries and 
scoring on runs of 67, 73 and 35 yards. 

“I was in there a little bit longer today and you can see why,” Smith said. 
“As far as what we’re trying to get accomplished ... the players know, the 
coaches know; we all know the type of defensive effort we put forth 
yesterday, which isn’t good enough. 

“Sometimes it’s good to watch all of the video together to just see exactly 
what was happening. Sometimes you assume that different things happened [to 
explain] why you see a guy break a long run. You assume there are some major 
things happening in there and sometimes it’s as simple as one guy getting out 
of his gap with a missed tackle.” 

What the tape showed was a defense that didn’t swarm to the ball as it’s 
traditionally done in the past. 

“I don’t feel like we’re not playing hard or anything like that,” 
Hillenmeyer said. “It’s just we need to raise the intensity level. The coaches a lot 
of times would stop the film at the end of a play and say, ‘How many jerseys 
are in the film right now?’ 

“They like it when you can see all 11 jerseys when the ballcarrier is 
getting tackled. [But] even when we did make the tackle, there were a lot of shots 
where there were only one or two guys in the film. We’ve just got to find a 
way to get more people to the football making plays.” 

Smith teaches the defense to swarm from the first drill in training camp, 
when all 11 defenders run to the football. 

"One of the things we used to say was when people came down to Soldier 
Field, one of the things they talked about was how hard we play," said the Bears 
coach. "And when you say playing hard, normally what that says is you see the 
ballcarrier and you see most of our defense around him. 

"That wasn’t the case [Sunday]. When you have a guy break long runs like 
that and he’s having to beat one player, it isn’t good. That’s not what we’re 
about, but that’s what we were yesterday, and we need to get back to it. We’
ve played that way this year, so it’s not like it’s something that we haven’
t done. We just need to get back to it some kind of way.” 

The Bears defense has performed well at times this season, holding San Diego’
s LaDainian Tomlinson (17 carries for 25 yards) and Kansas City’s Larry 
Johnson (16-55)—the NFL’s top two rushers last year—in check. But Chicago has 
permitted at least 34 points in three of its last four games. 

“It’s hard to pinpoint one thing,” Smith said. “I think you just look at 
the video, you point out the mistakes and you go back on the football field 
and you start correcting them. We’ve played up and down. We’ve played real 
good football at times throughout. Eventually we’ll put it all together and we’
ll play a complete game. 

"Hopefully that will be this week against Philadelphia.” 

While the Bears (2-4) are in last place in the NFC North, the two-time 
defending division champions know that their season is far from over. They’ve just 
got to make sure that they don’t play the role of the hapless victims in any 
more horror films. 

“We’re in the corner now,” Brown said. “We’re either going to come out or 
we’re going to go home early this year. I don’t know if we need to change 
anything; we need to do it better. 

“We’re not playing very well right now. I don’t know if we’re playing with 
a whole lot of confidence either. We need to play with a lot more energy and 
a lot more confidence and we should get this thing turned around hopefully."

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