Dennis Allen has an obvious concern going up against Browns QB Shedeur Sanders and it’ll be even more glaring if his defense fails to execute
The Chicago Bears pass defense needs to show some improvement on Sunday.
No one in Chicago is overlooking the Cleveland Browns going into Sunday’s game and have said all of the right things when it comes to how the team needs to prepare and focus on the task at hand.
The Browns have some dangerous players on both sides of the ball that can cause some trouble at Soldier Field and while Myles Garrett will be the big focus, the Bears also recognize the concern the Browns’ offense can bring with rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders.
Even though he’s 1-2 since taking over as the starting quarterback, the Browns’ offense has been a lot more explosive with Sanders at quarterback and he’s coming off a four-touchdown game in which he also threw for 364 yards. The run game has still been a factor as well lead by rookie Quinshon Judkins but having Sanders in the lineup has made Cleveland’s offense a lot more well-rounded.
Browns’ downfield passing game with Shedeur Sanders should have the Bears on notice
The biggest difference has been the Browns’ downfield passing game with Sanders. From Weeks 1-11, the Browns had six completions of 20+ air yards with one touchdown and four interceptions on such passes with Joe Flacco and Dillon Gabriel at QB. With Sanders as the starter in the three games since, the Browns have had four completions for 160 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
“The thing I’ve noticed a little bit more in the last few weeks is them trying to get the ball downfield more,” Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen said on Thursday. “They’ve been really explosive in terms of some of the things they’ve done in the passing game.”
As good as the Bears have been on third-and-long situations and generating takeaways, the downfield passing game has been a clear weakness for this team. The Bears have allowed 10 touchdowns on passes of 20+ air yards, which leads the NFL, and have given up the fourth-most yards (739) on those kind of throws this season.
Look no further than last Sunday’s game when the Bears allowed two touchdown on passes of 20+ air yards against quarterback Jordan Love and the Packers’ offense.
“Look, I really put that on me,” Allen explained about one of those plays. “I gotta coach that up better in terms of how we have to defend that. They had a good play. We didn’t defend it as well as we needed to. And really, I gotta do a better job there.”
One player who can help with that improvement on the backend is Pro Bowl cornerback Jaylon Johnson. While he’s played in the last two games since returning from injury, you can tell watching the game that he’s still either rusty or working to get back to 100 percent again.
“I think he’s getting closer and closer each and every week,” Allen said of Johnson. “When you think about a guy that really hadn’t played a lot of football basically in about a year, it takes a little bit of time to get back to where you need to be. He’s working extremely hard to do that.”
Yet, Johnson is just one piece to the puzzle, and having him playing healthier each week won’t just magically fix the entire unit’s problems down the field in coverage.
On Sunday, Sanders is going to stand tall in that pocket and challenge this defense downfield and I don’t fault that gameplan at all. Until the Bears figure out how to tighten things up in that area and show it on gameday, other teams should continue looking to capitalize on that.
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