Bears Week 18 Snap Counts: DJ Moore runs more cardio and Dennis Allen makes another questionable decision with his personnel
The Bears are having a hard time getting value out of certain players on the roster.
The Chicago Bears suffered a disappointing loss for the second consecutive week to end the regular season and while the final results of those games were ultimately meaningless, they certainly dampened the team’s momentum going into the playoffs.
But, looking at it this way, those losses came at the perfect time. The Bears now have a short week ahead with the stakes exponentially raised to learn from the mistakes shown on the field, by both sides of the ball, over the last two weeks.
Looking at Sunday’s loss in Week 18 to the Detroit Lions, the Bears made some more questionable calls with the personnel on offense and defense based on the final snap counts.
Bears Week 18 Snap Counts vs. Lions
DJ Moore must be having an absolute blast out there running around all game
While I say that jokingly, what else is DJ Moore really doing out there on the field. For the second game in a row, and the fifth time this season, Moore finished the game with one or fewer receptions while playing 60+ percent of the team’s offensive snaps.
On Sunday, Moore played 85 percent of the snaps (highest among all WRs) and finished the game with one reception for 11 yards on three targets. Head coach Ben Johnson just isn’t doing a good enough job designing plays for Moore and out of structure this guy is useless.
He continues to get lapped by rookie pass catchers playing a fraction of his snaps and the price tag attached to his shoulder continues to show a misallocation of resources for the production he actually brings to this offense. I mean look at this effort on the interception quarterback Caleb Williams threw in the third quarter. While Avonte Maddox made a good play, Moore showed zero effort trying to make a play on that football. It’s inexcusable if this guy is back next season.
What’s going on with Tyrique Stevenson?
Last week against the San Francisco 49ers, defensive coordinator Dennis Allen made a questionable call sitting Jaylon Johnson in the third quarter and putting Tyrique Stevenson in his place opposite Nahshon Wright. Johnson eventually returned to the field in the fourth quarter and perhaps it was a workload monitoring decision with Johnson still working his way back from injury.
Yet, in Week 18, Johnson played 99 percent of the team’s defensive snaps with Wright playing every defensive snap. Stevenson did not long a single snap. Something changed and it’s hard to say what.
Earlier in the season, Johnson said Stevenson is capable of being “big-time player” but for some reason the tone has shifted on the third year cornerback. And what makes it more confusing is how bad Johnson and Wright played against the Lions and how often they were targeted in coverage.
Ben Johnson tried to find a new wrinkle using DL Daniel Hardy on offense
In Week 17, Johnson got creative with one offensive play, putting reserve defensive end Daniel Hardy into the game on offense as a full back. It was Hardy’s first career offensive snap and the play resulted in a 22-yard touchdown run by D’Andre Swift.
Against the Lions, Johnson again trotted Hardy onto the field as an eligible offensive player, but this time the Bears went for a downfield shot in the passing game that fell incomplete instead of running the ball.
It might be a little thing, but it’s something I found interesting. Johnson found success on that play using Hardy at full back last week and attempted to trick the defense thinking the Bears would run a similar play in that formation again in Week 18. Instead the Bears went for a big pass play out of that formation. While it didn’t work as intended, it just shows Johnson thinks of everything.
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