Ben Johnson doesn’t downplay the challenge of slowing an MVP-caliber player as the Bears get set to face Matthew Stafford
The Los Angeles Rams veteran quarterback creates a lot of problems for opposing teams.
The Chicago Bears entered into the NFC playoffs with obvious concerns on the defensive side of the ball that continued to linger throughout the majority of the season.
The unit, despite leading the league in takeaways and being strong backed up in the red zone, continuously struggled against big plays and getting players in the best position to succeed in the schemes being called by defensive coordinator Dennis Allen.
Yet, as this unit showed last Sunday against the Green Bay Packers, Allen has a knack for finding ways to adjust on the fly and get his players in ideal situations. In that game, the Packers scored 21 points in the first-half but only six points in the second-half with only 190 total yards.
That defensive turnaround was a big reason why the Bears were able to mount another fourth quarter comeback and advance to the second round of the NFC playoffs. This week, the unit will be tasked with another tough challenge against Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay and, more importantly, quarterback Matthew Stafford.
MVP candidate Matthew Stafford presents a tough challenge for the Bears to prepare for
When preparing for a quarterback throughout the week, teams tend to look at how quarterbacks fare against man/zone or against the blitz to see what the ideal gameplan should be going into that game. With a quarterback of Stafford’s caliber, it’s not that simple.
“I think his numbers versus everything is pretty good this year,” Johnson told reporters on Wednesday. “He’s playing at an MVP level and I think that’s going to be our challenge.”
Let’s just take a quick look at Stafford’s stats from the 2025 regular season against man/zone and against the blitz to really give you an idea of how difficult he is to gameplan against.
| Comp Pct | Pass Yards | Pass TDs | INTs | Sacks | |
| Man Coverage (C0, C1, C2-Man) | 59.6% | 1,282 | 11 | 3 | 3 |
| Zone Coverage (C2, C3, C4, C6) | 66.6% | 3,034 | 15 | 4 | 20 |
| Blitz | 62.3% | 1,749 | 29 | 3 | 12 |
| No Blitz | 65.6% | 3,262 | 20 | 6 | 12 |
Clearly, it’s not going to be that simple to plan for this guy and Allen is going to have to get creative with how he deploys all 11 players on the field to slow him down in the passing game.
“We gotta have guys step up here this week,” Johnson added. “Both up-front, and on the backend to make things as difficult as we possibly can for him. Whether that’s bring pressure or whether that’s play coverage and depend on our front four to get after him.”
Winning up-front against Matthew Stafford
In the second-half against the Packers, the Bears used a lot more blitz packages to disrupt quarterback Jordan Love, but the stats above show Stafford can actually be just lethal when he’s blitzed versus not blitzed.
The last time the Bears faced Stafford, granted with a Matt Eberflus led defense, the Bears blitzed on 11 of Stafford’s 32 dropbacks with one sack. On the other 21 drop backs without a blitz, the Bears actually recorded two sacks, including a strip sack by defensive end Montez Sweat.
If the Bears want to knock Stafford off his game, relying on the front four to create pressure without extra help will be critical and Sweat is the player to watch after posting double digit sacks this season.
“For me, it’s not just the sacks, it’s also the pressures and the quarterback hits,” Johnson said of Sweat. “And so, when you’re watching from the sideline and you’re feeling him affect the quarterback a different type of way, I do think that’s really important.”
The Bears have had issues this season winning with the front four, which at times has forced Allen to send extra defenders to create more pressure. That leaves one less man back in coverage, which a veteran quarterback like Stafford can exploit. So, the onus will be on the front four to win on Sunday, especially off the edge with Sweat and Austin Booker.
“When you combine that with a guy like Booker on the other side, who I think continues to ascend, I think it gives a pretty good chance.”
Winning in the backend against Matthew Stafford
In the backend, Allen prefers to have his defensive backs in man coverage, especially on the perimeter playing close to the line of scrimmage. That will be a difficult task against Davante Adams and Puka Nacua, two savvy route runners who win off technique.
“I think when you look at the best route runners in the league, they make all their routes look the same,” Bears All-Pro safety Kevin Byard explained. “Whether they’re running a five-yard hitch route, a go ball, a comeback at 15-yards, it all looks like they’re going vertical. And I think that’s the toughest thing.”
Nacua led the NFL with 129 receptions during the regular season and was second with 1,715 receiving yards. Meanwhile, Adams led the NFL with 14 receiving touchdowns, many of which came in one-on-one coverage and in the red zone.
Saying the Bears want to ideally blitz less, this puts an even tougher challenge on cornerbacks Jaylon Johnson, Nahshon Wright, and Tyrique Stevenson staying sticky on those two outside receivers. To shake things up, expect to see Allen dial up some heat using Kyler Gordon and Jaquan Brisker after the snap to try and catch Stafford off-guard.
“It’s one of those things where it’s going to take everybody,” Johnson said. “It’s going to take our defense playing good football for 60 minutes and it’s going to take our offense being able to keep up with an offense of this caliber as well.”
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