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Each team will try to play against what their opponent does best. Not all teams do it as well as Bill Belichick has always been a member of the Hall of Fame as a coach of the New England Patriots.
This is what makes Belichick famous, beyond the five Super Bowl trophies and its historic partnership with Tom Brady. The thing that your team attacks the best? He will remove it.
This can create a mental challenge for an opposing coach during the week. Are you focusing on something other than what your offense is doing better because Belichick will identify and oppose it, or do you try to accentuate that? do you do better so that it can not be removed?
"It's all that runs after the cat's tail," said Bears coach Matt Nagy. "All of a sudden, you start thinking, what's the mystery? It's mysticism, and that's what they do. They have earned that over time because of the success they have had.
"When you do not go crazy with that, balance it and control what you can control. Finally, at the end, win, lose or draw, no matter what happens, you feel good at having approached the question the right way, and you are not: "Oh, shoot, I should have done it. Shoulda, Coulda, woulda. "
When Taylor Gabriel and the Atlanta Falcons battled the Patriots at the Super Bowl LI, all members of this team knew that Belichick would do everything possible to eliminate Julio Jones from the match. But that did not facilitate the preparation.
"We knew that he was going to take Julio, but we did not know how he was going to do it," Gabriel said. "So, it's just something you have to adapt to when you get into the game."
Jones had only four catches in this match, and the Falcons were able to quickly adapt to the way he was taken – although that was not enough to protect them from the historic collapse and the ultimate loss. in prolongation.
Dion Sims played eight times in New England during his four years with the Miami Dolphins and respected the stratagem and the players of this defense.
"They are basically healthy, they have a good coach there, a good staff," said Sims. "You have to be prepared because they go out and they play their ass."
But what should the Bears have the confidence they can mentally and physically defeat the New England defense?
1. The defense of the patriots is no longer what it was
The way Bears coaches and players talked about the New England defense this week has been respectful and respectful. But lately, the production of defense of the Patriotes did not live up to its reputation.
It may have started with the Kansas City Chiefs of Nagy who launched 42 points and over 500 yards of offense against New England at the opening of the national television season in 2017. Can The Super Bowl LII, in which the Philadelphia Eagles stole 41 points with a quarterback, was another turning point. Or maybe the Patriots' 43-40 victory over the Chiefs on Sunday night, which looked more like a Big 12 match than an NFL game, further eased that mystique.
New England's defense ranks 18th in points in Chicago (24.7) and has allowed 400 yards or more offense in four out of six games this year. They are 19th in the defensive DVOA, although Pro Football Focus scores put this group in fourth place behind the Bears, Rams and Eagles.
What the defense did well was take the ball, with eight interceptions and four fumble recoveries, which is essential to support a defense that is not good at the third try (44% conversion rate). , 25e) or in the red zone (68%, 26e). ). But as long as the Bears' ball security is better than the two turnovers inside Miami's five-yard line on Sunday, an offense that has scored 48 and 28 points in its last two games should be in shape .
2. Multiple weapons
It will be fascinating to see how Sunday Belichick's plans against an explosive and productive Bears offense. Maybe it will be Tarik Cohen, who, according to Belichick, is "a special player you need to know where he is at all times." Maybe it will be to make sure that Taylor Gabriel will not beat them thoroughly (The run was like 99 out of 100, "said Belichick about Mitch Trubisky's 54-yard depth at Gabriel against Miami ). Or maybe seven or eight guys will cover up, spying on Trubisky and forcing the second-year Bears quarterback to make good decisions and put the passes in tight windows. Or maybe it will be something else altogether.
It goes back to the guessing game, though, and it's a behavior the Bears can not afford to play.
"I think you can spend too much time on it," said Nagy. "I'm looking at that and I think I've already said it can be a bit like chasing the cat's tail. You have to be careful about that and when you just start worrying about what you're doing – and of course here or there you could have something a little different – but if you're just starting to do things differently to Because of a coach, now you've stopped worrying just about controlling what you can control and I have not had too much success with that.
The good news for the Bears, however, is that they seem to have the multitude of weapons needed to be successful against a Belichick defense. Kansas City showed it on Sunday: when the Patriots won Kelce, Kareem Hunt racked up 185 yards of melee earnings, while Tyreek Hill cut New England 142 yards with seven touchdowns and three touchdowns.
So if the plan is to eliminate Cohen, it could create opportunities for Gabriel, or vice versa. Or, if the plan is to cover seven or eight, it would give Jordan Howard an opportunity to gain ground on the field.
"They use all their players, the backs, the tight ends, the receivers, the quarterback, they all have a production, so if you take one, they just go to the next one, and it's hard to defend." said Belichick. "There are a lot of options on some of these games, which will end up with the ball based on the decision of the quarterback, if it's a type of game with control, bubbles and looks, RPO, etc. it's up to the quarter to make the right decision and Trubisky has done a good job in this regard. I think all of these things are getting better and they are hard to defend. "
3. The story repeats itself
In Nagy's only encounter with New England as offensive coordinator of Kansas City, his offense scored 42 points – a figure that resonated in the Bears locker room and training grounds this week.
"You have to get into this game with confidence and know that we are playing against a group of great guys who have been there, who have been to the Super Bowl and who also have Tom Brady on the other side," said Sims. "It's important to capitalize on everything and try not to make mistakes."
"What the defense is giving you is what the offense is going to commit – what good offenses are going to do," Gabriel said. "I have the impression that we have this kind of mindset on the stand and in the field with us to understand what these guys are doing and how we want to attack it."
The Bears offensive is young, from the coach to the offensive coordinator to most of the players who make it up. Beating New England, even if its defense is not what it was, would send a message to the league that the Bears are real. Until the Patriots are dethroned several years in a row, or they finish a season with less than 12 victories, for example, they are still the Patriots.
Although young, this team has a handful of players who have faced New England on some of the biggest scenes in the NFL. So expect players like Gabriel, Burton and even Nagy do not allow this team to face the Patriots on Sunday.
"It's not difficult at all," said Gabriel, avoiding thinking about this mystique. "Like this team, we have the weapons to take advantage of these one-on-one confrontations. I do not care what defense you are, you're going to have a face-to-face match somewhere unless you let everyone down. So, as long as you keep up the pace and have confidence in what you do, I feel that everything will be fine. "
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