“Obviously, you saw last week it was very difficult. But I will say this, you have to emphasize that as much as possible, and sometimes it comes with a loud voice and a demanding demeanor behind you to make sure guys understand that because I get it. Once you get a chance to try beat someone on the edge, man, you’re going continue to go, but I’ve talked to our guys about this this morning. We have to play the type of game we need to play to win, and that changes. So, in saying that, we have to make sure that we condense the pocket, make sure we push the pocket, and that we equate to getting sacks for the most part. I think Green Bay did a pretty good job of doing that. Even though they weren’t speeding rushing around the edge, they really condense the pocket, and they kept him in this cage, and they were able to make plays and get sacks.”
That’s what Detroit Lions defensive coordiantor Aaron Glenn said this week when asked about rushing too deep against mobile quarterbacks like Chicago’s Justin Fields, who set the regular season single-game rushing record for a quarterback last Sunday against the Miami Dolphins with 178 yards on the ground.
“That’s why your eyes are important in that situation, that once you feel yourself about to get ahead of the quarterback, you have to retrace and make sure you keep him that cage and understand that quarterbacks drop too. That’s some things we talk about quite a bit, and our guys understand that. So, within getting into the rush, those are things you just have to understand, and I think our guys will do a good job of that.”
That’s what Glenn said about reading run pre-snap.
So, Glenn and his defense seemed to understand the rushing threat that Fields presents. Of course, just because you’ve repped it all on the practice field and in the meeting rooms doesn’t mean Fields won’t still scald you when it’s game time. The Lions experienced this on Fields’ one-yard touchdown run with 12 seconds left in the first half.
Justin Fields The Magician
— PlayerProfiler (@rotounderworld) November 13, 2022
As much as the Lions delayed the inevitable… it was still inevitable.
Justin Fields traveled 34.2 yards from snap to score, the most distance traveled on a 1-yard TD run since Week 15, 2016 (Blake Bortles, 35.4 yards at HOU).
Fields currently leads the NFL with 3 scramble TD runs this season.#DETvsCHI | #DaBears pic.twitter.com/yy8pZssXaV
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) November 13, 2022
Detroit actually did a good job to take away Fields’ initial read, and they got penetration up the middle to limit his options there. Problem was, Fields could still get to the end zone, trucking two Detroit defenders on his way to the touchdown that made the game a 10-10 tie.
Fields ran the ball eight times for 69 yards in the first half, so it’s the same problem for the Lions that it’s been for everybody else this season. Chicago has at least 225 rushing yards in each of their last four games, and that’s tied with the 1976 Pittsburgh Steelers for the most consecutive games with at least that many yards in the Super Bowl era.
Chicago had 128 rushing yards at the half.