You can pick out pretty much any negative adjective or term to describe the 2020 Chicago Bears offense and any one of them would be valid. The unit ranks in the bottom of the league in nearly every statistical category. Now that they’re out of their bye week with six games to go, can they turn things around to go on a late-season run? One former Bear lays out the recipe on how to do just that and more.
Former Bears defensive tackle and social media star Anthony “Spice” Adams gave his advice and thoughts to Bears Wire on how Chicago can remedy their offensive woes. Adams also shared as his thoughts on the running game, who on the Bears reminds him of a younger Spice and even grilling tips for the Thanksgiving holiday.
Adams, who played defensive tackle for the Bears from 2007-11, preached simplicity when it came to solving the Bears’ problems on offense.
“Just throw away half of the playbook,” Adams said, literally. “You look at an offensive players playbook, and that thing weighs 50 pounds. Get it down to 25 pounds. Get it to something where, the offensive line, they love mauling people. Give them an offense where they can maul somebody, where they can double team the nose, double team the three technique, on up to the linebacker. Run some powers, get back to the nitty gritty, put a fullback in there and go ‘I’ formation. Go goal line on the 20 yard line and make sure we are going to run the ball. We’re going to run power, we’re going to run trap, counter.
“All the bread and butter. Get back to the smash mouth, snot in your nose football. Get back to the basics. Then, everything else will open up. Once you establish that run game, teams got to respect it. They have to. Then that’s going to open up the play action.”
The running game is an area that has plagued coach Nagy over the course of his tenure with the Bears, who has lost the luster from his shine recently. Adams believes the offense has become too predictable over the last few weeks.
“The offense is sputtering,” he said. “Sometimes we move the ball well when we absolutely need to, but sometimes we go three and out. We haven’t been able to run the ball as effectively as we normally would, which kind of allows teams to peel their ears back and just go ‘I know the Bears aren’t going to run on me and if they do run, they’re going to try and run with Cordarrelle Patterson and it’s not going to work. We’ve seen that a billion times. Teams are making us one dimensional. The fact that we’re not going down the field with that, because we can’t, we’re not getting the protection that we need to. A lot of teams are peeling their ears back and trying to rush the passer to get to our quarterback.”
The Bears certainly have become one dimensional, as they rank third in the NFL in pass attempts per game. Fortunately, fans won’t have to carve time out of their Thanksgiving holiday this year to watch the offense underperform and can instead focus on the cooking, or grilling in Spice’s case.
“I’ve partnered with Kingsford and they’ve been sending me these pellets and I’ve been using a smoker tube and I put the pellets in there,” Adams said. “I let the smoke do the cooking of the turkey, the chicken, or the ham. There’s nothing like that bold, smoky flavor, especially from Kingsford pellets because they’re 100% hardwood. There’s nothing like the smoke of a hickory, or a mesquite.”
Adams offered up a quick and easy meal to prepare on the grill as well; A whole chicken.
“Just get like a smaller version, something you can put a little TLC in and you can start in the morning and cook as long as you want,” he said. “Just let the smoke do the work, get some Kingsford pellets in that thing and woo!”
Spice was fired up about his grilling opportunities this Thanksgiving and had lots of praise for Kingsford, but also had that same enthusiasm for a current Bears player on the defensive line. When asked which player reminded him of himself during his playing days, Adams didn’t hesitate.
“I like Bilal (Nichols),” he said of the third-year pro. “I think Bilal is one of those hard-working guys who has a chip on his shoulder, has something that he has to prove. He’s been getting better every year. He can play multiple positions because he’s so athletic. He can play end, he can play on the inside. With Eddie Goldman opting out of the season, it was a chance for him to get in the middle and show what he can do there and he’s been flourishing there. I like his motor, I like his attitude. I think he’s a good, young player that’s going to last a long time in this league.”
Nichols and the defense have continued to be one of the top units in the NFL, while the offense maintains its status as one of the worst. Will Nagy and the coaching staff take Adams’ advice this Sunday evening and commit to the running game like they did in September? Should the Bears want to make a run at the postseason, they’ll first have to run the ball to get their offense in gear and take pressure off the quarterback. Better start ripping those pages, Nagy.