dy’s Patriots Youth Trey Burton Jersey , you need to consistently get into his grill and get him on the ground. Now, that’s the same game-plan for most quarterbacks but it holds especially true for the future First-ballot Hall of Famer. To beat Brady, you must pressure and you must get him to the ground. Any other strategy is certain death against a player who has seen every imaginable defense deployed against him after featuring in the NFL for almost 20 years. So what did the Bears and defensive coordinator Vic Fangio attempt to do against Brady on Sunday? They had their superstar pass rusher Khalil Mack drop back into coverage a career-high 18 times, according to Pro Football Focus. Not to be completely outdone, Mack’s starting edge partner, Leonard Floyd, dropped back into coverage 13 times. The pair generated a combined two pressures on occasions where they actually rushed the passer. That’s not getting into Brady’s grill. Call me crazy, but if Mack is already rolling with a bum ankle, why have him move backwards against better offensive athletes? He’s either healthy enough to play or he isn’t. The decoy ideal doesn’t work if it’s not letting your talisman get back up to speed health-wise. Scheming a way to keep Mack on the field in a way he isn’t comfortable or healthy makes little sense. Fangio better find answers for a reeling defense soon, and it’s not in the form of not having Mack pin his ears back. Elsewhere defensively, the Bears’ tackling improved tremendously after their embarrassment to the Dolphins. Chicago missed just six tackles and no back seven defender allowed more than 55 yards in coverage. That includes Kyle Fuller, Roquan Smith, and Bryce Callahan, who all allowed four receptions each. Effort that will have to continue if the Bears are to get out of their first two-game losing streak of the Matt Nagy era. On the offensive side of the ball, the Patriots took note of Mitchell Trubisky’s struggles against pressure and ran with it. New England blitzed Trubisky 21 times on 58 drop backs, and Trubisky only went 5-of-20 for 36 yards on such plays. When the Patriots didn’t blitz, Trubisky completed 70 percent of his passes and averaged 9.9 yards per attempt.A lot of Trubisky’s struggles against the Patriots in particular was when going deep. On nine pass plays that went 20 yards or more Cheap Khalil Mack Jersey , Trubisky was 1-of-9 for 54 yards. Essentially, the only time he found a Bears receiver downfield was Kevin White’s desperation Hail Mary. Otherwise, the young and rattled passer could not take advantage of chunk play opportunity after chunk play opportunity. The book is out on the Bears’ young quarterback and their defense, and they better adjust soon. Robert is the Editor-in-chief of The Blitz Network (subscribe here!), the managing editor of Windy City Gridiron, and writes for a host of other fine publications. You can follow him on Twitter @RobertZeglinski.All numbers are courtesy of Pro Football Focus.The sneakiest most important Bears for 2018: No. 4 - Prince Amukamara and Bryce Callahan As we continue with the unlikeliest (sneaky) most important Bears for the 2018 season, we move on to cornerbacks Prince Amukamara and Bryce Callahan. If you missed number 5 on kicker Cody Parkey, you can find that here.We all know that the NFL has become a passing league. I would contend that pass rushers are the most important players on a defense, but in order for them to do their job and reap the benefits, the secondary must work in concert behind them. I don’t want to diminish the importance of the safety position, especially free safety, but I think most people will agree that without at least competent cornerbacks on the field, a safety becomes exponentially less important. A secondary is much like the offensive line: weak links will be exposed and the edges have the potential to have more catastrophic results than the interior. Kyle Fuller got paid this off-season, as he should have, but it’s the other 2 projected starters at cornerback — a nickel back should be looked at as a starter in today’s NFL — that will be the key to success. Fuller is a really good cornerback and I expect him to have a very good season. Amukamara and Callahan on the other hand, are less of a sure thing but equally as important. If you listened to some of the whispers, Amukamara wasn’t general manager Ryan Pace’s first choice to be the boundary corner opposite of Fuller. Callahan was offered an “original round tender” as a restricted free agent — much like Cameron Meredith — which begs the question of; does the team truly value him? Talent isn’t the question for either of these players Youth Aaron Lynch Jersey , availability has been the issue. When they are healthy and on the field, both are league-average or better players. Amukamara is solid in press-man coverage, which is extremely important given that Fuller struggles playing that technique. While Amukamara isn’t an elite athlete for the position, he does fairly well at mirroring his assignments down field. What he lacks in top-end athleticism, he makes up for in veteran guile. Additionally, he is an above-average tackler for the position. The major flaw in his game is the lack of interceptions, which is something that is inherent in his game at this point. Callahan is equally as availability challenged as Amukamara is. If he could stay on the field, I think that Callahan would be considered one of the premier nickel backs in the league. When he is available, Callahan is a sticky defender, makes plays on the ball, is a big hitter for his size, and has a knack for blitzing from the slot. That is certainly a nice weapon to have in today’s pass-happy NFL. With a suspect pass rush and an improved offense, the cornerbacks will have a lot of pressure on them this year. Kyle Fuller is on the verge of becoming one of the better cornerbacks in the game, but it’s his counterparts that will make or break the 2018 Bears defense. Can Prince Amukamara and Bryce Callahan stay healthy enough for the pass defense to be one of the best? That is one of the biggest questions as we barrel ahead towards September.
