Offensive coordinator Ron Turner: "It was the way the game was going. We never got into any kind of rhythm offensively. When you get first downs, you get moving, there's things you want to do, things you set up. We were never able to do that. We will get those guys involved this week. We definitely have a plan and we will definitely get Devin involved offensively early." - From Rahula Strhol's Bears issue at hand.
This is exactly what everyone who watched the game thought Turner was thinking. It's exactly what he was doing in the pathetic Super Bowl last year. And it's the biggest issue standing in the Bears way to a Super Bowl victory. Turner is a great play caller and puts up impressive numbers when he goes against weak defenses and his game plan takes hold right away. But when it isn't working, he just keeps pounding it until it does. Last game against a great San Diego defense it didn't work and thus the Bears offense spent very little time on the field. Meanwhile San Diego's biggest play of the game against an amazing Chicago defense was a trick play. Why can his brother see that if a defense is better than your offense, it takes some trickery and change of pace to beat them, but Ron simply can't fathom opening up the offense until the basics are working. If he doesn't figure it out the Bears are going to lose another Super Bowl. No one in the NFC is good enough to shut the Bears down, but San Diego, Indianapolis, New England, Baltimore and probably Denver are.
Don't wait to establish the offense, get Hester, Bradley, Olsen, and Wolfe in every game early and often. They're what made the offense look exciting in the preseason, not Cedric Benson and AP.
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Probably the best example of this was that now infamous series last game when Grossman had gone 3 for 3 for like 35 yards. Now it was 2nd and 1, so Turner called a run. It didn't work, so he called anothe run on 3rd and 1. Still didn't work, so he just did it again. I think Turner explained it in that article along the lines of, "Well, it should have worked..." And, yes, he's right. It should have. But you shouldn't be calling plays on principle, either. Part of the reason it didn't work all three times was that San Diego clearly knew exactly what Chicago was trying to do. At the very least, it seems like maybe third of fourth down would've been a great time to bring Hester in--even if just as a decoy. It would've made the defense have to think just a little bit.
I understand that you should be able to get one yard on three running plays, but that's not a reason to refuse to try anything else.
Maybe if Hester and Wolfe get more involved in the offense throughout the season, by the time the Bears are in the playoffs Turner will think of them as enough a part of the offense that they'll get included in the meat part of the offense...
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