Film study: Bears’ passing woes near end zone sound red alert

Getty

Those looking for more evidence of the Bears’ lack of faith in quarterback Justin Fields should venture no farther than the 20-yard line.

The Bears threw on their first red-zone play of the season — an 18-yard touchdown pass from Fields to Equanimeous St. Brown against the 49ers — then ran the ball on 21 consecutive plays inside the 20.

It wasn’t until Fields dropped back to throw an incomplete pass on third-and-seven from the Giants’ 11 in the first quarter of the Bears’ 20-12 loss Sunday that the streak was snapped. The Bears’ three other pass plays on nine red-zone attempts Sunday yielded a sack, an incompletion and a screen that lost three yards.

That should sound a red alert.

In an area of the field where accuracy and timing are essential, the Bears don’t have a functioning passing attack.

‘‘I felt like we did a good job driving the ball, getting to the red zone,’’ Fields said. ‘‘But I think we’ve just got to capitalize on it when we get down there and score seven.’’

The Bears can’t pass inside the 20. Here’s what went wrong in the red zone:

A booted bootleg

A 56-yard pass to receiver Darnell Mooney and a roughing-the-passer penalty two plays later gave the Bears first-and-10 from the Giants’ 12 with 3:37 left in the first quarter.

Fields went under center and faked a handoff right. Outside linebacker Jihad Ward lined up over Mooney, who was in a bunch formation left with St. Brown and tight end Cole Kmet. Mooney tried to chip Ward briefly to allow Kmet to run open into the left flat and buy Fields time to throw, but Ward fought through the block and was waiting for the bootleg.

Kmet, meanwhile, was open in the left flat. Fields looked at Kmet but didn’t throw and was sacked.

‘‘I thought that [Ward] was going to go out and match Cole,’’ Fields said. ‘‘So I kind of tried to tuck it in. But next time I’ll just go outside, in and back outside to Cole.’’

Fields needed to use his eyes to look outside at Kmet, then back inside at a different receiver to move Ward before throwing to his tight end. Kmet would have gained three or four yards on the catch, but those first-down plays are valuable in the red zone.

Mooney took the blame. He thought he had to chip Ward with a block to let St. Brown run a corner route. In reality, their responsibilities were reversed. St. Brown tried to block but then recovered and ran a short route.

‘‘I was the only one that messed up on the play,’’ Mooney said.

Go for it?

Two plays after the sack, the Bears had third-and-three from the Giants’ 5.

Rather than giving Fields an opportunity for growth — something that would benefit the Bears more in the long term than a first down — they handed off to running back Khalil Herbert up the middle for a one-yard gain.

The Bears have averaged 2.8 yards per carry on 24 red-zone rushes this season, scoring four touchdowns. Herbert, however, had run for nine yards on the previous play, and the running game is the Bears’ strength.

But the call was an outlier in the modern NFL. Seven times this season, teams have faced third-and-three from an opponent’s 5-yard line or closer. The Bears are the only team that ran.

‘‘[Offensive coordinator] Luke [Getsy] isn’t scared to call a run play on third down,’’ Fields said. ‘‘It keeps the defense guessing, so I wasn’t surprised at it.’’

It was more surprising that the Bears didn’t go for it on fourth-and-two instead kicking a 22-yard field goal. Coach Matt Eberflus said that was predetermined by the team’s analytics and reinforced during in-game conversations between him and Getsy.

‘‘We were going by the numbers,’’ he said.

Eberflus, however, could have trusted Fields to try to convert fourth down. Like the third-down handoff, it was a long-term opportunity missed.

Doubled up

On third-and-seven from the Giants’ 11 about six minutes into the game, Fields took a shotgun snap.

Receiver Dante Pettis ran a corner route to the back left pylon, where he was covered well by cornerback Aaron Robinson with safety Xavier McKinney helping from the inside. All Fields could do was throw the ball away over Pettis’ head.

Kmet popped open on a crossing route from right to left. Linebacker Tae Crowder was spying Fields to make sure he didn’t run. Safety Jordan Love trailed Kmet a second late.

Like another botched pass play later in the game — a third-and-six screen to Kmet that lost two yards — it was a passing failure in the red zone.

‘‘You’ve just got to put the points on the board,’’ Mooney said. ‘‘We score two of those touchdowns whenever we get down there, we win the game.’’