The Bears are known for running the Tampa 2 defense which is notorious for negating big plays.
It's a zone-coverage scheme where the two safeties play deep and are responsible for each half of the field. The key to the Tampa 2 is the middle linebacker, and the Bears have a great one in Brian Urlacher, who has to be able to cover the deep middle of the field in between those two safeties.
The Bears will allow teams to dink and dunk down the field with defenders rallying to the ball to make tackles and keep gains at a minimum. The front four, which features one of the best ends in the NFL in Julius Peppers, will stunt and attack with minimal blitz help to harass the quarterback. Against the pass on third downs in 2011, the Bears have only blitzed 16.9 percent of the time. Eventually, the Bears figure an offense will make a mistake and give up very few points.
By and large, the scheme has worked. On Monday night, the Eagles and the Bears will square off for the fifth straight season. The Bears have won three of the four meetings. Last year in Chicago, the Eagles gained 398 yards of total offense. However, the Eagles settled for four field goals and had an additional turnover in the red zone and lost 31-26.
Seeing teams take away the Eagles' deep option is nothing new. Quarterback Michael Vick joked after last Sunday's win over Dallas that the safeties were playing 500 yards off the line of scrimmage. So, Vick methodically beat the Cowboys as the longest pass play of the entire game went for 24 yards. The longest play, overall, was a 34-yard LeSean McCoy run. But the Eagles scored on each of their first six possessions. They scored four touchdowns in the red zone. Three of the scoring drives had at least 11 plays.
The Eagles are confident that if they can replicate last Sunday's performance it should result in a good day on offense.
"I know our record doesn't show it right now, but I think we're the better team and we're playing like that," wide receiver Jeremy Maclin said.
"I think after what I saw last week with everything that they did it makes me very optimistic that I can go out there and execute against any defense," said Vick, who is 0-3 as a career starter against Chicago. "Obviously, everything's going to be different but I think I have the ground rules and know what it takes to make sure that I can get us in the right protection calls and make the plays downfield when necessary."
Tight end Clay Harbor and offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg are quick to note that the Bears have actually played more Cover 3 - with the two cornerbacks and a safety responsible for taking away the deep plays while the other safety handles the flat on the strong side - than the Tampa 2 this year. Essentially, it leaves another defender deep. But in addition to working the short and intermediate areas in the pass game, the best asset the Eagles have to fend off the Bears are running back LeSean McCoy and the offensive line.
"With our run game the way it is right now, I don't know if they'll be able to do that Tampa 2 scheme as much," Harbor said. "They'll have to keep the linebackers in a little bit tighter and it can open up the pass game."
"I think we're solid up front. Those guys are playing tremendous right now. I think we'll get after them a little bit," Maclin said. "Shady's doing a tremendous job of doing that right now. Make them get out of their two-high and make them play eight-in-the-box and then you get that one-on-one outside that you need."
On Monday night, we'll see if the Eagles can attack with precision and make the Bears pay for trying to take away the big play.
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