A Powder Keg Explodes Through a Screen!

The Bears beats the Jets today, 24-10.  What got the scoring started for the Bears was a great sprint from their running back, Tarik Cohen (#29), with 5:35 to go in the first quarter.  The Bears had 2nd and 10 on their own 30-yard line.  Quarterback Mitchell Trubisky (#10) was in the shotgun with Cohen to his left.  Check out the screen capture I took of the formation (click on image for a larger view).

This was the perfect screen play.  Trubisky backpedaled after the snap, allowing the Bears offensive line to set up the perfect blocking scheme for a screen pass.  Center Cody Whitehair (#65) shoved his man to his right, and rookie left guard James Daniels (#68) shoved his man to his left (click on image for a larger view).

The entire Bears offensive line did a great job, but I had to highlight Whitehair and Daniels.  Look at that hole Cohen was running into!  The only man in the hole is Jets inside linebacker, Avery Williamson (#54).  But he let Cohen go while rushing the quarterback.  Trubisky threw the screen pass from the Bears 21-yard line (click on image for a larger view).

Cohen caught the 10-yard screen pass from Trubisky at the Bears 31-yard line, just past the line of scrimmage (click on image for a larger view). 

Note where Jets cornerback, Darryl Roberts (#27), was when Cohen caught the pass.  Roberts was close to the Bears 46-yard line, near the right sideline, and had his back to the play!  You'll see why I point out where Roberts was in a moment.

Cohen had daylight in front of him as he sprinted down the left side of the field toward the goal line.  He ran just over 70 yards on the play, averaging 18 mph.  He kicked his speed up to over 19 mph when he saw Roberts flying toward him from the opposite side of the field.  In pursuing Cohen, Roberts hit a top speed of just over 23 mph on the play.  Now that's fast!  Check out Cohen scoring as Roberts, who knew he couldn't catch Cohen, ran out of bounds at the Jets 3-yard line (click on image for a larger view).

Tarik Cohen is listed at 5 feet, 6 inches tall.  He needed 37 steps to cover 70 yards, averaging about 4.7 steps per second.  Darryl Roberts is listed at 6 feet tall.  He needed 2 fewer steps to cover essentially the same distance that Cohen ran.  Had 6 feet, 3 inches tall Titans running back, Derrick Henry, run that screen play, he would have needed only 33 steps, 4 fewer than Cohen.

I analyzed Mitch Trubisky's crazy run last week (click here for that analysis).  He ran 72 yards, but only got credit for 8 of them.  Despite being 6 feet, 3 inches tall, Trubisky needed 50 steps for his wild run.  He had some starts and stops.  Not so for Cohen as he busted out of that screen play and was all business while sprinting to the end zone.

Chuck Nice of Playing with Science joined me to discuss Cohen's great run on today's Check Down segment of TuneIn's 1st & Goal.  Click here for the audio of our appearance.