Washington on Panthers improved offense under Andy Dalton |
CHICAGO—For the second time this season, the Chicago Bears' defense led them to victory when they defeated the Los Angeles Rams 24-18 this past Sunday.
Now, they are going against a Carolina Panthers offense this coming Sunday (Noon/FOX), which has drastically improved since benching quarterback Bryce Young and starting veteran Andy Dalton. “This offense that we’re going to face this week clearly has gotten itself situated in the last couple of weeks. The production has been there. The organization has been there. They’ve moved the ball efficiently in the last couple of games, the result of the game aside. So, we’re going to have to be really on top of our game to match with this offense, to execute and to do the things that will lead to us winning,” defensive coordinator Eric Washington said. “The star of this offense, in my opinion, is the offensive line and the running back. The production, especially with the outside zone concepts, those things are fantastic. They do a great job of blocking movement concepts up front and protecting the quarterback. This is an experienced signal caller, Andy Dalton. He’s played in a lot of big games, been in a lot of situations that will lend themselves toward him being efficient as far as directing this offense, and obviously, we had a chance to compete against the head coach as a (play) caller last year when we played Tampa Bay. (It will) be a great challenge for us. We’re looking forward to it.” The Panthers have undergone a lot of change from last year to this year. They have a new head coach in Dave Canales, who was the offensive coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last season. Dalton is now at quarterback after Young won just two games in 18 career starts. Bears fans have some familiarity with Dalton, who played for them back in 2021. “His experience, his knowledge of this particular offense, and his ability to communicate on the field in real-time and direct that type of offense, you can just see the calm, the efficiency, and him understanding exactly where he needs to go with the football, getting the ball out of his hands in a hurry,” Washington said. Carolina running back Chuba Hubbard has had two of the best games of his career since Dalton took over. In the Panthers’ lone win of the season, he had 114 rushing yards. Last week, despite the loss, Hubbard had 104 rushing yards and his first rushing touchdown of the season. Given the success teams have had on the ground against the Bears, with a running back getting at least 90 rushing yards two weeks in a row, this is a little concerning. Washington believes Chicago will turn this around as they are still trying to maintain their consistency as a rushing defense. “Everyone’s trying to find that sweet spot of consistency,” Washington said. “So, we’re not unique in that particular way, and I have a lot of confidence that when the dust is settled and we evaluate our full body of work, we’ll be exactly where we need to be.” Where they have been strong in the red zone. The Chicago defense does not like to allow teams to even get to the red zone. However, when that has occurred, teams have seldom scored touchdowns. In fact, they have only allowed four touchdowns in the red zone; three of those were rushing touchdowns as they have not allowed a passing touchdown in the red zone since the season opener against the Tennessee Titans. Washington says this comes down to having increased urgency and understanding how the offense changes. “The sense of urgency has to go up, and we have to understand how the offense changes once they get to the 20-yard line or even a little bit higher than that. The game becomes a little bit less of a vertical passing game if you will. You tend to see some of the more gadget-type plays in that situation. So, things that really show up in that area, we have to build a tremendous amount of awareness and we have to force teams to kick field goals, if not take the ball away.”
