The Chicago Bears put on an offensive show in Week 1. Jon Gruden was not quite as impressed as everyone else.
While discussing the huge offensive numbers around the NFL, the former Super Bowl-winning head coach singled out Chicago as an example of something he believes has become a serious problem across the league.
Jon Gruden points to awful tackling in Bears game
Gruden discussed Week 1 on the latest episode of the "Gruden Family Football Show" and said the biggest thing that stood out to him was how poorly teams tackled.
He called it the "worst opening day in history for tackling on defense" before turning his attention directly to the Bears.
"I'm watching the Chicago Bears score 60 points, and a lot of it was just horrific, awful pad level and tackling," Gruden said.
That certainly takes some shine off Chicago's offensive performance.
Gruden believes the lack of physical work during the offseason and preseason is showing up once the games count. He pointed to practices becoming walkthroughs and contact being modified as reasons defenders looked unprepared to bring players down.
Chicago just happened to be one of the teams that took full advantage.
Bears offense still deserves its share of the credit
Gruden was not saying Chicago's offense simply stumbled into all those points.
The discussion also included an acknowledgment that there was plenty of impressive offensive football being played around the league. Gruden's point was that bad tackling helped turn some of those plays into much bigger ones.
For the Bears, that distinction is important.
Ben Johnson's offense still put defenders in bad positions and made them pay when they failed to finish plays. Poor tackling does not automatically produce points. An offense still has to create opportunities and capitalize on them.
Chicago did exactly that.
Gruden just is not ready to look at the final score and give the Bears all the credit. If Chicago keeps producing once defenses clean up some of those Week 1 mistakes, there will be a lot less room to explain it away.
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