Bears offensive coordinator Press Taylor is perhaps the premier archivist of plays in the NFL. And no opposing play-caller takes up more room in his files than Vic Fangio, the longest tenured defensive mind in the league.
Fangio, who suffocated the Chiefs to win his first Super Bowl two years ago with the Eagles, is in his 26th year as the defensive play-caller across eight teams. His 2018 Bears defense was one of the best in franchise history and landed him the Broncos head coaching job.
He’s spawned acolytes that now call plays for the Panthers, whom the Bears played in Week 1, and the Saints, among others. No one does it quite like the original, though, as whomever plays quarterback for the Bears on Monday night will likely find out.
Case Keenum was the only quarterback on the Bears’ active roster to practice Friday. Tyson Bagent, who is in concussion protocol, reported to Halas Hall but didn’t step foot on the practice field. Caleb Williams, who is not practicing this week after pulling his hamstring Sunday, is unlikely to face the Eagles.
The Bears face a distinctively different challenge than last week, when Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores blitzed Williams 77% of the time. Fangio has blitzed only 18% of the time this year.
“Different style,” running back D’Andre Swift said. “If they want to do some things that the Vikings did, bring it on.”
Fangio won’t. His defense usually features a two-high safety shell that allows the Eagles to rotate their defensive backs to confuse the quarterback,
“They play tricks on your eyes,” Keenum said. “They do a really good job pre- and post-snap, and there’s not a lot of tells to tell you what the coverage is going to be beforehand.”
They key is patience, Taylor said.
“You’re not going to get these big, long explosives the way they play in the shell …” he said. “They just do a great job of playing a variety of different fronts and techniques ultimately to try to do the same idea at the end of the day — limit the explosives and make you go the long, hard way.
“It’s hard to go 14, 15 plays and score on a drive. And so that’s kind of what they force you to do the way they play. And then they’ve got really, really good players, too.”
Jalen Carter might be the best. After the defensive lineman fell from his projection as the No. 1 pick in 2023, the Bears had a chance to draft him ninth — and traded back one spot to the Eagles. The Bears’ pick, Darnell Wright, has turned into one of the NFL’s best right tackles. However, the Bears are still searching for an impact defensive lineman four seasons later.
The Eagles have two. Nose tackle Jordan Davis got a three-year, $78 million extension in March, tying him for second-most among all interior linemen.
“Up front, those are some of the best two guys up front that are playing the game right now,” Keenum said. “And I think all over the board, you look at playmakers that they have on the defense, so we’ve got our work cut out for us.
Carter, who has a cast on his wrist, “did better than I thought he would” while playin against the Titans, Fangio said. Their most dangerous edge rusher, Jonathan Greenard, still hasn’t played because of a pectoral injury. The Eagles sent two third-round picks to the Vikings for Greenard in April and promptly gave him a four-year, $98 million contract. If he does play Monday, he’s “definitely not ready for a full workload,” Fangio said.
Greenard and receiver DeVonta Smith (hamstring) were among the Eagles players limited in Friday’s practice. Running back Saquon Barkley (stinger) and Carter (wrist) practiced in full, while receiver Hollywood Brown (ankle) and tight end Dallas Goedert (knee) sat out.
Carter and linebackers Nolan Smith and Jihad Campbell have one sack apiece; only four teams have fewer sacks than the Eagles’ three. Still, the Eagles have given up the fifth-fewest passing yards per game in the NFL this year, a product of playing the Commanders and Titans through two weeks.
The Eagles haven’t taken the ball away all year, though — something only the Commanders and Texans can say — and give up the 11th-most rushing yards in the NFL. Last year, the Bears ran for a whopping 281 yards in Philadelphia.
Asked if he wanted his players to remember that feeling, Fangio sited his own film work. Like Taylor, he knows what he’ll show his players this week.
“You ain’t going to be able to flush it away,” he said. “It’s going to be on our cutups, so we’ll see it.”
