Rams vs. Bears is the matchup of the playoffs.
If there’s one playoff game to circle in the NFL Divisional Playoff round it’s Rams vs. Bears, and it’s entirely because of the two men at the top. Sean McVay and Ben Johnson are the new school offensive geniuses of football, and this marks the first time they’ll meet as head coaches. Unbelievable pressure is on the line with Los Angeles knowing its Matthew Stafford window is coming to a close, and Chicago trying to extend its dramatic run in the first season of a new era.
A lot has been made about how Johnson in particular has changed the NFL. He was the driving force of the Lions rise to prominence, and McVay articulated what he sees from the first year coach — as well as why he’s anticipating this game so much.
McVay and Johnson are fundamentally different coaches with different philosophies of offense.
The new wave NFL offense that McVay ushered in uses a West Coast base, but then manipulates defenses at the snap with motion, pre-snap movement, and wrinkles like bunch formations which are designed to mask the primary receiver on almost every passing down. It’s a system based on confusion, and when the receiving corps is stacked with potential targets it makes it almost impossible for defenses to zero in on the primary. It’s for this reason the Rams took such a step forward with the addition of Davante Adams across from Puka Nacua. Those two outside guys make everything tick, and when bunched it’s exceptionally difficult for defensive backs to diagnose the play, especially when the offense switches things up by tossing the ball to a tight end, or ancillary receiver on a critical down.
Johnson’s offense is something entirely different. Instead of marching to the beat of McVay’s drum and running a West Coast the way much of the NFL does, he’s thrived as an offensive coach by revitalizing an offense which had largely fallen out of favor. The Erhardt-Perkins was a system devised by the New England Patriots in the 1970s and is built on efficiency. Rather than requiring the offense to have a photographic memory of the entire playbook, the Erhardt-Perkins breaks receivers into broader, two-route concepts — which can then be mixed and matched by a coordinator as they feel the situation warrants. If that sounds confusion, look at this page from the 2005 Carolina Panthers playbook when they ran the system.
In this case the play call could be something as simple as “ILLINOIS GHOST,” which immediately communicates that two receivers on the left of the formation will run in-routes, with a tight end running the out, and the other outside receiver running the fly. If a quarterback sees the defense aligned to counter this, he can then kill one or both elements of the play, swapping in a different alignment. So in this case the audible could be something like “KILL KILL KILL GHOST. ILLINOIS HUNT,” which informs the offense that the left receivers will still be running their Illinois routes, but the right will switch to the Hunt.
The reason this fell out of favor was that it was seen as being overly simplistic. Piecing together two route principles was seen as lacking the nuance of a full four route play, for example. Imagine the difference between a meticulously engineered tower, and one built out of Lego bricks.
What Johnson did was take the basic efficiency of the Erhardt-Perkins, and add a layer of complexity. Rather than the route combinations being tied to a side of the field, he ties them to specific receivers. Using that same ILLINOIS GHOST example above, a Johnson play call might come in as “ILLINOIS GHOST ORBIT.” That could signify to the fly route receiver to move pre-snap from their outside position on the right of the formation, and instead take over a new slot left of the tackle — thereby transforming the formation from a simple three wide, into trips. The QB can then do something like kill the Orbit pre-snap and change it to “ILLINOIS GHOST JET,” which could then signify a handoff to the ghost receiver on motion in a jet sweep.
This could even go a step further by reading off the play left-to-right with the receivers. This could sound like “ILLINOIS GIN HUNT LOOKIE,” with each receiver knowing their individual route — now piecing four elements together.
I know that all sounds confusing, so in a word: It’s Erhardt-Perkins with motion, which isn’t dissimilar to how McVay took a West Coast and added motion. Both are took tested offensive principles and added confusion with pre-snap movement — and it’s how these offenses win.
What makes Rams vs. Bears so compelling is that you have two offensive geniuses who understand the importance of confusion. This entire week will be dedicated to watching film to try and understand the tendencies in motion, coaching up the defense in spotting these tendencies, and trying to ensure they they don’t fall for the bait each offense presents them. Simultaneously McVay and Johnson will both be trying to switch up their offensive tendencies to add in new looks that haven’t appeared on film before.
This is why McVay and Johnson are such geniuses. Their shared DNA is mutability. There is an ideal they aspire to with their offenses, but a shared flexibility that appreciates the skillsets they have on the roster. Matthew Stafford is not an ideal West Coast quarterback, so McVay has added more intermediate routes that don’t require getting the ball out as quickly as most West Coast plays. Similarly, Johnson has altered his offense over the course of the year to put in more bootlegs, play action, and choice routes — which all take advantage of Caleb Williams’ ability to move out of the pocket and throw off platform.
There’s certainly an element here where the major concern with whether the Bears defense is up to the task of handling the confusion McVay will throw at them, and the simple reality that the Rams defense is more experienced. However, the offensive duel between these coaches will be one of the ages, and easily the most intriguing matchup of the playoffs.
Category: General Sports
