Chicago Bears Stat of the Day: Big Pass Plays

The Chicago Bears stat of the day moves into an area that is likely to become prevalent in a big way this season with two new quarterbacks.

Few things can prove more beneficial to an offense than a big pass play. It creates a large gain of yardage, first and foremost. It can put defenses on their heels and also it brings confidence to the quarterbacks who threw them. Thus putting them in greater rhythm. The Chicago Bears have always had a love-hate relationship with big pass plays. When they could utilize play action they were fine, but outside of that they’ve really struggled to produce them. So what exactly constitutes a big pass play?

Stat website Sporting Charts explained it as such.

"“Receptions by a receiver that resulted in a 25 yard gain or greater. The league leaders usually have between 15 and 20 big plays per year, or roughly one or slightly more per game. A “big play” counts the same if a receiver catches a deep ball, a running back catches a screen that results in a big play, a slot receiving catches a slant and picks up many yards after the catch, or a number of other receiving plays.”"

The Bears had 26 big pass plays in 2016. That was good enough to rank them 8th-worst in the league. Worse still the bulk of those big plays came via two men in Cameron Meredith and Alshon Jeffery. Each of them had eight apiece last year, making up just over 61% of the total. Now Jeffery is gone, having signed as a free agent with the Philadelphia Eagles. Suddenly the team has lost the man responsible for over 30% of their big pass plays.

Throw in the fact that they’re breaking in two new quarterback and it’s a definite concerns. Mike Glennon hasn’t started a game since 2014. Mitch Trubisky only started 13 games in college, all of them in a spread offense. So not only does the coaching staff need to find a way to replace those big plays lost with Jeffery leaving, which weren’t a lot to begin with. They also have to do it with two quarterbacks who had zero knowledge of their offense just a few months ago.