Scouts INC Training Camp Preview-NFC North

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Chicago Bears
New offensive coordinator Ron Turner is expected to totally revamp a lethargic offense from a year ago that cost Terry Shea his job. The problem for Shea was that he tried to bring the same offense with him from Kansas City, but he didn't have the players with the Bears to carry out that offense. Turner will run a much different scheme.

First and foremost, he will utilize a power run game and get the ball to rookie RB Cedric Benson as many times as he is capable of carrying it. Turner also brought Terry Hiestand, his long time offensive line coach, with him from the University of Illinois. That will help in the communication along the offensive line, which was a huge problem a year ago, as this unit gave up 66 sacks, and much of the time seemed totally confused and unaware.

	Rex Grossman Quarterback Chicago Bears Profile
	2004 SEASON STATISTICS Att Comp PaTD RuTD Int Rat 84 47 1 1 3 67.9

Turner will utilize a West Coast offense that features a safe and low risk passing game, and quarterback Rex Grossman will get the ball out quickly, a lot of times to his tight ends and backs on little flairs and hitches. This is not an offense that will go vertical often, but they will try to teach ball control and discipline, and they will try to take care of the football and wear defenses down.

Defensively, head coach Lovie Smith and defensive coordinator Ron Rivera are really developing an outstanding unit that possesses excellent athleticism and speed and penetrating skills. Smith still employs a lot of Cover 2 schemes that he brought with him from the St. Louis Rams, but up front, the Bears are aggressive, one gap penetrators who really like to be disruptive in the backfield and speed and quickness is the key for this defense. Much like the New England Patriots, the Bears will give you a lot of different looks, especially up front on defense to confuse blocking schemes. But they are still a basic 4-3 defense with a good enough secondary to play the Cover 2, but also play man to man if they need to bring the blitz.

Detroit Lions
The pressure is on for QB Joey Harrington to take this offense to the next level because he certainly has the personnel to get it done.

	Kevin Jones Running Back Detroit Lions Profile
	2004 SEASON STATISTICS Rush Yds TD Rec Yds TD 241 1133 5 28 180 1

The Lions will utilize a very physical run game in 2005 with young RB Kevin Jones. They will try to pound the ball between the tackles to set up play action opportunities off the run game. They will also run a lot of screens and draws vs. nickel defenses, staying with their low risk, high reward philosophy. Head coach Steve Mariucci wants Harrington to complete over 60 percent of his passes and do a better job of utilizing his reads than he did a year ago.

The Lions feel that with a sound run game, they will get good man-to-man match ups on the perimeter. They may use more three-reciever sets in 2005, because their trio of Roy Williams, Mike Williams and Charlie Rogers may be the best in the NFL.

The Lions coaches have also said that they will simplify their wide receiver reads, and they will not have much in terms of sight adjustments. Basically, the receivers will run the routes as called, and Harrington will know where they are going to be to cut down on mistakes.

The other interesting addition to this offense in 2005 is former Indianapolis Colts pass catching TE, Marcus Pollard. He understands this passing game and he can line up in the slot or go in motion and further put pressure on defenses to make adjustments on the perimeter, which opens up the run game.

Defensively, the Lions will continue to play out of their 4-3 base package, but they would like to play a lot more aggressive man-to-man coverages in 2005, and really challenge receivers at the line of scrimmage. They weren't able to do it a year ago because of a lot of injuries and it forced them to play a lot more zone schemes than they wanted to.

This is not a defense that blitzes a lot under defensive coordinator Dick Jauron, although they will utilize the zone blitz at times, but it is not a gambling, risky defense. Their philosophy on both sides of the ball seems to be a "bend but don't break" attitude that preaches fundamentals, taking care of the football and not giving up big plays.

Green Bay Packers
Head coach Mike Sherman has much less organizational responsibilities, in terms of personnel and running the front office and he can simply concentrate on coaching. That means he will continue to call plays in 2005 and should do a better job.

	Brett Favre Quarterback Green Bay Packers Profile
	2004 SEASON STATISTICS Att Comp PaTD RuTD Int Rat 540 346 30 0 17 92.4

The Packers are going through a very tough transition stage right now and we may see a change in their offensive philosophy in 2005. In the past, they have been a run dominated team, especially on first and second downs, behind Ahman Green, and you got the feeling that they could also always get a completion with Brett Favre on third down. However, there is an indication that Sherman will not pound it out as much on first and second downs, partly because his offensive line is not as good as it has been, missing two key starters.

That could mean more pass offense and gambling style on first and second downs to loosen up defenses and make the Packers look less predictable. A year ago, they ran the ball 58 percent of the time and we could see close to that same percentage in 2005.

Defensively, one of the best acquisitions in the off season could be defensive coordinator Jim Bates, who came from the Miami Dolphins. He replaces Bob Slowik, who really struggled in 2004 trying to get an identity for this defense. At different points in the season, they would play soft zones and coverage schemes, and then they would change it up and try to play aggressive blitz packages and man-to-man schemes behind it. But they never really seemed to hit a rhythm, and this defense never had a flow. On top of all of that, they were a bad tackling unit.

Bates will take a fairly conservative philosophy with a four-man rush, while dropping seven defenders into coverage. We won't see a lot of blitzes out of this unit. Bates will preach discipline and he requires players that are intelligent and won't break down and blow assignments. Speed is also a great asset in Bates' defenses. He does like to utilize some aggressive man-to-man press coverages with his corners and he has some quality young guys that the Packers are hoping will emerge with good training camps. But you are not going to see a lot of gambling or big plays with these schemes. When you look at the Green Bay defense in 2005, it will somewhat resemble the Tampa Bay Bucs, who don't utilize their linebackers and defensive backs in pass rush situations.

Minnesota Vikings
The Viking won't change a lot on offense in 2005, even though they have a new offensive coordinator in Steve Loney, who also doubles as the offensive line coach. However because of Loney's background, you could see a more aggressive play-action package off the strong Viking run game, especially with no Randy Moss. Play action on the perimeter vs. single man-to-man coverages may be the best way to make big plays in the vertical passing game without Moss as a weapon.

	Marcus Robinso Wide Receiver Minnesota Vikings Profile
	2004 SEASON STATISTICS Rec Yds TD Avg Long YAC 47 657 8 14.0 50 110

Minnesota will continue to use a lot of two tight end and one back sets with one of their TEs actually being and H-back, going in motion and also as a lead blocker in the run game. They love to use big Jermaine Wiggens as a TE out of the slot because he is such a tough physical match up for linebackers and safeties, and we could see more of that and multiple receiver sets. They will also work on their red zone passing package with big physical WR Marcus Robinson as more of a go to guy.

Defensively, coordinator Ted Cottrell now has the personnel that he has been looking for and he should be able to utilize a lot of schemes. Although the Vikings will primailry operate out of a 4-3 defensive front, they can slide their defensive linemen around, playing over and under techniques, and they can also go to a 3-4 scheme without a lot of trouble. Also, look for Cottrell to blitz a lot more in 2005 than he did in 2004, because he now has two shut down corners, Antoine Winfield and Fred Smoot. Both can play on the perimeter on an island without help, and it gives this defense all sorts of flexibility in their attack packages.

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