Idonije… you scamp you! Tipping off the Lions on your former team’s defensive calls.
According to ESPN Chicago’s Michael C. Wright (via Deadspin), Chicago believes that Israel Idonije (who previously played 9 seasons with the Bears before signing with the Lions in the offseason) tipped off the Lions’ offensive with the Bears’ calls at the line in turn helping Reggie Bush gain 173 all purpose yards and a touchdown.
A few Chi players think former DL Izzy Idonije tipped off Lions to their stunts. Said Bush burned them every time they did "power" stunt.
— Michael C. Wright (@mikecwright) September 29, 2013
On top of that Bush was also averaging 7.7 yards per carry which is pretty damn good while the offensive line prevented the Bears from getting to Stafford basically the entire game. So it certainly wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility that the Lions in the week leading up to Sunday’s game were picking Idonije’s brain on what certain defensive schemes would look like. It happens all the time and quite frankly I’d be disappointed if Jim Schwartz and the rest of the coaching staff didn’t do just that. Plus let’s give the Lions’ coaches some credit here, I mean we were in week 4 and in this day and age tape on the other team I’m sure is readily available…
But lets not forget one big sticking point here, the Bears do have a new head coach in Marc Trestman which leaves you with some questions here.
Just how much of the scheme is the same on defense from the Lovie Smith era? Or why did the current Bears coaching staff and Lance Briggs not take into account a longtime teammate now on the other side of things? Aren’t those certain things that you could maybe game plan for? Especially when going up against a team that is a divisional opponent that knows the old system as much as your should no them as a whole?
I hope the Bears aren’t using this as an excuse for losing this game. That would be totally lame.
h/t: ESPN, Deadspin