I promise this is the last time we’ll be talking about the onside kick that the Green Bay Packers lost against the Chicago Bears, but the topic needs to be brought up again, as special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia addressed the play for the first time in his Wednesday press conference with the media this week. If you need a reminder of what happened, receiver Romeo Doubs muffed the onside kick attempt inside the two-minute warning against the Bears. At the time, Green Bay had a seven-point lead.
The Packers ended up playing one more play of offense in regulation (a sack) before going into overtime and turning the ball over on downs, ultimately leading to a Chicago win.
After the game, Doubs took full ownership of his mistake. Here’s what he had to say after the loss:
S***, I missed it. That’s just this game, bro. I rep this s*** all week and yeah, bro, somebody gotta be responsible and I’m willing to take on 1000% of it.
When Bisaccia was asked about what Doubs could have done better, the first question in his presser, he said the following:
Just make the catch. He was in great position. Thought we got a good chip on the two guys that we had to get a chip on, and he’s in a great position to make it. He makes that thing 99 out of 100 times. We’ve defended 11 onside kicks since we’ve been here. He’s been there for eight of them, and that’s the first one we didn’t come up with. So, he’ll be back out there Saturday night.
When the press asked Bisaccia about the personnel on the field, specifically about the skill players blocking for Doubs, he made the point that the NFL’s new kickoff rules demand that two of the return team’s players be removed from the front of the kickoff return formation, which means that they’re only allowed 7 total blockers for 10 players on the onside play.
So the onside kick returner is always expected to have at least one free runner coming his way, possibly two, just by the nature of the play now. Despite that, he’s expected to come down with the ball.
Because the kicking team knows they have numbers, the kickoff units are kicking what Bisaccia calls “spinners,” balls that sort of helicopter and take odd bounces. With the spinner kicks, those frontline players who are asked to block for the returner can no longer be offensive linemen, like in the past, because those players need to have some ability to cover the ball, too.
So, in the mind of Doubs, Bisaccia and head coach Matt LaFleur, the play call and execution were up to par, right up until the point of the catch. Doubs just dropped it.
Bisaccia said the team will practice the play tomorrow, an expected walkthrough, and Friday, likely some mental reps, before Saturday’s game against the Baltimore Ravens. For reference, the only true practice Green Bay will have this week was on Wednesday. The Packers wore sweats and no leg pads on Wednesday’s practice, so don’t expect them to test the play live outside of game action (generally, modern NFL teams do not practice special teams live outside of training camp).
