Another normal week in the NFL with undefeated teams losing and blockbuster trades. No notification can surprise at this point when it comes to this league.

Jeffery Simmons is pretty good

The Bears sent the NFL world into chaos by sending two first-round picks to Tennessee for Jeffery Simmons. It was his first primetime game in three years this past Monday, and he wasn’t hard to miss. Just look for the orange sleeves among the defensive line.

Many questioned whether the draft capital they gave up was too much; Simmons’ impact was game-wrecking. Seattle had a pass-game success rate of 35.1 percent and a rushing-game success rate of 26.3 percent. Simmons played 48/49 snaps against Seattle, having six tackles, two tackles for loss, one sack, and three run-stop tackles- game-wrecker.

Not only did this Chicago team look like a Super Bowl contender, but itsentire defense changed with Simmons on board. Coming into the game, the Bears defense blitzed around 45 percent of the time in Weeks 6 and seven (when they got Kyler Gordon back). With Simmons, they blitzed 17.9 percent of the time, ranking 25th in the entire NFL for Week 8.

It’s not like Simmons is getting to the quarterback every single play. He had a pressure rate of 5.7 percent, but his presence still draws attention. It created more one-on-one opportunities for Austin Booker and Montez Sweat, who were able to collapse the pocket on Sam Darnold, causing him to panic. On this Bears defensive line, the average height of Simmons, Sweat, and Booker is 6-foot-5. This team may not get quick pressures, but they can certainly make a pocket feel condensed.

Going back to the blitzing rate, defensive coordinator Dennis Allen still got creative with the double-mug looks Chicago has used in the past couple of weeks. Allen still showed the double-mug look from time to time, but he didn’t always bring it. On some occasions, he’d stunt Simmons off a double-mug look, or he’d bring the two linebackers on a blitz, drop the edge rushers into coverage, and have the linebacker run a twist. It was really creative to watch.

The one real limiting factor for this Bears defense is the outside corners. You saw that when Jaxon Smith-Njigba scored off a sluggo route. But once this defense fully gets healthy, it’ll be scary to watch. Chicago’s excitement to the Super Bowl is real, and it’s all plausible thanks to Simmons’ impact.

Lions figure out Vikings

Detroit handed Minnesota its first loss of the season after scoring just six points in the first half. In the second, Detroit’s rushing attack clicked, and they finished with 230 yards overall. What changed? Well, the use of 13 personnel from the Lions absolutely skyrocketed in this game. Detroit ran 13 personnel 7.3 percent of the time going into Week 8. In Week 8, they ran it 26. 5 percent of the time, which contributed to the dominant rushing performance.

While in 13 personnel, the Lions had 14 rushing attempts for 79 yards and had a success rate of 50 percent in those looks. He won’t get much talk, but Brock Wright had a massive game in the blocking game, whether it was in-line or in the backfield. He was everywhere for Detroit making the plays that don’t show up in the box score.

So, what did Detroit do in these 13 personnel looks? They didn’t just line everyone up and run the ball; offensive coordinator Drew Petzing did something creative. He lined up two tight ends in the backfield, spreading out the Vikings’ second level. On some attempts, Petzing had Jahmyr Gibbs line up over the B-gap, creating unique rushing angles for Gibbs to attack. With the two tight ends in the backfield, it creates weird angles for the defense to try and fill gaps. It spreads everyone out more and makes it hard to understand which gaps you’re responsible for as a defender.

Detroit ran counter, inside zone splits, and tosses out of these 12 and 13 personnel looks, which made it hard for Minnesota to digest. Petzing has done creative things with this Lions offense all season, and the brilliance showed again. He even ran a playright out of the CFL, running a screen with Amon-Ra St. Brown getting a head start. If this keeps up, don’t be surprised if Petzing gets head coach interest.

For Minnesota, it’ll be interesting to see how Brian Flores responds. It’s just the 11th time this defense has given up over 150 rushing yards under him. They face Buffalo next, who has the tight end depth to match the 13 personnel looks Detroit trotted out.

Titans offense finds success

What changed? Well, the Titans attacked the middle of the field against Cincinnati. Looking at the passing chart for Ward, he attempted eight passes of at least 10 yards in the middle of the field. He went 6-of-8 for 98 yards on those throws. Tennessee also started getting him on more designed rushing plays, letting him use his legs a bit more. The operation looked cleaner overall.

Daboll dialed up a lot of play-action passes for Ward as well, which made it easy for him to digest what he was seeing. Tennessee ran a lot of fake pulls with guards, which would get the Bengals’ defense to step up, and Ward lofted the ball right over the middle for big gains. Not only that, but Ward was confident throwing in breaks, showing unique arm angles to make it happen. Multiple times he hit a dig route or an RPO play-action pass, which is just something we haven’t seen over the past couple of weeks. On play-action throws, Ward went 8-of-11 for 124 yards.

The big question for Tennessee fans is: can this continue? Looking at the schedule, the Titans have a bye week this week. Coming out of it, they play Jacksonville, Dallas, Jacksonville again, and Washington. You can pass the ball against all of those defenses, so it’s a big month for Ward. Despite the slow start for Tennessee, if Ward can show life at the end of this season, Titans fans won’t care. It’d be useful to use the additional draft capital this team acquired on other positions than quarterback.

Raiders get back in the win column

The offense came in 12 personnel a bunch, but would have Bowers split out wide. Kubiak had a guard fake pull to draw in the backer, then the receiver split out wide while Bowers faked a bubble screen. Bowers would run a glance/slant route, and Kirk Cousins would fire it to him right between the slot defender who’s collapsing on the bubble and the linebacker stepping down due to the fake pull.

That creativity is exactly what’s kept this Raiders offense looking fresh throughout the weeks, and a big reason why some have Kubiak as the coach of the year. The team has major needs littered throughout, but like Miami, the Raiders are fun to watch on film thanks to the creativity Kubiak brings on offense. Another interesting note: the Raiders had a 76.9 percent passing success rate out of 12 personnel.

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