LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Akiem Hicks has never played a regular-season game for the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field, but the defensive end knows what has to be on his team’s mind in the home-opener on Monday night against the Philadelphia Eagles.
“All 32 teams, I’m sure have the same goal every year: to own your stadium,” Hicks said. “It’s your turf. It’s like somebody walking in your house and sitting on your couch and drinking your Coke. You don’t want that to happen. So we want to make sure we capitalize at home.”
Visitors have been drinking cola at Soldier Field on the house regularly for two years. It’s the Bears’ aim to reclaim their turf. To do it will require winning third down.
The Bears last year had five road wins and went 1-7 at home. The failures on their own field trace back to coach Marc Trestman’s regime, as they went 2-6 at home his final season.
A losing team is one thing. Losing week after week at home before the paying customers is another.
“Yeah, 1-7 at home is not anything to write home about, that’s for sure,” Bears coach John Fox said.
In years past, Bears teams under different coaches would explore changing different travel routes when suffering problems on the road. They would alter the schedule for night games at home or on the road during night game losing streaks.
Now the Bears are apparently making alterations to their approach at home, although Fox remained vague on what it was they really changed.
“I think we’re pretty much looking at everything,” he said. “And again, you do try to adjust it. But I’ve always been a firm believer in that it’s more about who than what you’re doing.”
Asked what he adjusted, Fox would only say: “That’s kind of inside (information).”
What the Bears have to adjust more than anything else is their failure on third down.
Last week Chicago allowed Houston to convert 60 percent (12-for-20) while converting only 31 percent (4-for-13). While a running game that accounted for only 57 yards is a simple explanation for this on offense, the defensive problems are a bit deeper.
“We’ve got to get away from third-and-one, third-and-two, third-and-three, third-and-four,” defensive end Willie Young said. “We’ve got to be stout on first and second down, and force the offenses to have to take a route downfield, something deep — anything other than sneaks and screens.”
The key to third down, of course, is first and second down. The Bears allowed Houston to move the line back a bit on both downs and the Texans faced third-and-five or less 11 times, converting 10 of them.
The Texans gained 3 yards or more on eight of their first nine first-down plays to stay on pace to keep the chains moving.
“Third down is a big down in the NFL,” defensive coordinator Vic Fangio said. “Everybody talks takeaways, which we do, too. But after takeaways, you’ve got to win on third down to take the ball away.”
Fangio said the run defense wasn’t as poor as it seemed statistically, but the end result were big plays whether they came from running backs or elsewhere
“We did play the run better in the second half,” Fangio said. “In the first half some of those rush stats, one of those (third-down conversions) was a 15-yard quarterback scramble. The other one was a 12-yard run on third-and-24. And then there was one that popped for about 11 that was just a bad call by me.
“We did play it better in the second half. But I think the first half was a little misleading.”
Fangio pointed out the Eagles will be looking for third down improvement themselves.
The Eagles converted only 33 percent last week (5-for-15) but their defense allowed Cleveland just 20 percent (2-of-10).
On the offensive side, it wasn’t just the low number of rushing yards but also only 20 attempts. It played into Houston’s ball-control concept. Running back Jeremy Langford complained afterward that he felt he left yardage on the field.
Fox couldn’t disagree.
“Well, I think we blocked up some runs pretty well, that’s not an easy defense to run against,” Fox said about Houston. “But I think there were some yards there, yards after the carry, I mean yards after contact that we can go and I’m sure that’s what he was referring to.”
With better chances to convert offensively or get off the field on third down, the Bears think they can reverse their misfortunes at Soldier Field.
It would be a good time to start setting a standard considering the large number of players making regular-season starts at home as Bears on Monday night for the first time. If the same players start as last week, 11 will make their first Soldier Field start as Bears.
“I came here a bunch of times playing on other teams,” Hicks said. “It’s nice to finally have these guys (fans) on our back because I remember how they treated us (as visitors) on the way out.”
That can work both ways.
Some Bears in the past two seasons would say they also remember a similar reaction from Bears fans on the way out.
It’s just what a 1-7 record brings in the NFL.
NOTES: S Harold Jones-Quartey (hand), who left Sunday’s game and returned, but had a brace on his hand and wrist afterward, was able to go through a full practice Thursday. … CB Kyle Fuller (knee) practiced on a limited basis Thursday as he continues to come back from arthroscopic surgery. Bears coach John Fox was asked if Fuller would automatically become starter again ahead of Jacoby Glenn and Deiondre’ Hall once he has healed sufficiently. He was noncommittal. Fuller was the only Bear on Thursday’s injury report. … WR Eddie Royal will apparently go forward as the punt returner. Royal had very little work at it in training camp or the offseason and made a 31-yard return on his first try. The Bears had only one return longer last season, a 34-yarder by Bryce Callahan. Royal returned 12 punts with the Denver Broncos in 2011 when Rodgers was an assistant, including an 85-yard touchdown return.