Chicago Bears Film Study: Robert Quinn can dominate Andrew Whitworth

Robert Quinn has faced off with Andrew Whitworth before. What can Chicago Bears fans expect?

One of the biggest matchups on Monday night will be Andrew Whitworth taking on Robert Quinn. Whitworth is an elite tackle and a long-time veteran at 38 years old, while Quinn was the Chicago Bears big free-agent signing.

Quinn and Whitworth have not faced off much, but last season, when the Cowboys played the Rams in week 15 they squared off. How did Quinn perform against the All-Pro caliber player, and what can the Chicago Bears expect when he lines up across from Andrew Whitworth?

Bootleg, Screens, and Play Action

Demarcus Lawrence lined up across from Quinn in this game and demanded just as much attention as Quinn. So, while the Rams have had plans for Khalil Mack in the past two years, how they prepared for Quinn and Lawrence in 2019 may be more similar to what they do with Chicago in 2020. Beyond that, the way Leonard Floyd played off of the ball is just a completely different scheme than what Chicago is doing now.

With that in mind, it was clear that the Rams did come into the game with a plan to avoid the two edge rushers. The Rams ran 37 pass plays with Quinn on the field. On 15 of them or 40%, they ran some variation of play-action to bootleg or a quick screen in which their linemen typically released and did not take on Lawrence or Quinn.

A play like the one below was seen often. They get the line moving to the left and get Goff rolling to the right. From there, they are flaring out a quick pass for their quarterback. They took the edge defenders out by scheme 40% of the time. This is going to be a big game for Roquan Smith.

Chips

Aside from the play action and bootlegs, what you saw above were that Cooper Kupp and Tyler Higbee were flexed as tight ends lined up next to their tackles. This was even more common than the quick passes.

Kupp is an excellent blocker, and Higbee is a tight end, so it is no surprise. Still, on 11 plays you saw some form of the play below where Kupp and Higbee were chipping and helping their tackles against the elite edge rushers.

The argument has always been that you cannot double Quinn when you have Khalil Mack. With a slot receiver who doubles as a tight end, Sean McVay says just watch me and finds ways to double both star rushers.

Of course, there is a downfall to this. The Rams have five skill players. In the play below you can see Kupp and Higbee block. You also see that Todd Gurley stays in for an extra second to make sure that there is no rush.

Three of the Rams five skill players are focused on blocking as they release, leaving two receivers breaking down the field right off of the snap. This helps the coverage immensely.

Of course, Gurley, Higbee, and Kupp all ran to the short flats, and that is how the Rams have game planned to pass the ball anyways. Still, you can see in the play above that Quinn almost makes it a point to run into Kupp as he stumbles into the ground. He knows that if Kupp is going to chip, he might as well hold him on the line for as long as possible.

Nonetheless, between extra blockers, bootlegs, play action, and screens, 68% of the snaps Robert Quinn was on the field saw a game planned response to help Whitworth.

Stunts

Quinn did take on Whitworth for about ten plays. It is not exact because the Cowboys also had a plan to test the Rams offensive line. The Cowboys ran five stunts at the Cowboys line, and it resulted in two sacks.

In the play below Sean Lee gets home, but Quinn stunts on his side. Quinn and the interior lineman stunt. The guard is slow to pick up Quinn, and the center helps him. The interior lineman takes on Whitworth.

Quinn crashes the pocket and forces Goff to step back. Unfortunately for Goff, he steps into Sean Lee.

The play below is the second sack and a similar stunt attempt from Quinn. He draws two linemen as he steps inside, and the interior man gets Whitworth. Once again, the Cowboys blitz from that side as well. This time it is Jourdan Lewis. Nonetheless, the free man gets the sack once again. Forcing the Rams offensive line to pass of stunts may be something the Chicago Bears will want to try. The Bears have often been comfortable getting home with four. However, a take away here could be that sending the extra man will confuse the Rams line.

This has been an area in which Quinn has excelled at as well. Quinn had the best game of his short Chicago Bears career on Sunday against the Panthers. That game was ignited by his impact as a stunting lineman. Take a look at the play below. Quinn does the same exact thing he did against the Rams.

However, in this situation, the center was preoccupied with Khalil Mack instead of Quinn. So, Quinn took out the tackle and guard, which led to an easy Bilal Nichols sack. Quinn has six pressures on Sunday, and the majority of them came on stunts similar to the play below.

While this has shown to be a weakness for the Rams in week 15, a lot of that can also be tied to stunts being a strength for Quinn. There is a good chance the Bears will throw multiple stunts at the Rams on Monday.

Wins

With all of the schemes and games being played, Quinn hardly saw Whitworth straight up. When he did, he found success. Another move Quinn has been successful with has been this inside move. He is a speed rusher and threatens the outside before cutting inside, and twisting the tackle.

To be fair to Whitworth, he handles this like the experienced veteran he is. Still, the dominance of Quinn is tough to ignore and he forces Goff to move off-platform. Goff threw an incompletion.

Right before the half, Goff threw an interception. You cannot say that it is because Quinn beat Whitworth to the inside. Still, Quinn does cross Goff as he releases and clearly did not see the linebacker. At the very least, this is a nice pressure by Quinn.

In total, Quinn allowed five pressures on Whitworth. One resulted in a holding. That is the play below. He kept cutting inside, and this time he went to the outside. Whitworth was not ready for the power and took Quinn to the ground. In total, Quinn won three times to the inside and twice to the outside, one being the play below.

Loss

There were four plays where Whitworth and Quinn went head to head and Whitworth did not have an issue. Goff did release the ball quickly and on time, but Whitworth did win off of the ball and dictated the movement like in the play below.

Still, Robert Quinn had five pressures against Andrew Whitworth about 10 months ago. He has 11 pressures through six games according to PFF and had six last week. We have written that Quinn is being paid as a pass rush the only weapon and that five or six pressure games need to be a common occurrence, and not a once every five-week situation. With that in mind, there is not going to be an excuse of Quinn taking on Whitworth if Quinn does not perform on Monday.

The expectation should be that the Rams will game plan around them. However, stunts and inside rushes can counter their attack. Beyond that, when Quinn gets chances against Whitworth, he should win and should have multiple plays that impact the game.