Blitz dooms Chicago Bears vs Vikings

The Chicago Bears failed to pick up the blitz against the Minnesota Vikings

It was not a surprise to see the Chicago Bears offensive line struggle given all of the shuffling going on in the past three weeks. However, the Minnesota Vikings were a team that was getting pressure less than almost any other team in the NFL. Getting Cody Whitehair back against this depleted Vikings defensive line gave the Bears a chance for the line could catch its breath and find a rhythm.

However, Mike Zimmer and the Minnesota Vikings defense had different plans for that. The Vikings blitz just 24%, which was 9th least in the NFL. However, on Sunday, they sent nine blitzes, a 30% rate that would put them much closer to league average.

The reason they did it was because it was working most of these pressure looks came in the second half. When Nick Foles was blitzed he was sacked twice and was 1-7 passing the football, according to PFF.

Foles was 14-19, albeit for just 98 yards when he was not blitzed. The Vikings only forced 12 pressures, with nine coming from sending an extra man. Still, Foles was 2-3 when the Vikings brought pressure without blitzing, while 1-7 against the blitz.

Before you jump down the back of Foles and call for Trubisky, Foles has been better against the blitz and still is even after this performance. For the season Foles is a 67% completion rate passer against the blitz and has four touchdowns to one pick against the blitz. This has not always been the issue.

Pass Protection Woes

A lot of it can come down pass protection issues. An example of the Vikings sending a six-man rush is below. The Bears keep Ryan Nall in to pass protect, so they have six blockers on six blitzers.

However, you can see what Foles sees as he grabs the ball from the shotgun.

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The Bears have two mean on number one, while number 3, Nall, is on the Vikings number 2. Nall should have been helping Cody Whitehair pick up the two rushers standing over him. However, because Germain Ifedi and Rashaad Coward double team their man, the extra rusher gets free.

The result is the play below. Nick Foles got rid of the ball but he never had a chance and knew it once he saw the poor pass protection.

Issues with Ifedi and Coward continue. Foles was sacked in the play below, and on the broadcast, you could see Ifedi question why Coward did not pick his man up.

However, as you can see, the Vikings show a blitz with 54 but are actually sending rushers from the outside, and 54 fell back. Ifedi went to pick up 54, who was not there. He also was assuming that Coward picked up 50, but he did not.

You could argue that this is on Ifedi for not adjusting earlier, but it likely is on Coward. Foles saw the blitzers coming from the right side, pre-snap, and set the protection to protect himself up the middle.

This is hard for Coward, who sees two men to his right and no help, and assumed he needs to pick them up. However, Foles was looking left and would have had more time with the rusher being free from his far-right side rather than up the middle.

Foles had plenty of bad passes in this game, and you cannot absolve him from these issues. Not being able to extend any plays against the blitz is an issue as well. However, the pass protection was clueless against the blitz, and it led to two sacks and six incompletions on nine tries. That is as successful as it gets.