Chicago Bears: Super Bowl LV proves Ryan Pace must follow this draft strategy
The outcome of Super Bowl LV should be a wake-up call to the Chicago Bears
When it comes to the Chicago Bears, Ryan Pace has addressed the trenches on only one side of the ball. Alright, he’s invested a little bit on the offensive side too with Cody Whitehair and James Daniels, but this is not nearly enough. The team is counting on a seventh-round draft pick to protect the blind side of whoever is under center. This is not something that works too often in the NFL and despite how decent Charles Leno was at times this year, it was not good enough.
Watching the Kansas City Chiefs get manhandled by the Bucs front four is the main reason why the Chiefs never had a chance in this game. Honestly, had Eric Fisher not gone down with an injury versus the Bills in the AFC Championship, Super Bowl LV would have looked much different than the 31-9 shellacking we saw on Sunday.
When Eric Fisher went down with an injury, it did not only affect the left side of the offensive line, it caused the Chiefs to make drastic changes heading into the Super Bowl. The team’s right tackle Mike Remmers was shifted from the right side and played for Fisher on the left. Then right guard Andrew Wylie shifted over to right tackle. Finally, backup Stefen Wisniewski was promoted to play right guard. This is not something any team wants to do the week before the “big game.”
We saw Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs’ offense start out okay, but that was also due to Mahomes scrambling for multiple first downs. Once the score got out of hand, the Bucs were able to attack and pressure Mahomes knowing he’d likely be throwing more often than not.
final tally, via @ESPNStatsInfo:
— Mina Kimes (@minakimes) February 8, 2021
Mahomes was pressured on 29/56 dropbacks--the most of any QB in Super Bowl history.
Brady was pressured on 4/30--the lowest of his SB career.
Mahomes had no chance, and this further proves that not having a strong offensive line can make even the best quarterbacks look pedestrian on the stat sheet when all said and done. The Bucs were able to let the front four rush on every down while the secondary just could not let anyone get behind them. This limited the likes of Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce from making the “big” plays we are used to on a weekly basis. But what does this have to do with the Chicago Bears?