With new head coach Matt Eberflus, and his defensive coordinator Alan Williams you knew that things would start to change for the Chicago Bears. As much as the coaches will scheme around their talent, they are also going to bring their scheme and system into the fold.
With that in mind, we did see some of the changes start to take place. What are some notes from how the Chicago Bears defense played in week one under Alan Williams?
4. Chicago Bears Low Blitz Rate
The Chicago Bears were not a high-blitz group last season. They only blitzed on 22.6% of their defensive snaps, which had them ranked 21st in the NFL. Still, we knew that Matt Eberflus was either going to keep things about the same, or perhaps even dial the blitz back.
He did just that in the first week of the season. According to football reference, the Chicago Bears blitzed on 2.9% of their defensive snaps. That is about a 20% decrease from last season. It obviously has them right at the bottom, even lower than they were last season.
This could have to do with the weather, but at the same time we know that this is who Matt Eberflus is. The Colts blitzed 20% last season, so we may end up seeing the blitz come a bit more as the season continues, but one thing that will continue is that the team will blitz at the lowest rate in the NFL.