The Chicago Bears will take on Davis Mills, a quarterback that Alan Williams faced off with twice last year. Davis Mills is not having nearly as good of a year two as he did his rookie season. One reason is that teams are blitzing him more this season. After being blitzed 27.4% of the time last season, the Texans are now seeing extra defenders come at them on 35.8% of their snaps.
Should Chicago Bears blitz Davis Mills?
Mills has not adjusted well, and so far this season is averaging 3.3 yards per attempt with a 64.1 passer rating against the blitz compared to an 89.7 rating with 6.7 yards per attempt otherwise. Considering his splits were similar last season, teams are realizing that blitzing Mills will speed things up for him and make him flustered.
This is where his accuracy drops. When he can stand clean in the pocket and think things through he can be an accurate passer.
Of course, this is a bit of an issue for the Chicago Bears, because they preach a philosophy of not blitzing. In fact, they are down at 1.6% for their blitz rate, which is stunningly low. They obviously blitz less than any team in the NFL, and this is way down from last season.
So, the question now becomes will the Chicago Bears be a team that focuses on what they do, play their style, and not worry about the opponent, or do they scheme around who they are playing? It is fair not to blitz in a monsoon, and it is fair not to blitz Aaron Rodgers.
This week, the game plan calls for dialing up the blitz. The Chicago Bears would be smart to follow this game plan and attack Mills at a much higher rate than they have. Of course, even 10% is a huge increase from the first two weeks.
It is worth noting that when the Texans played the Colts in week 13, he was blitzed on 61% of his dropbacks, so we have seen them adapt this for Mills in the past. Mills was 2-8 against the blitz when he faced the Colts last season
Still, if we see the Bears sit back and rush four, then Mills may feel comfortable, and we may learn that the coaches have their scheme and will stick to it no matter what.