The Chicago Bears offensive line has had two tough tests with the 49ers and Packers. Now, they see a Texans defense that is not quite as stingy but is up-and-coming. How do the Bears stack up?
Chicago Bears LT Braxton Jones vs.
Jonathan Greenard 29% (5% win rate)
Jerry Hughes 28% (26% win rate)
Ogbonnia Okoronkwo 21.3% (0% win rate)
Rasheem Green 10.7 (33% win rate)
In the first game, Braxton Jones saw a heavy dose of Nick Bosa and followed that up with a battle against Preston Smith. Needless to say, this will feel like a warm welcome for Jones. He was tossed into the fire, and while every group of pass rushers is NFL caliber, the duo he opened his career against is tough.
Greenard has some cleanup stats so Jones will have to work until the whistle, but he has not produced much this year. Jerry Hughes has done well, but a lot of his production came on the other side. Still, he is the veteran who is savvy enough to burn the rookie a few times.
The last name to watch is Green, who did not play in week one but added three pressures and a couple of sacks against Russell Wilson and the Denver Broncos
Chicago Bears RT Larry Borom vs.
Jonathan Greenard 32.5% (5% win rate)
Jerry Hughes 27.2% (26% win rate)
Ogbonnia Okoronkwo 15.4% (0% win rate)
Rasheem Green 12.4 (33% win rate)
It is worth noting that most of the Texans’ linemen have been more productive against the right tackle, but as you can see it is a relatively even split between how they line up their edge rushers.
In week one the Packers split Preston Smith and Rashan Gary, but then made sure to put Gary on Borom and Smith on Jones in week two. We will see the if Texans have a specific matchup that they like this week.
With the Houston Texans’ 4-3 front they very rarely have a lineman head up against the center. Below you can see that similar to their edge rushers, they have a firm rotation of four men, and all four rush from both sides.
Roy Lopez 31.4% vs LG, 25.8% vs RG (16.7% win rate)
Maliek Collins 32.4% vs RG, 22.4% vs LG (5.9% win rate)
Michael Dwumfour 20% vs LG, 18.5% vs RG (8.3% win rate)
Kurt Hinish 22.5% vs RG, 19% vs LG (15.4% win rate)
Thomas Booker 7% vs LG, 7% vs RG
Cody Whitehair is going to see a lot of Lopez and Dwumfour. They line up against him about 51.4% of the time, while the right guards will see Collins and Hinish 54.9% of the time. Collins does not have a good win rate, but do not let that fool you from how productive he can be, especially as a run defender.
Still, after Arik Armstead, Javon Kinlaw, Kenny Clark, Jarran Reed, and Dean Lowry, most of these names are also viewed as a slight step down on the totem pole, which is comforting for Chicago Bears fans.