How Chicago Bears defensive line matches up with Vikings OL

When the Chicago Bears take on the Minnesota Vikings the game will be decided by the trenches. We already looked into how the offensive line might be able to hold up against the Vikings’ defensive line, so now the question is how the Chicago Bears’ defensive line will look when facing off against their opponents.

Minnesota Vikings LT Christian Darrisaw Vs Chicago Bears Robert Quinn

Christian Darrisaw has a 97.9 pass block efficiency rating. That puts him in the top 12 in the NFL. He has not allowed a sack yet this season primarily going against Preston Smith, Josh Sweat, Charles Harris, and Marcus Davenport. His best feat was probably this past game in London.

The Chicago Bears keep their rotation pretty simple against left tackles. Robert Quinn rushes against them on 70% of the snaps, they see Dominique Robinson on 20% and the other five is split up between Trevis Gipson, Al-Quadin Muhammad, and even Kingsley Jonathan.

Still, the matchup all day will be Quin against Darrisaw. Quinn has a 12.2% pass rush win rate, which is down from his 21.9% last season. This may have been expected, but he did well against a poor Packers tackle. He did fine against Trent Williams as well, but he made no impact against Laremy Tunsil, and Andrew Thomas.

Tunsil and Thomas join Darrisaw as top 12 tackles this season, but that may only mean that we see Quinn stonewalled for a third straight week.

Minnesota Vikings LG Ezra Cleveland vs Chicago Bears DL

Angelo Blackson – 36.4% 

Justin Jones – 26% 

Armon Watts – 19%

Mike Pennel – 18%

The Chicago Bears have a pretty stable rotation of their front four. They hardly line up a player over the center, but they do rotate sides, with Blackson leading the way against the left guards.

Blackson has a 3.4% win rate, with just two pressures and zero sacks. We wrote this offseason that he is a rotational player stepping into a larger role, and sometimes rotational players are better as just that. Blackson is grading out as the worst interior run defender as well.

Justin Jones has a 5.6% pass rush win rate with six pressures, and a sack. His sack was a key one against Davis Mills to change the game. Jones has also been the most effective run defender of the two. However, he does line up over the right guard more often.

Armon Watts should probably start playing more than Blackson. He has an 11.1% win rate, and an 8.5% run stop rate, compared to Blackson at 6%. Then, there s Pennel. He has a 33% pass rush win rate, but he plays most of his snaps on run-downs.

Ezra Cleveland has allowed two sacks and 11 pressures so far. The Eagles’ interior rush is arguably the best in the NFL, and they took him for a ride, but other than that he has held his own.

Minnesota Vikings Center Garrett Bradbury

The Chicago Bears do not line someone up over center often, but when they do, it is often Armon Watts on passing downs and Mike Pennel on run downs. Bradbury is having the best year of his career with a 97.3 pass-block efficiency rating while allowing one sack and eight pressures.

Minnesota Vikings RG Ed Ingram vs Chicago Bears DL

Justin Jones 41.3%

Angelo Blackson 27.4%

Armon Watts 16.3%

Mike Pennel 13.9%

Ed Ingram has allowed 2 sacks and 14 pressures. He has a pass block efficiency rating of 95.2 Which has him ranked 64th out of 73 qualified guards. If the Chicago Bears can have an advantage, it is here.

As noted, Justin Jones is much better than Blackson so far this season, and the run defense will be strong on this side. Unfortunately, Dalvin Cook does not test this side as much as the left side.

Watts and Pennel often play more on the other side, mainly because Blackson needs the rotation more than Jones. With that in mind, this should be a big game for Jones on the right guard, and we should see Watts and Pennel rotate with Blackson more, and perhaps Blackson becomes more rotational on both sides.

Minnesota Vikings RT Brian O’Neill vs. Chicago Bears DL

Al-Quadin Muhammad 57.3% 

Trevis Gipson 31.2% 

The duo makes up 88.5% of the pass rush snaps on this side, with Dominique Robinson on the side occasionally. We are still waiting for these two roles to flip, as AQM has a 4.8% win rate, and Trevis Gipson has a 26.3% win rate. Gipson has three more pressures and two more sacks despite playing over a quarter less of the game than AQM.

Meanwhile, O’Neill has been solid. He did better than any RT against Rashan Gary, did well against Adian Hutchinson, and held his own against Cameron Jordan, although he did allow a sack. His pass block efficiency is 34th out of 73 and when you consider he went against Gary and Jordan that is strong.

It is hard to see AQM doing anything in the run game or pass game here. Trevis Gipson will probably struggle as well but would put on more pressure in the passing game.