Are Chicago Bears blitzing more in recent weeks?
The Chicago Bears’ defense has been awful, and no one can defend it. However, at least you can admit that Alan Williams is trying to do things to make it better. He is undermanned, and it has caused him to adapt his principles.
Williams comes from a system that rushes four and drops seven into a zone. He does not like to blitz often. However, the personnel dictates the play calls, and we can give credit to Williams for adapting.
The Chicago Bears are blitzing more
The Chicago Bears have blitzed on close to 50% of their opponents’ dropbacks in the past two weeks. The last two weeks are the most the team has blitzed all season.
"View post on imgur.com"
They sent the house during week four, and even in week three they tried to blitz a bit. However, you can see that in weeks one and two they initially did not blitz at all.
They found a happy medium from weeks five through nine, but in the last two weeks they really ramped things up. To be fair, their pressure rate is slightly up, but not really.
However, when they do get pressure, it is almost always blitzers. Jack Sanborn, Kyler Gordon, Jaquan Brisker, and Nicholas Morrow have 10 pressures, and Sanborn has two sacks.
On the flip side, the defensive line has six pressures in that same span. So, Williams is dialing it up, and even if it is not working all the time, it is the only way that they can possibly get pressure.
While they may continue to blitz more, it also could come down to the quarterbacks that they play.
In weeks three and four, they took on Daniel Jones and Davis Mills. The last two weeks were Jared Goff and Marcus Mariota. These are typically quarterbacks who are the worst against the blitz.
This is another good sign for Williams because it shows that he will dial it up against the right competition. Meanwhile, he was not blitzing against Dak Prescott, or Tua, because they can typically shred the blitz.
Next. 10 worst Ryan Pace draft picks. dark
Still, if the team wants to get pressure, they have to blitz. Luckily, they get Zach Wilson who has done awful against the blitz, so you should expect to see Williams call an extra rusher around half of the time again. He knows it is the only way to get pressure, and it has been their only means of success in recent weeks.