Nobody expected that -- nobody.
We are a few days removed from Kyler Gordon making his return to the field for the Chicago Bears and his performance is still one of the hottest conversations when it comes to this team.
Mind you, it came on the same day quarterback Caleb Williams returned from his hamstring injury as well.
Just in case you aren't keen on the details, Gordon played his first game since back in the Divisional Round against the Rams, and he put on an absolute show. The Bears' nickel corner only played 17 defensive snaps, but he ended up with a stat line that looks made up.
Obviously, the most incredible part is the three sacks. To have three sacks, in a single game, as a defensive back, is mind-blowing. In fact, he tied an NFL record for most sacks in a game by a defensive back.
...on 17 snaps!
Kyler Gordon's pass rush might be the Bears' secret weapon and a necessary action going forward
Thanks to the digging and research by Adam Hoge and Adam Jahns, though, one little nugget somehow makes this performance even better.
Of Gordon's 17 snaps, 10 of them were pass rush snaps. If you were to look at all 10 of those pass rush snaps and tally up the total net yards gained by the Falcons' offense, do you know what the answer is?
Zero.
The Falcons gained zero net yards on those 10 pass rush snaps by Kyler Gordon.
That's almost unbelievable. Too good to be true.
But it is.
Taking sacks and lost yardage into account, Atlanta's offense gained a net total of zero yards on the downs we saw Gordon rush the passer. It's truly a remarkable finding by Hoge and Jahns, and something we can only hope Dennis Allen also knows and takes action with going forward.
In years past, we've seen Gordon rush the passer on a regular basis. But, I don't recall him rushing that much. 10 of 17 snaps is a borderline-crazy ratio.
But it worked.
Kyler Gordon may help the Bears emulte Brian Flores' vaunted defense
While it's not the same scheme in the slightest, the Bears' defense may have found their secret sauce. Everybody wants to talk about the Minnesota Vikings' defense and how much Brian Flores loves to use the blitz.
Flores might look like he's out of his mind with the amount of blitzing he does, yet, it works.
The Bears don't necessarily have the overall talent that the Vikings' defense has, but Gordon is so, so good at rushing the passer that Dennis Allen may have to keep doing this going forward.
Finding ways to get Gordon after the quarterback and only giving the opposing offense two-ish seconds to throw could be the key to this Bears defense truly taking a step forward.
Look at the secondary with Jaylon Johnson appearing slow and nowhere near the same player he once was. Tyrique Stevenson is as inconsistent as anybody in this league.
If you were to guarantee those two only 2.5 seconds needed in coverage, I have a feeling the opinion on this defense and, specifically the secondary, changes a little bit overall.
Gordon is special at what he does rushing the passer. Dennis Allen should be utilizing him in this area more and more.
It's unorthodox, but the Bears have 17.0 sacks on the season and are somehow looking improved from a year ago -- and they did that on Sunday without Montez Sweat or Dayo Odeyingbo.
Read more: Patriots' injury report could lead to a massive Bears advantage on TNF
It was the Kyler Gordon show.
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