Chicago Bears Week 8 Loser No. 3: Yannick Ngakoue
At this point in the season, the Yannick Ngakoue experiment has been a bust. He has fifteen total tackles on the year, only two sacks, and is in the single digits in total pressures. Against the Chargers, he failed to even appear on the stat sheet. It was a game of disappointment for a lot of players on the defense, but none more than Ngakoue who has failed to reward the Bears for bringing him in late in camp.
The Bears signed Ngakoue to be a pass rush specialist on a team that was led by a safety in total sacks last year. He has not been a factor in most of the games, which is surprising considering he has been one of the league's steadiest contributors from the edge position. Obviously, he has his shortcomings in run defense, and he lacks some size, but he has put up at least eight sacks in every year of his career. The Bears need more production out of him since they paid him to be a starting edge for them.
Yes, he has his work cut out for him because nobody else is eating up blocks and drawing double teams, but there still is no excuse for this much lack of production. He just does not look like the same player that has been so successful in the league, and it shows why he was still unsigned through most of training camp. The Chicago Bears need more production from their defensive front, and that starts with Ngakoue who is supposed to be the best they have up there.