The Chicago Bears had to place Yannick Ngakoue on the injured reserve with an ankle injury. The decision ends a tough season for Ngakoue and potentially will end his stay with the Bears.
The Chicago Bears are losing Yannick Ngakoue for the season
The Bears signed him to a one-year deal, and the only year that he has stayed with the team that he was with the year before was when he was tied to his rookie salary contract. Ngakoue is a player who will hold out to find the best deal and will not come back to the Bears on a team-friendly deal.
Frankly, the Chicago Bears should not want him back. He had a 4.8% pass rush win rate this season, and his four sacks would have been on pace for a career-low. Ngakoue had a 7.1% win rate last year and a 10.7% win rate the year prior, so his decline had been coming, but he continues to find his way to sacks.
Even while collecting two sacks since the Montez Sweat trade, his pass rush win rate is actually down a bit at 3.9%. For comparison, DeMarcus Walker is at 10.8% for the season, and that is up to 14.5% in the last five games.
According to SumerSports, the Chicago Bears give up 0.24 more expected points per play when he is on the field compared to when he is off, and they allow 6.3% of plays to be successful when he is out there. That is by far the worst on/off split on the roster.
The Chicago Bears had already been limiting his snaps before the injury, mainly because Walker has been more productive on a per-snap basis. So, his playing time and his skills were declining, and his track record is to move on from each team after one year. When you add in the injury, the two sides should be at peace, knowing that this is the end of the road and that they will go in other directions next year.