Of all the offensive improvements this Chicago Bears team has made since last season — and their numbers are up across the board — nothing has been as drastic as the improvement in the pass protection.
The offensive line has been better, Caleb Williams has been better, the backs and tight ends have been better, and most importantly, the scheme has been better.
Last year, Williams was sacked more than any other quarterback, and his sack percentage of 10.79 was the third highest. This season, his sack percentage is down to 5.92, which is below he league average of 6.61.
Here’s how I saw this week’s three sacks going.
Sack 8 – 2nd Quarter :35 – Frankie Luvu
This was a third-and-five from Chicago’s 45 as the half was winding down, and watching live, I was irked by the sack Caleb took. He could have just chucked the ball out of bounds to avoid the sack and loss in yards, but on the replay, I changed my mind. Not only would it have been tricky to contort and get a clean pass off, but considering the time remaining on the clock, keeping the clock moving was the smart play.
So Caleb got to the sideline, turned upfield, and took a big hit by linebacker Frankie Luvu. Staying in bounds and taking the sack forced the Washington Commanders to call their second timeout. A 53-yard Tory Taylor punt put the Commanders at their 9-yard line, and with the one timeout and just 19 seconds on the clock, they took a knee and went into the locker room.
Caleb faced some unblocked pressure off a good blitz design by Washington, he evaded it, and instead of forcing a throw, he smartly took the sack.
Sack 9 – 3rd Quarter 8:52 – Dorance Armstrong and Von Miller
This play came right after the bogus illegal formation call on Theo Benedet that negated a touchdown pass to Rome Odunze. The Bears were in field goal range here on a third and eleven, and the pass protection held up.
Caleb had a pocket. He had time to get through a few progressions, but he had no one open.
Rookie Luthur Buden III posted up over the middle, and I get the sense that he should have either run a return route or continued across the field instead of settling down.
Williams had a solid three seconds before he even thought about navigating the pocket. He kept his eyes up and still had nowhere to go. A clean runing lane never opened up, and Von Miller and Dorance Armstrong shared the sack. I can’t fault the offensive line, as they held Washington off long enough. I also can’t fault Caleb, because he had nowhere to go; plus, with them in field goal range, there was no point in forcing a pass.
I’ve yet to use the sacks happen category this season, so let’s dust it off for this one.
Sack 10 – 4th Quarter 1:22 – Jeremy Reaves
With the Bears driving down for the game-winning field goal, they wanted to keep the clock moving, so on this first-and-ten play, it seems like they gave Caleb a bootleg with instructions only to throw if there was a sure thing in front of him. With nothing there, Caleb again did the smart thing and took the sack.
At the end of the season, when I tally up all the numbers, keep in mind that at least two sacks that Caleb took were the smart play in the heat of the moment of the game.
Here’s the Sackwatch tally after 5 games.
Caleb Williams – 4
Braxton Jones – 2
Drew Dalman – 2
Sacks Happen – 1
Darnell Wright – 1
As I’ve often said, the breakdowns are based on my best guesses about each play. Only the Bears know the specifics and where the blame truly lies for each sack allowed.
And here are the total Bears’ sacks allowed through 5 games in the Sackwatch era:
2010 – 21 Martz
2011 – 18 Martz
2012 – 14 Tice
2013 – 9 Trestman
2014 – 12 Trestman
2015 – 11 Gase
2016 – 11 Loggains
2017 – 9 Loggains
2018 – 12 Nagy
2019 – 13 Nagy
2020 – 11 Nagy
2021 – 18 Nagy
2022 – 18 Getsy
2023 – 20 Getsy
2024 – 17 Waldron
2025 – 10 Johnson
