Before getting into this week’s Sackwatch, an update to my breakdown from last week. After some well-thought-out comments in the comment section, and realizing I haven’t had many sacks that I’ve broken
down where taking a sack was the right play, I’m changing the two sacks I put on Caleb Williams to Sacks Happen. It felt wrong to give him “blame” for making the smart play in those situations, so moving those two to the catch-all category when there is no Chicago Bears’ player to blame made sense.
This week, there was only one sack allowed, but it easily could have been a few more. Williams’ escapability was on full display Sunday afternoon, but unfortunately, the Bears didn’t have much to show for it.
“Guys got open, and I think I missed,” Williams said about the passes he delivered after escaping the pocket. “That’s what it boils down to. Other than that, it’s just being able to have it on my conscience that I can help this team, not only by scrambling and delivering a good ball to receivers, which I didn’t do that well today, and it’s also understanding that I can run and hurt a team with my legs.”
Caleb didn’t run at the NFL Combine, but he’s a fantastic athlete. He set the Bears’ rookie rushing record by a quarterback with 489 yards, and so far this season, he’s yet to incorporate that aspect of his skill set into his game.
Sack 11 – 4th Quarter 14:15 – Chase Young and Bryan Bresee
Caleb was working his progressions here from right to middle to left, but before he could get to his checkdown (Kyle Monangai in the left flat), the pressure got to him. Defensive end Chase Young and defensive tackle Bryan Bresee got to Williams simultaneously, so it’s only fair that I split the sack allowed.
Young was giving left tackle Theo Benedet fits all afternoon as a pass rusher. On this play, Benedet stayed in front of Young, even though he was bull-rushed back. Benedet may have sensed he was getting close to the pocket, so he set his anchor, but it looks like Young timed his push-pull move perfectly, and as soon as Benedet’s feet stopped, Young pulled him forward off balance.
Right guard Jonah Jackson has had an underrated season thus far, but he got caught lunging and was off balance on this one. Bresse showed an inside move before a quick move to the outside to sneak past Jackson, whose feet were not in position to cut Bresse off.
Here’s the Sackwatch tally after 6 games.
Sacks Happen – 3
Caleb Williams – 2
Braxton Jones – 2
Drew Dalman – 2
Darnell Wright – 1
Jonah Jackson – .5
Theo Benedet – .5
Here are the total Bears’ sacks allowed through Week 7 in the Sackwatch era:
2010 – 31 Martz
2011 – 21 Martz
2012 – 25 Tice
2013 -11 Trestman
2014 – 17 Trestman
2015 – 13 Gase
2016 – 13 Loggains
2017 – 17 Loggains
2018 – 16 Nagy
2019 – 19 Nagy
2020 – 15 Nagy
2021 – 26 Nagy
2022 – 27 Getsy
2023 – 27 Getsy
2024 – 20 Waldron
2025 – 11 Johnson
