Chicago Bears Sackwatch 2015: Week 6 vs Detroit Lions

The Chicago Bears did not allow any sacks to the Detroit Lions last Sunday.

Yeah, I know, the official stat sheet says that Detroit picked up one sack, but that's poppycock. Throughout my years of doing the Sackwatch there have been times I felt the Bears could have been credited with a run for 0 yards, rather than a sack, but on this one Jay Cutler actually crossed the line of scrimmage. The refs just gave the Bears an awful spot.

It was just one of the many awful decisions made by the officiating crew on Sunday, but I'm not getting into that today.

So yes, technically speaking, according to the NFL, the Bears allowed one sack, and the Sackwatch will reflect that idiotic decision.

Sackwatch after 6 games
2010 - 27 Martz
2011 - 19 Martz
2012 - 19 Tice
2013 - 9 Trestman
2014 - 14 Trestman
2015 - 12 Gase

Before we move on, just take a look at that first Mike Martz year, Yikes!

But back to the pass protection this week. I thought it was pretty bad. Jay Cutler was evading the pass rush on just about every one of his dropbacks, including the "sack" I'll describe below.

Sack 12 (but not really a sack) - Second quarter :40
This one is heading into the sacks happen category, because it wasn't really a sack. I thought about creating another category (B.S. Sacks), but ultimately decided against it.

Check out the GIF below.

In case you can't tell from the GIF, the Bears had a 2nd and 3 from their own 27 yard line. Cutler feels some pressure, so he takes off, and eventually tucks the ball away. Look at the forward progress of the football. The blue line isn't official, but I see the ball at least a full yard past the 27. This should have been a 1 yard run by Jay, and not a sack.

But as to the play itself, it was some poor pass protection as the Lions rushed 4 against the Bears 6.

Tight end Martellus Bennett, who is lined up on the right side, steps inside to pass block first, before releasing on a pattern. Had a blitzer presented himself, or had Detroit's left defensive end taken an outside rush, then Bennett may have stayed in.

The Lions had an interesting line up with their front 4, by having a man each on Chicago center Hroniss Grasu, left guard Mat Slauson and left tackle Charles Leno Jr. With such an overload to Chicago's left, you would think that right guard Vladimir Ducasse's first move would be to help his center, especially considering the Bears were leaving a tight end to assist right tackle Kyle Long.

Detroit actually brings their LDE back inside on a stunt, towards the overload, so it ended up being 4 Lion rushers against Chicago's left side.

Ducasse just looks lost on this play and it sure looks to me like Grassu is expecting help from his right guard. Grasu opens up to his right, to entice his man to go that way, but Ducasse wasn't there.

I mean, come on, just watch Ducasse all the way through the play. What the hell is he doing?

Moving along...

Left guard Slauson does a good job with his one on one match-up with a strong punch and a good anchor, but left tackle Leno is beat too quickly by the speed rush. He was late in throwing his hands and his kick step was a bit slow. His pressure is the first that Cutler sensed, but the stunting LDE was in his face too because Grasu was out of position and unable to get in his way.

Leno's man, #95 Brandon Copeland, received credit for half a sack and cornerback Josh Wilson (#30), stepped up off of Bennett to clean up the sack.

Here's how I have the Sackwatch after 6 games.

Kyle Long - 3
Sacks Happen - 3
Charles Leno Jr. - 1
Vlad Ducasse - 2
Jermon Bushrod - 1
Matt Slauson - .5
Hroniss Grasu - .5
Matt Forte - .5
Jay Cutler - .5

What are your thoughts on the Sackwatch this week?