The Bears in Context: Sack Rate

Chicago Bears In Context

In place of the Thursday night football thread, I wanted to dedicate a weekly discussion to simply putting some of what the Bears did (and failed to do) in 2016 into a broader context, beginning with the ability of the defense to get after the quarterback.

Sporting Charts tells us that for 2016, the Bears ranked 8th in total sack percentage at 6.5% (they sacked the quarterback 37 times compared to 530 pass attempts). Division rivals Green Bay and Minnesota were just ahead of them, and the top of the group included (in ascending order) the Broncos, Panthers, Bills, Seahawks and (at the top of the heap with a sack percentage of 8.1%), the Arizona Cardinals.

Across the entire NFL, the total was 1,118 sacks and 18295 passing attempts, for a league-wide 6.11% sack rate. This is down, as it has been since 2013, when the average sack rate for the league was 7.14% (that average would have tied the Bills for 3rd place in 2016).

Given this context, are the Bears doing enough to get after the quarterback? Sound off below.