Chicago Bears Sackwatch 2018: Week 4 vs. the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Even though the Chicago Bears have given up 9 sacks in the first three weeks, I thought their pass protection has been solid. Pass pro with a young quarterback is a challenge at times, and as Mitchell Trubisky settles in and gains familiarity in the offense, his pocket presence will improve and we’ll see the sacks decrease.

That’s exactly what we saw on Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Trubisky looked comfortable in the pocket and he, for the most part, remained calm and was delivering strikes all over the field (including to his left). Pro Football Focus had the Bears pass protection only allowing 4 total pressures in Trubisky’s 28 drop backs.

With one sack allowed on Sunday, let’s take a look at the historical Sackwatch after 4 games to see how the offense did under previous play callers.

2010 - 18 Martz
2011 - 15 Martz
2012 - 13 Tice
2013 - 6 Trestman
2014 - 8 Trestman
2015 - 9 Gase
2016 - 11 Loggians
2017 - 8 Loggains
2018 - 10 Nagy

Sack 10 - First Quarter 10:05 - Jason Pierre-Paul
JPP had three sacks on the season heading into the game, and he’s compiled over 60 in his nine career, so he’s a guy you have to be cognizant of. I thought the Bears. and left tackle Charles Leno Jr., did a very good job against him all afternoon.

Even on this particular sack, Leno does a good job. He keeps his body between JPP and the pocket where his quarterback should be. It’s the edge pressure from the opposite side that flushes Trubisky into Pierre-Paul’s waiting arms.

Right tackle Bobby Massie was just beat around the edge by Vinny Curry (#97). It was nothing fancy by Tampa’s defensive end. He just extended his inside arm to keep Massie off him and kept working around. Massie’s feet looked good, but when his punch didn’t connect first, he just wasn’t quick enough to stay with Curry.

Trubisky tried to evade the rush, but his escape went outside of Leno’s block, which allowed JPP to get the look-what-I-found sack. If Massie’s guy doesn’t flush Trubisky into Pierre-Paul this sack doesn’t happen, so I’m giving the sack allowed to Massie.

Individual Sackwatch after week 4:

Mitchell Trubisky - 4.5
Sacks Happen - 2
Kyle Long - 1
Bobby Massie - 1
Dion Sims - .5
Charles Leno - .5
Erik Kush - .5

One more thing, check out the interior of the Bears o-line and watch how Kyle Long (RG) and Cody Whitehair (C) pick up the twist in front of them. The twist came late, and the patience from the two Bears helped them flawlessly work together.