Chicago Bears Sackwatch 2019: Week 2 vs. Denver Broncos

After some atrocious looking pass protection in the week one game against the Green Bay Packers, the Chicago Bears redeemed themselves against Von Miller and the Denver Broncos in week two. Miller, who was matched up against Bobby Massie most of the afternoon, did nothing. And by nothing, I mean he had no sacks, no quarterback hits, and no hurries according to Pro Football Focus. He did get a couple tackles on the day, but that’s it.

One of the best pass rushers in the NFL was neutralized by the Bears.

It wasn’t all the pass blocking though, as Matt Nagy’s game-plan was run heavy and it featured several quick passes by Mitchell Trubisky. Although don’t discount the improvement made up front by Chicago as they held the Broncos to zero sacks and only two quarterback hits.

Since I have no sacks allowed to break down this week I wanted to point out a couple nice plays that centered around left guard Cody Whitehair.

The stunting up front by the Packers last week seemed to bother the Bears, but this week Chicago’s pass protection handled it like seasoned veterans. On this first play the Broncos run an inside stunt, with the three technique defensive lineman (in the Bears left b-gap) crossing in front of the nose tackle. Whitehair immediately recognizes a stunt coming so he passes the Bronco off to center James Daniels. Daniels was quick to see the stunt too and he accepts the pass off from Whitehair without losing any leverage.

On this next play Whitehair feels the three technique defensive lineman going outside, so he remains square and braces for the outside linebacker (#55, Bradley Chubb) coming back to him. Chubb hesitates on his initial move, so left tackle Charles Leno Jr. has to play it honest. When Whitehair passes his man towards Leno it catches him by surprise, but Leno keeps his balance and accepts the pass off. This week Whitehair does not turn his hips with the defensive lineman and he’s ready to get Chubb coming back to him.

This improvement in just one week on the offensive line bodes well for next week and beyond, and anyone that had week one concerns about the Daniels-Whitehair switch should be over that and on to something else.

So now let’s see if the rest of the Bears’ O can get it together.

Sackwatch after 2 games

2010 Sacks - 5 (Martz)
2011 Sacks - 11 (Martz)
2012 Sacks - 9 (Tice)
2013 Sacks - 1 (Trestman)
2014 Sacks - 3 (Trestman)
2015 Sacks - 4 (Gase)
2016 Sacks - 8 (Loggains)
2017 Sacks - 5 (Loggains)
2018 Sacks - 6 (Nagy)
2019 Sacks - 5 (Nagy)

2019 Individual Sackwatch after week 2:

Mitchell Trubisky - 3
Kyle Long - 1
Cody Whitehair - 1