Chicago Bears Sackwatch 2019: Week 3 vs. Washington

After giving Mitchell Trubiksy a mostly clean pocket in Denver during week two, the Chicago Bears’ pass protection had some lapses in Washington on Monday Night Football. Trubisky was only hit on three occasions, but he was made to feel uncomfortable several times. To his credit, he avoided the pressure and made some plays, but if this team is going to be a postseason contender, they’ll need to tighten up their pass pro.

They’re still ahead of last year’ pace after three games, but Trubisky’s 7.2 sack percentage this year is higher than the 5.2 he ended 2018 with.

Number of sacks after 3 games:

2010 - 8 (Martz)
2011 - 14 (Martz)
2012 - 11 (Tice)
2013 - 3 (Trestman)
2014 - 7 (Trestman)
2015 - 6 (Gase)
2016 - 9 (Loggains)
2017 - 7 (Loggains)
2018 - 9 (Nagy)
2019 - 8 (Nagy)

Sack 6 - First Quarter 11:06 - Montez Sweat
Trubisky quickly set on this third and nine, had no where to go, then felt immediate pressure from his blind side. Left tackle Charles Leno Jr. lost the edge on Montez Sweat which forced Trubisky to scramble. There aren’t many 260 pound men that can run a 4.4 forty, so Mitch didn’t have a chance to outrace the Mississippi State rookie.

The sideline view shows that Leno just didn’t kick out quick enough to cut Sweat off. With Washington blitzing to Chicago’s left side, it seems like Leno was concerned with his inside gap, but left guard Cody Whitehair and center James Daniels had things covered, and running back David Montgomery was also in the mix to help if needed.

I don’t want to assume that since this is only Leno’s third game playing next to Whitehair that he was unsure how things would be blocked to his inside, but something caused him to hesitate in turning his attention to the edge.

This sack is on Leno.

Sack 7 - First Quarter 5:44 - Matt Ioannidis
On the ESPN broadcast Booger McFarland seemed to blame center James Daniels for not giving the double team help in a timely fashion on this Matt Ioannidis sack. And while I agree with that to a point, I also can’t give a pass to right guard Kyle Long for getting beat by his man. Washington only rushes four, but there is a middle linebacker stacked over Long that Daniels had to respect as a potential blitzer.

Watch the play and watch Daniels’ initially focus on the Mike backer.

The Bears were manned up in pass protection which meant that Leno and Whitehair were responsible for the two guys on their side. The Bears had the running back give some chip help to right tackle Cornelius Lucas on the edge rusher, leaving Long on Ioannidis. Even if Long noticed the Mike drop into coverage, he shouldn’t rely on Daniels to help him out. Long over-sets to take away the b-gap which left an inside track for his man.

Sure, Daniels could have been aware of the pass rush around him and dropped back further, but Long retreated so fast that Daniels wouldn;t have had a good angle any way.

I’m giving this one to Long.

Sack 8 - Second Quarter 5:06 - Josh Norman
This wasn’t a sack. This was a run for zero yards. Trubiksy was past the stick, but since the ball was in his right hand it was spotted at the stick where he went out of bounds, so it was a zero yard play.

Normally I’m salty when I see a “sack” like this, because all the quarterback has to do is chuck it out of bounds to avoid the loss, but since this wasn’t a negative play it shouldn’t be a sack!

I’m going Sacks Happen on this one because this play just pisses me off.

2019 Individual Sackwatch after week 3:

Mitchell Trubisky - 3
Kyle Long - 2
Charles Leno Jr. - 1
Cody Whitehair - 1
Sacks Happen - 1