Chicago Bears Sackwatch 2020: Week 15 vs the Minnesota Vikings

Only one sack allowed by the Chicago Bears this week against the Minnesota Vikings, and that pulls Mitchell Trubisky’s sack percentage down to 6.8 for the season, but more importantly it’s down to 6.3% in his last four games. Compare that to the 7.5% he had in his first three starts, and the numbers would seem to indicate he’s improved at avoiding sacks since getting his starting job back.

The eye test would back that up as well, as his pocket presence has been a bit better and he hasn’t run out of bounds for a sack since week 12. He’s been decisive in his scrambling opportunities, and he’s done a better job in getting rid of the ball since playing in this version of the offense.

Improved offensive line play has certainly helped, but Trubisky deserves some credit too.

The Jaguars are up next, and considering they only have 17 sacks on the year, the Bears have a good chance to bring their sack percentage down again.

Sackwatch: Breaking down where the blame lies for each sack allowed by the Chicago Bears since Mike Martz was calling 7-step drops.

Historical Sackwatch after 14 games

2010 - 48 Martz
2011 - 42 Martz
2012 - 42 Tice
2013 - 24 Trestman
2014 - 37 Trestman
2015 - 28 Gase
2016 - 24 Loggains
2017 - 33 Loggains
2018 - 30 Nagy
2019 - 38 Nagy
2020 - 34 Nagy

Sack 34 - First Quarter 13:56 - Todd Davis
This was the third play of the game and I immediately feared I would be in for a long Sackwatch this week.

But this was it!

This was a third and one, and the Bears rolled Mitch out to his left while running a pick play from tight end Jimmy Graham for wide out Allen Robinson. The pick worked enough and A-Rob was open for the quick out, but linebacker Todd Davis (#40) seemed to be keying in on running back David Montgomery and he flowed right into Trubisky’s throwing lane. When Montgomery stayed in to pass block, or in this case when he cut the defensive end to the outside of his left tackle, that meant Davis was free to blitz.

Trubisky couldn’t lob the ball over Davis’ head, as the defensive back was too close to Robinson, and there wasn’t a good angle for Mitch to fire it to his wide out. On the FOX broadcast, color analyst Greg Jennings said that he thought Trubisky taking the sack was the right decision, and I tend to agree with him.

If it wasn’t left tackle Charles Leno Jr.’s responsibility to close off his inside gap, he might have had a chance to cut Davis off on the green dog blitz, but as this play unfolded there was no way for him to get back outside after his initial move.

It was just unfortunate that Davis ended up in the throwing lane, so this one is a Sacks Happen.

Here’s the 2020 individual Sackwatch after 14 games:

Rashaad Coward - 4
Sacks Happen - 4
Bobby Massie - 3⅓
Mitchell Trubisky - 3
Cody Whitehair - 3
Charles Leno Jr. - 3
Germain Ifedi - 2⅓
Nick Foles - 2
Jason Spriggs - 2
David Montgomery - 1.5
Alex Bars - 1.5
Jimmy Graham - 1.5
Ryan Nall - 1
Sam Mustipher - 5⁄6
Cole Kmet - .5
James Daniels - .5