Chicago Bears Sackwatch 2022: Week 16 vs Buffalo Bills

Just two sacks allowed by the Chicago Bears this week, which brings their total up to 50 on the season. That's the fourth most in the league, but the Bears are number one in allowing a sack on 13.2% of their dropbacks.

Justin Fields has been sacked 48 times this year, which is second to the 49 times Denver's Russell Wilson has been sacked, but Fields has been taken down more frequently than Wilson, with a sack percentage of 13.9%.

The good news for Chicago's pass protection as they close out the 2022 season is that they have the Lions and Vikings, who are ranked 26th (5.5%) and 23rd (6.0%) in defensive sack percentage.

Here’s the historical Sackwatch after 15 games:

2010 - 50 Martz
2011 - 42 Martz
2012 - 43 Tice
2013 - 29 Trestman
2014 - 39 Trestman
2015 - 29 Gase
2016 - 25 Loggains
2017 - 38 Loggains
2018 - 33 Nagy
2019 - 41 Nagy
2020 - 35 Nagy
2021 - 49 Nagy/Lazor
2022 - 50 Getsy

Here's how I have the Bears' sacks allowed this week.

Sack 49 - 2nd Quarter :51 - Ed Oliver
The Bears were in an empty set on first down, and it looks like Fields was scanning the field from right to left, and the sack got home before he got back to the wide-open Velus Jones Jr. on the left side. Jones curled up between defenders, but defensive tackle Ed Oliver shucked Riley Reiff and sacked Fields.

Oliver (#91) runs a stunt by going out to right tackle Reiff, with defensive end Greg Rousseau (#50) looping back inside. Right guard Michael Schofield III passes Oliver off to his outside and accepts Rousseau coming to him. Schofield does a good job on this, but Reiff wasn't ready for the inside move by Oliver. This one is on the veteran right tackle.

Sack 50 - 4th Quarter 3:16 - A.J. Epenesa
Left tackle Braxton Jones was matched up with defensive end A.J. Epenesa (#57), and we've seen this story before. Epenesa extends his left arm into Jones' chest and drives him back while working around the edge. It's a long-arm move Chicago fans have seen ex-Bear Khalil Mack often do.

Jones played a good game against Buffalo, but this sack allowed is all most will think of. I graded his play and had him down as an 88.3% (+53/-7) against a talented Bills defense. He knows he needs to work on anchoring against the power rush, and he'll do so this offseason. He'll strengthen his core in the weight room, but he needs to also work on his hands. On this play, he lets Epenesa strike first, and that was enough for him to lose leverage. The long-arm move makes the defender skinnier and makes it harder for the tackle to have an area to strike. Ideally, Jones wouldn't have allowed the hand to get into his chest, so at this point, Jones needs to chop down at the elbow.

Here's the individual Sackwatch tally after 15 games:

Justin Fields - 11
Sacks Happen - 10.5
Braxton Jones - 8.5
Larry Borom - 4
Cody Whitehair - 3
Lucas Patrick - 2
Sam Mustipher - 2
Riley Reiff - 2
Michael Schofield III - 1.5
Teven Jenkins - 1.5
Trevor Siemian - 1
Cole Kmet - 1
Alex Leatherwood - 1
David Montgomery - .5
Khalil Herbert - .5

Justin Fields has just two more games to play, and he’s five sacks from the record. The all-time single-season record for taking sacks in Chicago history is 52 by Jay Cutler in 2010, so the pass protection needs to step it up to avoid surpassing that number.

Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images

Thanks to all of you guys that check out Sackwatch each week!