Bear Digest

Game-wrecking machine coming to test Ozzy Trapilo and Bears O-line

There is no greater test for an offensive line on pass plays than trying to keep Myles Garrett away from the quarterback, and it's a task the Bears failed at in the past.
Gene Chamberlain|
Myles Garrett fends off a block to get to Justin Fields. The Bears haven't had good success in three past games stopping the NFL sacks leader.
Myles Garrett fends off a block to get to Justin Fields. The Bears haven't had good success in three past games stopping the NFL sacks leader. | Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

Bears quarterback Caleb Williams has an admirable and possibly unrealistic individual goal for Sunday's game. It is one critical to team success.

He doesn't want Cleveland's Myles Garrett getting three sacks to break Michael Strahan's and T.J. Watt's NFL sacks record of 22 1/2.

“Obviously, he's right there at the sack record, almost there at the sack record," Williams said. "And so, I’m going to try and make sure that he doesn't get the sack record on us and on me."

Williams isn't alone in setting this target. He has five capable offensive linemen who rate near the top of the league in pass block win rate. And they've had plenty of experience stopping the best pass rushers, like Micah Parsons, Maxx Crosby, T.J. Watt and Aidan Hutchinson.

"I think those games have prepared the offensive line, us as a game plan, and going against those type of players where they're just the S-tier players where you just have to make sure every single snap, every single play, everything is not allowing them to wreck the game.

"That's something that he can do. That's something that he's done throughout his whole career. And so, we're excited for the challenge. We're excited for this week. We're excited to try and get back into win column.”

The Bears kept Parsons without gaining a sack last week but Garrett is another level up. The Bears' offensive line hasn't allowed as many as three sacks in a game to a full team since playing Washington in Week 6, let alone allowing three to an individual.

“He has, as the kids say, a deep bag of tricks," Williams said. "Whether it's his Euro step, his speed, his off-the-ball, they'll put him at the linebacker area and let him just kind of do his thing.

"So, he has a deep bag of tricks and it's going to be a good challenge for us as an offense, us as an offensive line. Running backs, everybody accounts for him, and everybody else in that field. He has a deep bag of tricks and when somebody is well polished as he is throughout the NFL, and throughout his years in NFL, that's what makes him Myles Garrett.”

The ability to win at the bull rush makes Garrett a dominant pass rusher lining up at tackle or on the edge. He can blitz from a linebacker position that way. He's made double-digit sacks for eight straight seasons and has had 14 or more the past five.

"He's very strong," Bears coach Ben Johnson said. "He's got that bull rush that can take a tackle and put him on roller skates and walk him right back into the quarterback, which happens quite a bit.

"Every team that you see on tape, they have a plan for him, to slow him down. And yet, the chip gets off of him and he just still walks that tackle on back into the quarterback. He does a great job with that. And then, heaven forbid you ever leave him one on one, and that's really where he shows up. He’s almost unblockable that way in pass protection."

Adding to Garrett's repertoire of pass rush moves is defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz's scheme. Schwartz has long been the D-coordinator most associated with the "wide-9" look for edge rushers. Sometimes Garrett is taking that stance far outside the tackle, but he has the speed to get home in Schwartz's scheme.

“It starts with the front four for them and how they get off the ball," Johnson said about the wide-9. "It's unique. It's a hard thing to practice and simulate. I think for a lot of teams that don't see it very often, it's a little bit of a shock early in games, just how quickly those guys can get off the ball. And so, they do a really good job with it. They've got some horses up there.

"And then, the linebackers are really fast. This rookie, (Carson) Schwesinger, he's a really good player. He's going to be a good player for a long time as well. He's all over the place. Highly instinctive. It reminds me, I was with (Former NFL LB) Luke Kuechly at Boston College. He reminds me a lot of Kuechly, just watched him on tape. You can't fool him. He's got good eyes, and he's super fast."

That's all fine and dandy but it's Garrett who is coming for quarterbacks all over the league.

The Bears’ past experience with him isn’t encouraging. Although they held him without a sack in 2023, in 2021 he had sacked Justin Fields 4 ½ times with six quarterback hits and also made four tackles for loss. On that day, he truly did wreck the game for the Bears. As a rookie in 2017, he also had a sack of Bears rookie QB Mitchell Trubisky.

Rookie Ozzy Trapilo gets another tough test at left tackle blocking Garrett. Pro Football Focus gives Trapilo no sacks allowed for 223 pass block attempts at left tackle. He's coming off a strong game even if he did have to block Parsons some of the time.

“I think it's every week that he does a great job of just hitting that reset button and coming in and focused on his technique and his fundamentals," Johnson said. "He's a very conscious player. He's very aware of what's going on, who he's going against, where his help is. And, he tries to use it that way.

"So, not our first time that we've gone against a dynamic pass rusher. Certainly, he might be on another level than anybody else in this league right now. But, we've gone against (Raiders DL Maxx) Crosby and (Lions DL Aidan) Hutchinson and (Packers DL) Micah (Parsons) now. And so, this is the next one. We'll certainly have a plan and be aware of how we can help, not just Ozzy, but it's also (left tackle) Darnell (Wright) as well."

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.