Bears Find It Works to Send More Pass Rushers

The Bears had promised their secondary could look much better with pressure coming on opposing quarterbacks.

It's rush and cover, but they hadn't found a rush.

Now they seem to have one, even if it came by less desireable means. And the players in the secondary like it.

Coach Matt Eberflus has gone to the blitz to generate more pressure and the effect has been positive.

"Just us being aggressive, like I said," said safety Jaquan Brisker, last year's Bears sacks leader. "Balanced. We'll send zone, we'll blitz, we'll play man and things like that.

"Just switching it up every different week depending on the team we're playing."

The Bears are up to 18.5% blitzes, or 51 total blitzes, according to Sportradar. That's 22nd most, and much higher than earlier this year when they were last in blitzes. The result hasn't been sacks, but they have put quarterbacks on the ground after passing 19 times, or 9.1%. That's 15th most in the league. They're also at 22nd in hurry percentage (6.5%). A hurry is defined as forcing the ball out earlier than desired or flushing the QB from the pocket. They remain tied for 30th in sacks with nine.

They definitely can stand to get better play from the edge rushers.

According to Pro Football Focus grades, they're not getting acceptable levels of play from edge players except for DeMarcus Walker.

Yannick Ngakoue is graded 106th among 111 players at rushing the passer, and 105th for overall defensive play. Dominique Robinson is 108th out of 111 edge players overall according to PFF.

However, their mix of blitz and four-man rush did work last week, as their season's best 2-of-13 effort on third downs suggests.

"The guys locked in and focused and they attacked their assignments," safeties coach Andre Curtis said. "And we hit the quarterback and frustrated the quarterback and gave them some different looks. So obviously those types of things have to continue in the future in order for us to have continued success on third down."

It's a multiple approach. They have to be optimistic it can continue to build this week considering the Raiders are using backup QBs and their season-high for scoring was 21 points, accomplished last week. Until then, it had been 18 points.

The rush might have less chance to get home against either of the two Raiders quarterbacks who could start, Brian Hoyer or Aidan O'Connell.

"Just studying both quarterbacks, studying their tendencies, whether they like to go downfield, or like to throw the ball short, we know they're probably going to start off by trying to get the ball out, trying to get rhythm throws and things like that and then eventually the game continues," Brisker said. "So really just try to focus on that, study the film and regardless we'll be prepared for whoever starts at quarterback."

They'll be prepared with numerous looks, and whatever they need to do to get pressure on the passer.

Bears Pro Football Focus Ranks

Starters Grades Through Week 6

(90 Snaps or more)

QB Justin Fields 14th of 33 NFL QBs (73.6)

WR DJ Moore 7th of 116 WRs (88.3)

WR Darnell Mooney 84th of 116 WRs (57.6)

RB Khalil Herbert 6th of 48 RBs (79.3)

FB Khari Blasingame 3rd of 11 FBs (62.0)

TE Cole Kmet 11th of 68 TEs (69.1)

G Cody Whitehair 73rd of 80 Gs (43.6)

G Nate Davis 51st of 80 Gs (55.6)

G Ja'Tyre Carter 60th of 80 Gs (50.9)

C Lucas Patrick 35th of 38 Cs (46.7)

T Darnell Wright 29th of 73 Ts (69.6)

T Braxton Jones 39th of 73 Ts (63.2)

T Larry Borom 66th of 73 Ts (50.1)

CB Greg Stroman Jr. 46th of 111 CBs (66.6)

CB Terell Smith 29th of 111 CBs (70.6)

CB Tyrique Stevenson 87th of 111 CBs (52.9)

CB Jaylon Johnson 10th of 111 CBs (79.0)

S Jaquan Brisker 79th of 84 S (49.7)

S Elijah Hicks 80th of 84 S (47.8)

LB Tremaine Edmunds 72nd of 81 LBs (51.2)

LB T.J. Edwards 11th of 81 LBs (81.5)

LB Jack Sanborn 61st of 81 LBs (58.9)

DI Gervon Dexter 52nd of 123 DIs (63.0)

DI Andrew Billings 30th of 123 DIs (69.1)

DI Justin Jones 101st of 123 DIs (47.3)

DE DeMarcus Walker 61st of 110 Edges (63.3)

DE Yannick Ngakoue 105th of 110 Edges (42.3)

DE Rasheem Green 99th of 110 Edges (47.0)

DE Dominique Robinson 107th of 110 Edges (38.5)

Other player grades

(These players dont have enough snaps to be graded with starters but have played 90 snaps or more)

WR Tyler Scott (51.0)

RB Roschon Johnson (69.0)

G Teven Jenkins (59.4)

S Eddie Jackson (70.9)

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