Why Do I Like the Chicago Bears This Week?

I.

Always.

Like.

THE.

Chicago.

Bears.

Caleb.

The 2024 Chicago Bears no longer exist. They have ceased to be.

And as a result of this fact, I am not going to be spend much time writing about a midweek matchup at what I’m sure will be a Seahawk fan-laden Soldier Field.

There is only one reason to truly care about tonight’s game: Caleb’s stat line.

Through 16 games, Caleb is completing at 62.2%, 3,271 yards, 19 touchdowns, 5 interceptions, and a QB rating of 89.3. These are terrific numbers for a rookie QB, but they are extraordinary numbers when you consider the coaching and offensive line turmoil that has surrounded him this season.

It is no coincidence that agents around the sport are beginning to leak their clients’ interest in the Bears job. This is a coaching gig that comes with a productive, yet moldable, young quarterback.

Side note: Bill Simmons, on his podcast with Cousin Sal, referred to Caleb’s production as “garbage time.” There is NO garbage time for a rookie quarterback. Every snap matters. Caleb’s rookie season is one of the most underrated I can remember.

My Sight & Sound List

Every decade, Sight & Sound magazine polls filmmakers, critics, academics, etc. and compiles a list of the greatest films ever made. Some of those polled vote for their favorite movies. Some polled try to make political points with their list. Some, like my former professor Dan Streible, use their vote as opportunity to draw attention to noncanonical works. I’ve recently been doodling what my list would like – what are the ten films I consider the best ever made? Here’s what I settled on. Thoughts will follow the list.

All That Jazz (Bob Fosse, 1979)

The Breaking Point (Michael Curtiz, 1950)

Crimes and Misdemeanors (Woody Allen, 1989)

The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972)

The Godfather: Part II (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974)

High and Low (Akira Kurosawa, 1963)

Jaws (Steven Spielberg, 1975)

Kansas Saloon Smashers (Edwin S. Porter, 1901) Kansas Saloon Smashers (1901) – Carrie Nation | Edwin S. Porter

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Jacques Demy, 1964)

Waiting for Guffman (Christopher Guest, 1996)

Why do I hate this list?

No Hitchcock. No Lumet. No Mel Brooks. No female filmmakers. I can make an argument for every film on this list. I can also make an argument for 100 other films, like Rear Window and 12 Angry Men and Young Frankenstein and Cleo from 5 to 7. For now, this list will have to do.

Next week, I’ll provide a list I call “Ten Films it Seems Only I Love.”

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This is the final installment of a 3-part series looking at Chicago’s 2023 pass rush.

• In part one, we learned that the Bears had one of the worst pass rushes in the NFL, though it improved a bit after trading for Montez Sweat, especially when they were willing to blitz.
• In part two, we saw that Montez Sweat is a good but not great pass rusher, while all of the other defensive ends on the roster are bad at rushing the passer.

Today, we’re going to end the series by exploring Chicago’s defensive tackles.

Overall Efficiency

We’ll start with a season-long look at how Chicago’s main defensive tackles performed when rushing the passer. The table below shows a variety of per-snap metrics, including how they ranked compared to the 98 DTs league-wide who had at least 200 pass rush snaps. A few quick notes:

• All data comes from Pro Football Focus (PFF).
• Win rate is the percentage of snaps where PFF determines that the rusher has beaten the blocker at any point in the snap. This is admittedly subjective, and thus should not be used on its own, but can be a helpful part of a larger picture.
• Pass Rush Productivity is a unique PFF stat that accounts for all sacks, QB hits, and pressures on a per-snap basis, with an added weight given to sacks; a higher value is better.
• True pass sets look only at plays that do not give offensive linemen a built in advantage: no play action, no screens, and the throw time has to be at least 2 seconds. This lets us see how effectively a player rushes the passer when they most likely know they are getting after the QB, and the offense knows they have to block for a while.
• Values in the top 25% are highlighted in green, while those in the bottom 25% are highlighted in red.

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This is the 2nd installment of a 3-part series looking at Chicago’s pass rush from 2023. In part one, we learned that the overall team pass rush was among the worst in the NFL.

Today, we’ll be examining how effectively Chicago’s defensive ends rushed the passer last year.

Overall Efficiency

We’ll start with a season-long look at how Chicago’s main defensive ends performed when rushing the passer. The table below shows a variety of per-snap metrics, including how they ranked compared to the 95 edge rushers league-wide who had at least 200 pass rush snaps. A few quick notes:

• All data comes from Pro Football Focus (PFF).
• Data for Montez Sweat is only for the 9 games he played in Chicago.
• Win rate is the percentage of snaps where PFF determines that the rusher has beaten the blocker at any point in the snap. This is admittedly subjective, and thus should not be used on its own, but can be a helpful part of a larger picture.
• Pass Rush Productivity is a unique PFF stat that accounts for all sacks, QB hits, and pressures on a per-snap basis, with an added weight given to sacks; a higher value is better.
• True pass sets look only at plays that do not give offensive linemen a built in advantage: no play action, no screens, and the throw time has to be at least 2 seconds. This lets us see how effectively a player rushes the passer when they most likely know they are getting after the QB, and the offense knows they have to block for a while.
• Values in the top 25% are highlighted in green, while those in the bottom 25% are highlighted in red.

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This is the start of a 3-part series examining Chicago’s pass rush in 2023 and what expectations should be for 2024. The content covered in each part roughly breaks down as follows:

Part 1: Overall team pass rush, and the impact of trading for Montez Sweat.
Part 2: Defensive end individual pass rushing efficiency.
Part 3: Defensive tackle individual pass rushing efficiency, including rookie progression for Gervon Dexter Sr. and Zacch Pickens.

Let’s dive right in!

Overall results

We’ll start by examining Chicago’s overall team performance rushing the passer last year. The table below shows how the Bears ranked out of 32 NFL teams in generating sacks and pressures, as well as how often they blitzed. All values in the top 25% are highlighted in green, while those in the bottom 25% are in red. All data for this article, unless otherwise noted, is from Pro Football Reference.

Side note: sorry if the tables don’t show up well in the article. You can click on them to view in full on a separate page. 

A few thoughts:

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