Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson spoke candidly about his team’s shortcomings at rushing the passer, and one of his starters offered his read on the situation.
Johnson met with the media for the third time in the roughly 72 hours after the Bears’ loss to the Baltimore Ravens. He acknowledged the depth of Chicago’s situation. They have the sixth-fewest sacks in the league through eight weeks, with starters Dayo Odeyingbo (1.0 sacks) and Montez Sweat (3.0 sacks).
While Johnson also noted mitigating circumstances, he made it clear that his EDGEs must step up.
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Johnson fielded a question about Odeyingbo and Sweat winning their 1-on-1s, praising the latter, who he said has begun to ascend over the last few games for the Bears.
Odeyingbo, though, has been a mixed bag.
Johnson said Odeyingbo has done well as an interior pass rusher. However, they are still working on getting him going off the edge. Asked about what he believes is the key to jumpstarting his season, Odeyingbo cited the basics.
“I think it just comes down to fundamentals,” Odeyingbo told Clocker Sports on Wednesday after practice. “Just continue to focus on fundamentals, get off, and body lean.”
Johnson also expressed his belief in disrupting opposing QBs as much as actual sacks.
Odeyingbo told Clocker Sports. “I think we’ve been close. I think there’s been a disruption; I think that’s shown up in turnovers. And I think last game, we just had to do a little bit better job of getting them off the rhythm. There was a lot of quick passes early on. A lot of first-read type of passes. With a quarterback [Tyler Huntley] coming in that hasn’t been around, you want to get them some quick passes.
“I think just continuing to rush, not really let that affect you too much, and just continuing to rush as a unit.”
The Bears did not sign Odeyingbo to a three-year, $48 million contract, with $29.5 million in guarantees, for 1.0 sacks through eight games. Moreover, that sack occurred in Week 1. The same could be said for Sweat, who is on a four-year, $98 million pact with $41.9 million in guarantees.
Sweat has had some sacks wiped out due to penalties. Injuries in the Bears’ secondary do not help the situation. But Johnson expects more from his group up front.
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Odeyingbo spoke about the “positives and negatives” to working inside, noting that action occurs quicker. That can work in his favor as he gets “to contact faster,” while he touted the additional “leeway” when out on the edge when teams slide their protection.
Odeyingbo also noted that, at times, the edge defender’s role is to contain the QB.
That has been a factor as the Bears faced dual-threat QBs in back-to-back weeks in Huntley with the Ravens and Spencer Rattler with the New Orleans Saints.
This week, Odeyingbo and the Bears play the Cincinnati Bengals with 40-year-old QB Joe Flacco under center. Flacco has Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins at wide receiver, so the Bears had better be alert on their patchwork backend.
Still, the Bears will know more or less where Flacco is on most of his dropbacks.
However, the Bears have recorded all 14 of their team sacks against mobile QBs. They were 0-for in a loss to the Detroit Lions in Week 2. The Bears did beat the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 3 without recording a sack, though.