Inside the Bears Numbers

High percentage of QB hurries without blitzing reflects the Matt Eberflus defensive plan beginning to work.

After the way the Bears have defended the run and passed the ball, fans are looking for a sign, any sign, that Matt Eberflus' plans can eventually work.

There is one. 

While seven sacks do not say the Bears pass rush is succeeding, and coaches this week were talking about the need for more heat on quarterbacks—particularly up the middle—at least one metric says they're accomplishing their aim.

Sportradar tracks hurries, which is the number of times a quarterback threw before they wanted to or were chased from the pocket. The Bears defense leads the NFL at this with 23. 

Their percentage of hurries not only leads the league at 19.5% but is well above any other team.  Arizona is second at 12.9%, San Francisco third at 12.5% and Philadelphia fourth at 12.3%. 

The Bears are doing this despite blitzing the second fewest times in the league, which is the way Eberflus wants to play defense.

They do need more sacks from Robert Quinn, Trevis Gipson, Al-Quadin Muhammad, and rookie Dominique Robinson. Especially important is a better rush from Justin Jones in the middle.

The impact on pass defense from this, as expected, is huge. 

The Bears defense enters Week 5 with a 75.7 passer rating against. That's seventh best in the NFL. Last year they finished last in the league at 103.3. They're doing this with two rookies starting in the secondary, and three rookies for half the season due to Jaylon Johnson's injury.

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That being said, there are only three teams in the NFL with fewer than the Bears' total of seven sacks, so they're obviously flushing passers out but not getting home to finish the rush. 

Still, in a scheme stressing forced turnovers, they are putting quarterbacks under duress and this is what can lead to more interceptions or a lower completion percentage allowed.

The total number of times they have hurried quarterbacks is significant because they haven't faced that many passes. The 101 pass attempts against them is a league low. Sadly, teams have realized how poor they are on the ground and are challenging them there instead.

The Bears entered Week 5 having faced the fewest pass attempts (101) and the most rushing attempts (143) in the NFL. 

It's only going to get worse until they stop the run.

"I think it's a focus every week regardless," defensive end Robert Quinn said. "I know we haven't really displayed it on the field but in every week it's important to stop the run."

If they don't they end up like last week.

"Then it's kind of, well, to be honest, it's demoralizing because they're constantly picking up 5, however many yards a pop," Quinn said.  

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