Why was the pass rush so bad for the Chicago Bears last season? Part of it was injury issues. Austin Booker, who was having a terrific summer, messed up his knee and missed almost half the season. Grady Jarrett, their interior pass rush option from free agency, also suffered a knee injury that slowed him. Dayo Odeyingbo, the other prized free agent addition, was almost invisible for eight games and then tore his Achilles. Montez Sweat was their only productive player with 10 sacks, but even he was part of a bigger problem that people didn’t seem to notice.
It’s also a problem that the Bears didn’t really address this offseason. Defensive line coach Jeremy Garrett mentioned it earlier this year when asked how the group needed to improve. It was about get-off. This referenced how fast a defensive lineman gets out of his stance after the ball is snapped. The faster the get-off, the greater the odds of getting pressure. Cleveland, led by all-time single-season sack leader Myles Garrett, led the NFL with an average get-off rate of 0.80 seconds.
Chicago? They were dead last in the NFL at 0.93 seconds.
The Chicago Bears have not done enough to fix this problem.
Their weird obsession with more size and length has come at the sacrifice of speed and burst. Such an approach comes with consequences. The last thing you should give opposing quarterbacks is extra time to throw, even if it’s just seven-tenths of a second. The numbers don’t lie. Since Next Gen Stats became available in 2018, no Super Bowl champion defense has had a get-off rate of 0.90 or higher. Most hovered between 0.85 and 0.88. It was no surprise that so many quarterbacks had big games against them.
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| Regular Season | Super Bowl | Super Bowl Champion | Defensive Line Get-Off Rate (Seconds) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | LX | Seattle Seahawks | 0.86 seconds |
| 2024 | LIX | Philadelphia Eagles | 0.88 seconds |
| 2023 | LVIII | Kansas City Chiefs | 0.89 seconds |
| 2022 | LVII | Kansas City Chiefs | 0.87 seconds |
| 2021 | LVI | Los Angeles Rams | 0.87 seconds |
| 2020 | LV | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 0.85 seconds |
| 2019 | LIV | Kansas City Chiefs | 0.86 seconds |
| 2018 | LIII | New England Patriots | 0.88 seconds |
What is frustrating about this is that the Bears did nothing to address the problem. They’re running it back with almost the exact same starting lineup as last season, with Montez Sweat, Austin Booker, Grady Jarrett, and Gervon Dexter. Worst still, Dayo Odeyingbo, who wasn’t that fast off the snap, is now returning from a torn Achilles. There is nothing to suggest this group will be any better this season.
What’s worse is the coaches aren’t fixing it.
At least it doesn’t appear that way to prominent former players. Gerald McCoy called down defensive line coach Jeremy Garrett for the drills he was running in practice, insisting he was taking away their aggressiveness. It raises serious questions about whether defensive coordinator Dennis Allen and his staff have any solutions to the problem. We already saw last year that he can’t mask it against teams with better quarterbacks. Either he needs somebody to step up, or it will be a repeat of last year.
Regardless of the outcome, the Chicago Bears really need to do some self-scouting about how they evaluate pass rushers moving forward. Every major move to this point has been focused primarily on size and length. Get-off wasn’t high on the priority list with most of the names they drafted or signed as free agents. Somebody needs to intervene with general manager Ryan Poles, or the problem will never get fixed.
