Three things to watch for when Seahawks play Bears in preseason game 2
By Lee Vowell
Can the Seahawks overall pass rush do great things against Chicago?
The Bears offensive line is atrocious. I get that Seattle’s O-line gets a lot of hate but a bunch of this is because Seattle has three new pieces on the line, including probably having two rookie starters. But just from the aspect of raw ability, Seattle’s line is leagues better than Chicago’s.
Bears quarterback Justin Fields wasn’t very good in his rookie season last year but a large part of the blame for this should go on his offensive line. You think Russell Wilson got sacked a lot when he was with Seattle? Oh, just wait. In 2021, Wilson was sacked 33 times in 14 games and had a sacked percentage of 7.6. Not good. But Fields was sacked 36 times in 12 games (10 starts) with a sacked percentage of 11.8.
But Chicago’s offensive line is no better this season either. On the other hand, Seattle’s pass rush should be a lot better, especially early in the season. The Seahawks sack numbers overall weren’t horrific in 2021 but much of that came late in the season. This offseason Seattle made a concerted effort to younger and faster in their pass rush.
Next. 3 Seahawks that need to play better in preseason game 2. dark
On Thursday, players like Darrell Taylor, Boye Mafe (2 sacks in his preseason NFL debut last week), Uchenna Nwosu and others might constantly be in the Bears backfield causing havoc. But if they aren’t, that might mean Seattle’s gamble of revamping its pass rush this year isn’t going to pay off and that would be incredibly bad.