The surging Chicago Bears defense will be without defensive end Yannick Ngakoue for the remainder of the season.
Ngakoue needs season-ending surgery to repair a broken ankle suffered in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s 28-13 win over the Detroit Lions at Soldier Field. A unit that has made tremendous gains since the acquisition of fellow edge rusher Montez Sweat now must adjust.
General manager Ryan Poles signed Ngakoue to a one-year, $10.5 million contract after training camp started, hoping to prop up what was a nonexistent pass rush last season. Ngakoue leads the Bears with four sacks, just ahead of Sweat, who has 3 1/2 since joining the team via trade in Week 9. Defensive tackle Justin Jones also has 3 1/2.
“Really helped our young guys the entire year,” coach Matt Eberflus said Wednesday about Ngakoue, “and just want to really credit him for that and really appreciate him being a great teammate.”
It’s a significant loss for the Bears, who have 11 sacks in the last four games after totaling only 10 through the first nine games (last in NFL). Increased pressure has led to more momentum-changing plays with eight takeaways over the last three games. The Bears haven’t allowed more than 223 passing yards in the last five games.
How they will adjust remains to be seen.
“Blitz every snap,” Eberflus quipped.
DeMarcus Walker figures to get a little bump in playing time, although he has been a regular, logging 64.7% of the defensive snaps this season. The next man up figures to be Rasheem Green, who has two sacks and five quarterback hits while playing 36.1% of the snaps.
Second-year defensive end Dominique Robinson has been inactive the last six games. The Bears either will give him another shot or bring up Khalid Kareem or Daniel Hardy from the practice squad. Kareem got a brief shot earlier this season.
“That’s really a great opportunity for some other guys,” Eberflus said. “And we’ve been rotating a lot of guys in there, as you guys know.
“For me, it’s about finding that best combination, and really it’s about the matchups. When you look at the skill set of the offensive line that we’re playing this week and how we can match up best against those guys and who that is going against who.”
The Bears are going against a pair of backups Sunday against the Cleveland Browns, who announced this week that left tackle Jedrick Wills and right tackle Dawand Jones will miss the remainder of the season with knee injuries. The Browns are expected to start Geron Christian at left tackle and James Hudson at right tackle.
Pro Bowl right tackle Jack Conklin was lost to a season-ending knee injury in Week 1, so the Browns are down three offensive tackles for the season. Injuries have ravaged their roster, with notable losses including quarterback Deshaun Watson and running back Nick Chubb. Top cornerback Denzel Ward has missed the last three games with a shoulder injury.
Ngakoue didn’t make the impact hoped for by the Bears, his sixth team since 2019. He recorded eight or more sacks in each of his first seven seasons but didn’t have a lot of help around him this year until Poles acquired Sweat from the Washington Commanders for a second-round draft pick.
However, Eberflus was able to get more creative with his pass rush lately, occasionally kicking Sweat inside and playing him alongside Ngakoue in clear passing situations. Ngakoue remained a speed rusher who could threaten offensive tackles even if he didn’t play with as much strength and power as he displayed earlier in his career.
“What’d he have, four (sacks)?” Eberflus said when asked how Ngakoue’s season went. “It could have been better because he missed some. There were a lot of times he had (the quarterback) in the chute and he could have got him down.
“We just have to do a good job of finishing and wrapping up the quarterback, strip-sacking as you come through. I think he could have had at least three or four more.”
Now we’ll see if the Bears can continue to rush the passer Sunday against Joe Flacco, the fourth starting quarterback the Browns have used this season.