The Chicago Bears fell short to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, dropping them from the first seed in the entire NFC to the third and final wild card spot. While there were bright spots, such as Luther Burden III producing in Rome Odunze's absence, the Bears still have glaring weaknesses, and the most obvious is the defensive line.
The Bears made defensive end Dominque Robinson inactive on Sunday in favor of recently acquired pass rusher Joe Tryon-Shoyinka. Tryon-Shoyinka, along with most of the defensive line, failed to have an impact on the game, and Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love was left with a clean pocket to work with.
Against the Packers this Sunday, Montez Sweat had a 35.3% pass rush win rate, Grady Jarrett had a 23.5% pass rush win rate, and no other player on the Bears' defensive line had a win rate above 5%. In fact, after Gervon Dexter's 5% win rate and Austin Booker's 4% win rate, everyone else had a pass rush win rate of 0%, including Joe Tryon-Shoyinka, who failed to generate a single pressure on his nine pass rushing snaps, according to Pro Football Focus.
Dominique Robinson's Return to Playing Time Is Inevitable
Robinson missed the Bears' Week 13 game against the Eagles with a concussion. He returned to practice last week and cleared concussion protocol, indicating that he was ready for Week 14. The former fifth-round pick has accumulated 12 tackles and 1.5 sacks in nine games played this season. While it is unclear whether Robinson being inactive on Sunday was just playing it safe with his previous concussion, the Bears will definitely give him more chances, given how abysmal the pass rush has been.
While Montez Sweat and Grady Jarrett continue to be the big names on Chicago's defensive front, depth has been and still is the glaring concern. Second-year defensive end Austin Booker has been a nice revelation for Chicago, but he's still shown some inconsistencies. The Packers game is a perfect example of that, as his pass-rush win rate was only 4%.
What Robinson has previously done is no longer a factor at this point. The Bears need to generate better pressure, plain and simple. The secondary is finally getting healthy, and their turnovers have carried this Chicago defense thus far, but they need assistance up front.
When Robinson gets his chance again, likely this upcoming Sunday against the Cleveland Browns, he needs to show that he is worthy of playing meaningful snaps on this defensive line and that he can relieve some pressure from Sweat and Jarrett. Robinson doesn't need to be a star pass rusher, but if he can generate any pressure, it will be better than most of the pass-rushing effort fans saw against the Packers.