FootballOutsiders Week 14 DVOA: Bears defense nearing historic levels

Some good perspective on the defense the Rams faced Sunday night.

FootballOutsiders

Some excerpts:
"Chicago's defense has been good all year, but they are peaking right now. The Bears had -16.7% defensive DVOA in their first seven games, but -36.0% defensive DVOA in their last six games. Thanks to opponent adjustments for playing the Rams defense, the Bears had -84.1% defensive DVOA for Sunday night's game, the best defensive performance of the season so far."

"What's really remarkable isn't how good the Bears defense is historically but how much better it now rates compared to all the other teams in 2018. Baltimore has the No. 2 defensive DVOA at -13.3%. The difference between the Chicago and Baltimore defenses is roughly equivalent to the difference between Baltimore's defense and a league-average defense this season."

"Perhaps the most impressive part of the Bears victory was the way they completely bottled up Todd Gurley and the Rams running game. Gurley had 11 carries for 28 yards, with only three carries that gained more than two yards. This is particularly impressive because the Rams are on their way to setting an all-time record for adjusted line yards on offense. For those unfamiliar, adjusted line yards is our metric that cuts off runs at specific distances to better gauge how much of the running game is coming from blocking rather than from running backs in the open field. Even after this week's poor performance, the Rams are easily leading the league with 5.53 ALY per carry."

Week 14 DVOA Ratings: Los Angeles Rams
Overall: 3rd
Offense: 3rd
Defense: 12th
Special Teams: 14th

Past (weeks 1-14) strength of schedule: 5th most difficult
Future (weeks 15-17) strength of schedule: 32nd (easiest in NFL)

Passing offense: 5th
Rushing offense: 1st

Passing defense: 6th
Run defense: 24th

Individual Players/Units:
QB Jared Goff: 6th among 32 ranked QBs
RB Todd Gurley: 1st among 40 ranked RBs rushing; 15th among 40 RBs receiving
WR Brandin Cooks: 14th among 71 ranked WRs
WR Robert Woods: 15th among 71 ranked WRs
WR Cooper Kupp: 26th among 71 ranked WRs
WR Josh Reynolds: unranked (fewer than 50 targets)
TE Tyler Higbee: 17th among 40 ranked TEs
TE Gerald Everett: 25th among 40 ranked TEs

Offensive Line: 1st run blocking / 8th pass protection
Defensive Line: 21st run defense / 14th pass rushing

Special Teams:
FG/XP: 26th
Kick coverage: 20th
Kickoff return: 10th
Punt coverage: 14th
Punt returns: 5th



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/12/2018 06:12AM by LMU93.