For as different as they were, the Bears’ previous three defensive coordinators had one thing in common: they rarely blitzed.
Only nine teams blitzed less often than Vic Fangio did — on 20.3 percent of passing downs — in the Bears’ dominant 2018 season. Chuck Pagano’s blitz percentage was the eighth-lowest in the league in 2019 and fourth-lowest in 2020. His replacement, Sean Desai, brought an extra rusher 22.6 percent of the time last year; only 11 teams blitzed less often.
If this is the point of the story where you expect us to say that the Bears’ new regime will blitz more, think again.