Yesterday’s post about the Bears O-Line and Colts D-Line revolved around two position groups looking to get themselves back on track in the young season. Today’s breakdown of the inverse matchup couldn’t be more different.
Sunday’s showdown between the Bears defensive line and the Colts offensive line pits two units performing at an elite level through the first two weeks of the 2024 season. While the Bears had question marks surrounding their edge depth outside of Montez Sweat, DeMarcus Walker and Darrell Taylor have done very well in that role. Plus, Andrew Billings and Gervon Dexter Sr have been dominant in the middle.
As🅰 for Indy, their offensive line is led by All-Pro Quenton Nelson. Nelson and the whole offensive line have been phenomenal for Indy this season and rank in the top three in the NFL in most metrics through two weeks.
Let’s take a look at Sunday’s matchup.
Bears Projected Starting Defensive Line
Colts Projected Starting Offensive Line
The Matchup
The battle between the Bears defensive line and the Colts offensive line should be a whole lot of fun.𒉰 Both units enter the game playing very good football through the first two weeks of the season.
Let’s start with the Colts up front. Through their opening two games, they’ve been nothing short of outstanding. has them ranked as the best offensive line in the NFL so far. While the offense wasn’t able to move the ball efficiently against Green Bay last week, that wasn’t on the O-Line. Indy’s group allowed just five pressures of Anthony Richardson on 36 dropbacks for the second-year QB.
While Quenton Nelson gets the notoriety of being the best guard in football, Indy’s right guard Will Fries has been outstanding as well to start 2024. Through the first two games, he’s allowed just one pressure and zero quarterback hits. He’s been elite in pass protection and has played at that level against two defensive fronts in Houston and Green Bay that are very solid.
Now we can get to Quenton Nelson, who has been phenomenal as well. Nelson along with Colts center Ryan Kelly has a 98% Pass Block Win Rate (PBWR) this season. That puts them in the top five of individual PBWR for interior offensive linemen this season. Nelson has been a road grader as well ranking seventh among interior offensive linemen in ESPN’s Run Block Win Rate percentage (83%).
The Colts’ tackles have protected their quarterback quite well, too. Braden Smith and Bernhard Raimann have combined to allow just one sack and commit only one penalty this season. Smith ranks in the top 20 of ESPN’s PBWR rankings among offensive tackles with a 91% win rate.
As a unit (in addition to PFF’s top overall ranking), Indy ranks 3rd overall in the NFL in PBWR and 1st overall in RBWR.
So, long story short, the Bears defensive line will have their work cut out for them on Sunday. But so will the Colts offensi🀅ve line.
Chicago’s defensive front has been every bit as impressive as Indy’s offensive line in their opening two games. While PFF had Chicago ranked 27th among defensive lines entering the 2024 season, through two weeks they’ve made the leap all the way up to 4th overall.
Currently, the Bears have the top Pass Rush Win Rate (PRWR) in the NFL. According to ESPN, as a group, they’ve won 63% of their pass rush reps which is incredibly impressive. That’s three percent better than the second-ranked group (Denver) and seven percent better than the third-best group (Seattle).
When it comes to stopping the run, the Bears’ D-Line has been almost as impressive checking in at second in Run Stop Win Rate (RSWR) with a mark of 35% trailing only the Los Angeles Chargers.
Taking a look at some individual numbers, Gervon Dexter Sr is tied for the most sacks in the NFL among defensive tackles with two. He’s also fifth among DTs in PRWR at 21%. Andrew Billings also ranks in the top five with a 26% win rate, as does .
We’ve seen it with the eye test so far with the Bears defensive line, but the numbers and advanced stats are backing up just how dominant they have been to kick off the 2024 campaign.
X-Factor
Who can win the battle on the edge? Both interior groups have been outstanding so far this season, and it feels like both will have their wins and losses. But, for as solid as Montez Sweat has been since becoming a Bear, it feels like he hasn’t really made his presence felt this season. The Colts’ tackles are good, but so is Sweat and Darrell Taylor has proven himself to be a viable option on the other side. That means teams can’t just solely focus on Sweat as much anymore. If Sweat can take advantage of some favorable matchups at times, that🍸 would be massive for Chicago in this position group battle.
