Maybe facing Justin Fields and the Bears on Sunday will help shake Myles Garrett out of his three-game sack slumber.
The last time Garrett faced Fields, in the rookie quarterback’s first NFL start on Sept. 26, 2021 at Cleveland Browns Stadium, Garrett sacked him 4.5 times to set a Browns record during their 26-6 rout.
Overall, Fields, the No. 11 pick that year out of Ohio State, was sacked 9.0 times in a disastrous NFL debut in which the Bears forgot he was a dual threat quarterback and ran him only three times for 12 yards.
Heading into Sunday’s game against the Bears, Garrett is seventh in the NFL with 13.0 sacks, but led the NFL earlier this season and was tied for second with Khalil Mack two weeks ago. Now, Mack leads the NFL with 15.0, and Garrett has trickled down the leader board. But maybe in honor of his club record, he’ll bring Fields down and snap the skid.
“(Fields) and that entire offense have evolved,” said Garrett. “His timing, his pocket presence, figuring out when he needs to run, when he needs to pass and looking at his reads and if he doesn’t see it, he’s going to use his legs. I mean, last time we played he was trying to stay in the pocket, trying to deliver passes. I don’t think he really had the timing down knowing that when that internal clock is going, especially with good rushers on the other side. Now he kind of has that feel where it’s like, ‘all right, it’s not here, there, let me use my God-given ability and get out of here.’”
Under Matt Eberflus instead of Matt Nagy who was fired after Fields’ rookie season, Fields (6-3, 228) leads the Bears in rushing this season with 458 yards, and is 14th in the NFL with a 91.8 rating, although he’s thrown only 13 touchdown passes against six interceptions. He’s been sacked 32 times for 2.4 per game, but he’s been hard to bring down.
“It’s always been like that,” Garrett, who hasn’t used his injured left shoulder as an excuse, said. “He’s strong and he reminds me personally, athletically like Jalen Hurts. So he’ll be difficult to take down, but best way to take someone down, the easy way, is take the ball from him.”
Fields, who’s won 3 of his last 4 and two straight to lead the Bears to a 5-8 mark, has also cut down on his mistakes, throwing only one interception in his last five games.
“They’re taking the ball away at a higher clip and taking care of the ball,” Garrett said. “He’s been doing a great job keeping the defense off-balance with a good hard count, running attack has been working for him, so not allowing them to get into a lot of dropback situations, not getting to second-and-longs, third-and-longs. Just keeping them in manageable distance and nothing too difficult, complicated. It’s a good way to play.”
Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz couldn’t praise Fields enough, even giving his arm strength exalted status amongst the passers they’ve faced this season.
“Obviously a gifted athlete, unbelievable arm,” Schwartz said. “Maybe the most arm strength we’ve seen all year. I mean, just an absolute cannon for an arm. And he can throw those individual routes on the outside part of the field, and he does have strength and speed to be able to run. They’re highly ranked as a run offense, but he’s dangerous in the passing game just because of his mobility and to be able to find guys later down the field and stuff like that.
“He’s near the top of the league as far as time to throw. And it’s not necessarily protection. It’s time to throw, it’s him buying time with his legs. So, it puts a little bit more on our coverage and then different ways to rush to pass or maybe with extra guys, maybe with second level guys, different pressure packages.”
Garrett finally seemingly snapped his sackless streak — matching the one from Week 15-17 in 2021 — at the end of Sunday’s 31-27 victory over the Jaguars, but his takedown of Trevor Lawrence on the failed two-point attempt didn’t count.
“It counts when it counts,” he said. “I don’t understand why it doesn’t seeing as the points count, but when the points don’t count, apparently, everything else that happens on the play just disappears. As far as the streak, it is what it is. We won last game, had a positive effect, was disruptive. And guys all across the field made plays on defense. DT (Dalvin Tomlinson) played well. Z (Za’Darius Smith) got a sack. That makes me happier than getting my own personal stats. I want to see my team thrive, my defense thrive. If I can get mine on the way that’s just the cherry on top.”
Besides, it’s hard to get sacks when you’re getting held consistently with the officials looking the other way. Garrett complained about it in his postgame press conference and may have gotten fined by the NFL, but wouldn’t say.
“Ask the league,” he said.
His coaches had his back.
“I feel his frustration because so much of what we do is just trying to get Myles one-on-one,” said defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz. “And when you can get one one-on-one and you get held and it doesn’t get called and things like that can be a frustrating thing for a player. It can be a frustrating thing for a play caller, but that’s what those guys deal with.”
Schwartz praised Garrett for the final drive of the game, in which he pressured Lawrence into two incompletions, and sacked him on the two-point attempt after a TD pass to Evan Engram.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen him rush so well,” Schwartz said. “It didn’t translate to a sack until the two point play, but his win percentage, probably the last two drives was unbelievable. It was really inspiring to watch, and you could tell he was mad and he was everything else, but he was more determined and just kept on coming.
“I was really proud of that. It didn’t translate to a sack, but I think it really showed his determination and we’re going to continue to work to try to get him one on one.”
He noted that “I think he’ll carry us down the line and find a way to be successful regardless of guys getting held or double teams and everything else.”
Against the Bears, Garrett will be without one third of the Browns edge-rush trio in Ogbo Okoronkwo, who’s likely to miss the rest of the season with a torn pectoral suffered against the Jaguars. Okoronkwo was the second-leading sacker behind Garrett with 4.5. He’ll also be without a key member of the defensive tackle rotation in Maurice Hurst, who also suffered a season-ending torn pec. The attrition won’t make things easier on Garrett.
“It’s a loss in more ways than one,” said Garrett. “Those are good men. They’re good people, good leaders as well. They’ve been great teammates in their time here and look forward to them coming back and being around in any capacity they can, but I mean their (absence) won’t go unnoticed. Those guys are dynamic. They were making some big plays for us, but we’ll just have to step up in other ways. Guys like myself, Z, Jordan (Elliott), Dalvin and all these guys will have to step up and try to elevate ourselves to replace what they had going for themselves.”
Okoronkwo, in particular, was a dynamo on and off the field, bringing the juice every day.
“It was a positive atmosphere every time you’re around him,” Garrett said. “Whenever you see him, Ogbo’s smiling, he’s always happy, optimistic. That kind of thing can’t just disappear now that he’s gone. We got to continue to carry that, but he also had energy, he had passion, he had fire and we have to keep those attributes going for ourselves.”
Like Schwartz, Stefanski had no problems with Garrett venting after the game, saying “we’re not the thought police” and “when he’s being clearly restricted, we expect it to be called.”
Also like Schwartz, Stefanski marveled at Garrett’s performance vs. the Jaguars.
“He was unbelievable in that game,” he said. “He’s been unbelievable all season. He’s playing at an extremely high level. I don’t know if anybody understands — what he does with the amount of attention he gets is truly remarkable. Maybe you get used to it. I don’t. I appreciate how he does that. Particularly just watch the tight ends chipping him, then the line sliding to him, then the running backs chipping him and he still came through for us in a huge moment when we needed him. That’s kind of been the story of the season.”
If Garrett can help it, the story has only just begun.
