Bort
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We all know that the Bears ranked near the bottom of the league in offense and near the top of the league in defense, and the advanced statistics from pfr give some interesting insight on how and why that happened. There are also some other interesting stats to ponder.
Here are 5 things that really jumped out at me from the stats:
1) The Bears offense averaged 26.3 yards per offensive possession, which is actually only slightly below average and much higher than I expected (league average was 29.1). It turns out that the more significant reason that Bears put up so few total yards for the season was that they only had 174 offensive possessions, third lowest of any team in the NFL.
2) The Bears defense gave up 28.7 yards per defensive possession and 5.1 yards per play, which are both pretty average. However, they only had 178 drives against them, which is again one of the lowest in the NFL. Again, interestingly, the major reason that the Bears allowed so few yards on defense is the same as the major reason they gained so few yards on offense: they had an unusually low number of total drives on both offense and defense.
3) The Bears defensive turnover percentage of 11.2% was about average, which really surprised me. I thought they would be near the bottom on this stat because they only had 8 interceptions the entire season. It turns out, though, that once you adjust for the total number of possessions and do it as a percentage, the Bears defense was actually about average at causing turnovers.
4) By far the greatest strength of the Bears defense was keeping teams out of the end zone. They allowed their opponents to score on 33.1% of their drives (which is about average), but they only allowed 28 touchdowns all season, 3rd fewest out of any defense in the NFL, This is the major reason why their points allowed per defensive possession (my personal favorite defensive stat) was a very good 1.67, 8th best in the NFL. Teams were moving the ball pretty well and getting into scoring position, but were unable to convert those opportunities into touchdowns.
5) By far the most unusual, outlier stat is that the Bears only had 473 pass attempts for the season. This is not only the fewest of any team in the NFL this season, it's actually a historically low number of pass attempts in the modern era. I feel like I need to explain what an absurdly, comically low number of passing attempts this is. You just never see a team with a losing record with that few passing attempts. If it ever happens, it's with a team that has a scrambling quarterback that is winning a lot and therefore rarely passing (like the 2013 Seahawks or 2013 49ers). I actually researched the last time a team with a losing record had fewer than 473 passing attempts, and it was the 2011 Miami Dolphins, whose coach, Tony Sparano, got fired during the season for incompetence.
Here are 5 things that really jumped out at me from the stats:
1) The Bears offense averaged 26.3 yards per offensive possession, which is actually only slightly below average and much higher than I expected (league average was 29.1). It turns out that the more significant reason that Bears put up so few total yards for the season was that they only had 174 offensive possessions, third lowest of any team in the NFL.
2) The Bears defense gave up 28.7 yards per defensive possession and 5.1 yards per play, which are both pretty average. However, they only had 178 drives against them, which is again one of the lowest in the NFL. Again, interestingly, the major reason that the Bears allowed so few yards on defense is the same as the major reason they gained so few yards on offense: they had an unusually low number of total drives on both offense and defense.
3) The Bears defensive turnover percentage of 11.2% was about average, which really surprised me. I thought they would be near the bottom on this stat because they only had 8 interceptions the entire season. It turns out, though, that once you adjust for the total number of possessions and do it as a percentage, the Bears defense was actually about average at causing turnovers.
4) By far the greatest strength of the Bears defense was keeping teams out of the end zone. They allowed their opponents to score on 33.1% of their drives (which is about average), but they only allowed 28 touchdowns all season, 3rd fewest out of any defense in the NFL, This is the major reason why their points allowed per defensive possession (my personal favorite defensive stat) was a very good 1.67, 8th best in the NFL. Teams were moving the ball pretty well and getting into scoring position, but were unable to convert those opportunities into touchdowns.
5) By far the most unusual, outlier stat is that the Bears only had 473 pass attempts for the season. This is not only the fewest of any team in the NFL this season, it's actually a historically low number of pass attempts in the modern era. I feel like I need to explain what an absurdly, comically low number of passing attempts this is. You just never see a team with a losing record with that few passing attempts. If it ever happens, it's with a team that has a scrambling quarterback that is winning a lot and therefore rarely passing (like the 2013 Seahawks or 2013 49ers). I actually researched the last time a team with a losing record had fewer than 473 passing attempts, and it was the 2011 Miami Dolphins, whose coach, Tony Sparano, got fired during the season for incompetence.
