It must be strange for Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen to scout film of the Saints this week. He wouldn’t admit that Thursday as he tried to steer the conversation elsewhere, but he spent two-thirds of his coaching career with them before the Bears hired him this year.
Allen’s career took off when former Saints coach Sean Payton hired him as assistant defensive line coach in 2006. He went on to be head coach of the Raiders from 2012 to ’14, then came back to the Saints as defensive coordinator and was their head coach the last three seasons.
While he went 18-25 before the Saints fired him last November, he was part of the best era in franchise history. During his 15 seasons with them, the Saints went 142-102, reached the playoffs seven times and won Super Bowl XLIV.
“A lot of good experiences, a lot of good people, a lot of wins,” Allen said. “We were a part of a lot of success there. I’ve got fond memories of it, but this week … is going to be about the players on the field.”
When asked about what went wrong there during his tenure as head coach, Allen said, “I appreciate the question. I don’t think I’m going to go there. Let’s just focus on what we’ve got going on now.”
Now, he’s running a defense that has allowed the sixth-most points in the NFL at 28.2 per game, ranks second-to-last against the run and yielded the eighth-highest opponent passer rating at 103.2.
However, the Bears have offset those issues so far by ranking second in the league in takeaways with 14. Defensive end Montez Sweat forced a fumble against the Commanders that nickel cornerback Kyler Gordon recovered, safety Jaquan Brisker intercepted a pass in the red zone and cornerback Nahshon Wright pounced when the ball slipped out of quarterback Jayden Daniels’ hands at the end.
Allen has been looking for creative solutions all season to the Bears’ issues in the pass rush, run defense and injuries. He went without Gordon and linebacker T.J. Edwards to begin the season and hasn’t had defensive tackle Grady Jarrett and top cornerback Jaylon Johnson for most of the season.
His overall approach has mostly been welcomed by players, especially those who grew tired of how sloppy the team played near the end of the Matt Eberflus era.
“My favorite thing is his strictness,” -Gordon told the Sun-Times. “I’m a fan of a perfectionist coach. That reflects on the players. He’s a hardass, and that’s the best kind of coach you can have.”
Perhaps that tone works better for Allen as a coordinator than coach.
The Bears’ ties to the Saints run deeper than just Allen; they have six other coaches who coached or played for them. That group should know better than anyone that the Saints aren’t to be overlooked, even at 1-5.
They have an offensive-minded coach in Kellen Moore and still have dangerous threats on that side of the ball in five-time Pro Bowl running back Alvin Kamara and wide receiver Chris Olave, who opened his career with two 1,000-yard seasons before getting hurt last season.
Their quarterback, Spencer Rattler, completed 70.2% of his passes and posted a 97.2 rating over the last three games, and the Saints played the Bills and Patriots closely during that stretch.
So even if there truly isn’t a revenge factor for Allen, he has a lot on the line against his former team. The Bears must maintain their momentum coming off the victory over the Commanders, and that starts with shutting down the Saints’ offense.
