The Bears’ defense sure looks incredible when it’s forcing fumbles and snaring interceptions. Linebacker Tremaine Edmunds and safety Kevin Byard fly all over the field looking for a pass to pluck, and cornerback Tyrique Stevenson and defensive end Montez Sweat are always ready to rake a ball out of someone’s hands.
But what about when that doesn’t happen?
The Bears lead the NFL with 16 takeaways, and that has masked some major concerns about their defense. When it comes to the basics, they’ve been unreliable:
– They’ve allowed 5.3 yards per carry (30th in the NFL).
– Opponents have compiled a 98.6 passer rating (21st).
– Sweat and the pass rush have gotten just 14 sacks (25th).
– Teams are scoring touchdowns against them on 64% of their red-zone trips (25th).
Those alarms have been going off all season, and the Bears were exposed by the Ravens last week as third-string quarterback Tyler Huntley played a clean game and led their offense to 30 points.
There’s some randomness to turnovers, and hoping to get three or four of them isn’t a sound plan Sunday when the Bears visit the Bengals.
With quarterback Joe Burrow on injured reserve, the Bengals traded for Joe Flacco, who hasn’t thrown an interception or fumbled in his three starts. If Flacco is scratched due to the sprained AC joint in his shoulder that kept him out of practice all week, the Bears might have a better chance at taking the ball from Jake Browning, who has thrown eight, but coach Zac Taylor will look to minimize risk through his game planning.
The Bears can’t plan on takeaways. They need to stuff the run and force Flacco or Browning into third-and-longs. There’s nothing profound about that, but it works.
Third down is one area in which the Bears have been good this season, holding opponents to 31.9% conversions, second in the league.
Fixing the defense is a new challenge for Bears coach Ben Johnson, who previously spent his coaching career exclusively on offense.
That was a big factor in his hiring of veteran defensive coordinator Dennis Allen, and Johnson indicated he defers to Allen on all defensive matters, evident by his phrasing as he said he’s “not going to micromanage” him, that Allen “does a great job keeping me in the loop,” that Johnson will “spitball” suggestions in their meetings and that it’s been “good for my education” to work with Allen.
“When he’s calling it on game day, I know what we’re doing and where everyone should be,” Johnson said. “But the longer I’m in this role, the more in tune I’m going to be in bringing all three phases together so we can play complementary football.”
That means he has not thundered in and given Allen directives.
“He’s got a lot of expertise [and] that’s something that I never want to screw up,” Johnson said. “He does an excellent job, obviously, so I’m there to support. I do like to challenge occasionally and just learn.”
There’s nothing wrong with Johnson knowing his strengths and recognizing those of Allen, who is in his 15th season as a coordinator or head coach. The Bears found a good formula in that regard with offensive-minded coach Matt Nagy and defensive coordinator Vic Fangio in 2018.
But head coaches’ success hinges on both sides of the ball, and first-time head coaches usually have a lot to learn about their non-specialty. Johnson’s predecessor, Matt Eberflus, never appeared to have any handle whatsoever on fixing the Bears’ offense, which was one of many reasons he lasted less than three seasons.
Johnson has a full plate with rewiring a young quarterback in Caleb Williams and fixing a Bears offense that hasn’t finished higher than 18th in points since 2018, but the defense must click into place, too, for the team to have any shot at the playoffs in what Johnson declared a win-now season.
The Bengals are far from an offensive juggernaut without Burrow, but Flacco sparked them to 71 points over their last two games, and they committed no turnovers.
The list of concerns starts with star wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase, who leads the NFL in yards and catches, but there’s plenty more.
Chase is the highest paid receiver in the league, and running mate Tee Higgins is 11th. Higgins averaged 66 catches, 919 yards and seven touchdowns per season coming into this one, and the Bears are iffy at cornerback with Jaylon Johnson, Kyler Gordon and Terell Smith.
The Bengals also averaged seven yards per carry over the last two games with a rushing attack powered by Chase Brown and Samaje Perine. Allowing them to continue at that pace would undermine the Bears’ goal of setting up obvious passing situations on third downs, which is one way to ignite their pass rush.
For the Bears’ defense to get on track Sunday and for a potential playoff push, it’s all about nailing down the essentials: stopping the run, getting pressure and making stops on third downs. That’s the foundation for a great performance. Takeaways are a bonus.