Bears focused on what they’ve got after failing to add help at D-end

Edge rushers Joey Bosa, Jadeveon Clowney, Cam Jordan and Von Miller have a whopping 24 Pro Bowl appearances to their names. They’re also quite available, having yet to sign with any NFL team in free agency.

After an offseason in which the Bears did little to solve their pass-rush problem, adding no free agents or draft picks of consequence, it’s tempting to wonder what they, or any other available defensive ends, would look like with a wishbone C on their helmet.

“I can’t focus on it,” Bears defensive line coach Jeremy Garrett said Thursday. “My focus is on, ‘This is who we have in the building. How can I get these guys better?’… I don’t focus on the names and the theories. I can’t do that.”

They’re household names. Three of the four were drafted in the top three overall. Two have played for Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen at previous stops. But all of them are in their 30s, are likely limited to niche pass rush roles and used to making premium paychecks — which explains why they remain available.

The Bears continue to monitor edge rushers in free agency or those who might be available via trade. The fact remains, though, that they won’t be able to find any long-term answer until next offseason at the earliest. That’s concerning, given how troublesome the team’s pass rush was last season, when six teams had fewer defensive pressures and only one had a worse pass-rush win rate.

The Bears’ takeaways masked their pass-rush struggles, but only to a point. The Bears defense led the NFL in interceptions with 23 last year. There have been 55 teams since 2000 with at least 23 interceptions in a season — and only 12 of those teams had fewer sacks than the Bears’ 35. Since Pro Football Reference began tracking defensive pressures in 2018, only one team has posted fewer of them while intercepting at least 20 passes in a season.

The Bears’ only remaining path is to try to improve their core four defensive ends — Montez Sweat, Austin Booker, Dayo Odeyingbo and Shemar Turner.

Last month, head coach Ben Johnson said the Bears’ edge rush improvement would be tied to the “combination of us being able to coach better and those guys taking the next step.” Garrett said he’s focused his edge rushers on three goals: to force more tackles for loss on run plays to set up longer passing downs; to be more consistent in their pass rush technique; and to find a way to affect the quarterback.

“When you watch tape from last year, there’s some meat on the bone,” Garrett said.

Odeyingbo had only one sack in eight games last year before tearing his Achilles’ tendon. Turner had none in five games before tearing his ACL. The Bears envision both being able to play end on first and second down before moving inside to rush the passer on third downs.

Sweat, who turns 30 in September, posted 10 sacks last season — less than half that of Myles Garrett, who led the league with 23. Austin Booker had 4½ in 10 games.

Two weeks ago, defensive coordinator Dennis Allen said that he focused too much on scheme and too little on fundamentals last year. To that end, the Bears’ defensive line room didn’t talk about scheme for the first two weeks of the offseason program, focusing only on individual skills like get-off, hand placement and leverage. Garrett has never been part of a team that did that before.

“It’s been really good for our guys,” he said, “and really good for our room.”

The better question, though, is whether that will be good enough.

NOTE: The Bears waived running back Deion Hankins and replaced him with Salvon Ahmed, who had 163 career carries with the Dolphins under new Bears position coach Eric Studesville. The Bears also signed safety Anthony Johnson Jr. and put Aussie punter Tory Taylor on the exempt/international player list, where can remain until the Bears release their 53-man roster.