The most remarkable thing about the Bears’ defense this season is not only that it has forced an astounding, NFL-best 31 turnovers, but the unit has done it amid nonstop turbulence in the lineup.
Head into the Bears’ final two games, however, they’re about as healthy as they’re going to get with 9 of 11 original starters playing Sunday at the 49ers. The only absences will be defensive end Dayo Odeyingbo, who tore his Achilles and is out for the season, and nickel cornerback Kyler Gordon.
Gordon accounts for 12 of the staggering 43 games missed due to injury by the Bears’ intended starting lineup and will miss Sunday and the Week 18 game against the Lions while on injured reserve recovering from a groin injury. Coach Ben Johnson mentioned Monday, though, that Gordon “potentially” could return for the playoffs.
The Bears have gotten takeaways regardless of the instability.
Safety Kevin Byard leads the league with six interceptions, and cornerback Nahshon Wright has five. Linebacker Tremaine Edmunds, who just returned from IR Saturday against the Packers and recovered a fumble in that game, has four.
Defensive end Montez Sweat, who has surged to 12th in sacks at 9 1/2, has forced three fumbles, and cornerbacks Tyrique Stevenson and Wright have two apiece.
Imagine what they could do with continuity on their side heading toward the playoffs.
“Chemistry goes a long way,” Edmunds said. “How one person sees something may be different than how the other person may see something, [so] it’s about just getting back on the same page.
“You see those things coming to fruition. It’s about just keeping our head down, continue to gel, continue to mesh, and we’ll definitely get the ball rolling for sure.”
Other than quarterback Caleb Williams’ knack for jaw-dropping passes and late-game heroics, the idea of the Bears’ defense ramping up is the scariest thing about this team in the playoffs. A nearly intact lineup is a luxury for coordinator Dennis Allen.
Most playoff games are tight and tend to be low-scoring, especially if in cold weather. Even one or two takeaways can make all the difference.
The question is whether the Bears can thrive defensively without forcing turnovers. Can they be a steady defense that succeeds by doing the basics, like stuffing the run, pressuring quarterbacks, getting third-down stops and holding firm in the red zone?
Mostly, they’ve offset their defensive inconsistency with takeaways.
They’re 25th in total defense, 18th against the pass and 27th against the run. They’re 21st in sacks, and the defensive ends other than Sweat have combined for just seven. The Bears are 14th in third-down defense, allowing conversions 37.8% of the time, and 10th in red-zone defense, allowing touchdowns on 54.2% of opponent opportunities.
In the 22-16 overtime win over the Packers on Sunday, the Bears held them to three field goals in five red-zone trips. The Packers also ran 10 plays inside the Bears’ 10-yard line and didn’t score on any of them.
The key to everything defensively for the Bears is Sweat. He’s their highest-paid player for a reason, and it helps that, at 29, he has played a career-high 73% of the defensive snaps.
It’s promising that he’s on a hot streak with 8 1/2 sacks in his last 10 games — after 6 1/2 in 24 before that, dating back to 2023 — and the Bears need that to continue.
“He’s playing some of the best ball of his career,” Johnson said. “He’s one of our most consistent run defenders. He’s been racking up [about] a sack a game since the bye. We can consistently count on [him] to win one-on-one matchups and pressure the quarterback. I feel really strongly about the way he’s playing right now.”
If a defense that has been disruptive to opponents virtually all season is only now finding its groove, the rest of the league better watch out.