Coordinator Dennis Allen had no specific answers for why the 49ers were able to torch his Bears defense for six touchdowns last week. In fact, as is his custom, he wasn’t even taking questions about it.
“We’re moving on to Detroit,” Allen said Thursday. “I’ll say this — I don’t think I coached well enough last week. I don’t think we played well enough last week. So you learn your lessons. You make corrections that you need to make. Now we move forward, and we’re getting ready for Detroit. And I appreciate any of the questions about last week, but I’ve been through it plenty of times. So I’m ready to move on.”
The “on to Detroit” tack is an odd quirk for a coach who has spent 24 years in the NFL, including six seasons as a head coach, without winning six Super Bowls. But Allen can stand at the lectern and recite poetry if he wants and Bears fans will be good with it as long as his defense gets the job done.
There’s the rub, though. Whether Allen wants to explain it or not, the 49ers’ red-hot offense did, in fact, torch his defense. To his credit, the defensive performance started with linebacker T.J. Edwards’ pick-six on the first play from scrimmage and included a forced punt in the fourth quarter that allowed the Bears to take a 38-35 lead with 5:22 left. But the defense faltered in crunch time, and not even a league-leading 32nd takeaway could bail them out.
So Allen and his crew are on the spot heading into the regular-season finale Sunday against the Lions at Soldier Field. In a rare twist not seen around these parts since 1956 under coach Paddy Driscoll, the Bears will head into the playoffs with an offense that can win a shootout but a shaky defense that looms as a likely culprit if they fail to advance.
The Bears rank 22nd in the NFL with an average of 24.1 points allowed per game. They’re the only team in the bottom half of those rankings with a winning record — 11-5 (.688). The 10 teams behind them are a combined 46-113-1 (.291). That’s the incredible value of 32 takeaways when you’re allowing 357.3 yards per game, 28th in the league.
The finale will be a timely tuneup against the caliber of quarterback and offense that Allen and the defense surely will face in the playoffs. The first time Allen pulled the “on to Detroit” tactic, refusing to dissect the Bears’ loss to the Vikings in the opener, all that focus on the next opponent didn’t matter: The Lions pounded the Bears with 52 points and 511 yards in a blowout loss at Ford Field in Week 2. Allen knew he had to be better than the previous week. He was worse.
He faces a similar test coming off last week’s loss. The Bears can win shootouts, but there’s a limit. In Allen’s four playoff losses as the Saints’ defensive coordinator, his defense allowed 29, 26, 26 and 30 points, including the devastating 61-yard “Minnesota Miracle” play by the Vikings in 2018.
Is the Bears’ defense good enough to give coach Ben Johnson’s offense a fair chance? Can the Bears contain a hot QB in the playoffs? Can the defense win a playoff game without a takeaway? Will the pass rush be there?
One way or another, Allen is going to have to come up with some answers.
When the Bears have the ball
After scoring 31 points against the 49ers last week, Caleb Williams and the Bears’ offense are set up for a playoff tuneup against a Lions defense that has faltered in the second half as injuries have piled up. The Lions will be without three secondary starters from their Week 2 game against the Bears — safeties Kerby Joseph and Brian Branch and cornerback Terrion Arnold.
With Joseph, Branch, Arnold and others missing time, the Lions’ defense has allowed an average of 30.2 points and 409 yards in its last six games — plummeting from 10th to tied for 23rd in points and from fifth to 18th in yards.
The Bears’ offense, meanwhile, is on the upswing. Williams, like most starters, was in his second game in Johnson’s offense in
Week 2, when the Bears lost 52-21 at Ford Field. The offensive line of rookie Ozzy Trapilo, Pro Bowlers Joe Thuney and Drew Dalman, former Lion Jonah Jackson and Darnell Wright has started the last six games together and has a streak of 369 consecutive meaningful snaps together.
And perhaps most of all, rookie tight end Colston Loveland and rookie wide receiver Luther Burden III — who combined for one reception for five yards on three targets against the Lions in Week 2 — have emerged as weapons for Williams. In the last three games, Loveland has 13 receptions for 187 yards, and Burden has 18 receptions for 289 yards. Against the 49ers last week, they combined for 14 receptions for 232 yards and two touchdowns.
When the Lions have the ball
This will be an interesting test for a Bears defense determined to show improvement after allowing 52 points and 511 yards to the Lions in Week 2. Jared Goff strafed the Bears’ defense for 334 yards and five TD passes without an interception on 23-for-28 passing (82.1%) for a near-perfect 156.0 passer rating.
Now Goff is coming off a notably bad big-game performance against the Vikings. With the Lions in need of a victory to keep their playoff hopes alive, Goff threw two interceptions, lost three fumbles and was sacked five times in a 23-10 loss at U.S. Bank Stadium. The Lions had six turnovers in all and only 231 yards against the Vikings.
They figure to bounce back to finish a disappointing (8-8) season on a high note, and their offense against a vulnerable Bears defense is where that likely starts. Running back Jahmyr Gibbs, who rushed for 94 yards on 12 carries against the Bears in Week 2, is in a slump. During this Lions three-game skid, Gibbs has 37 carries for 81 yards and no touchdowns (2.2 yards per carry; 27 yards per game). David Montgomery has 21 carries for 71 yards in the same span.
The Bears’ defense has struggled against the run most of the season, allowing 200 yards against the 49ers last week and 192 against the Packers in Week 16.