No defense wants to be a roller coaster, but the Bears have been a nonstop thrill ride on that side of the ball. They’ve had as many twists, curves, plunges and rises as anything at Six Flags a few minutes up the road from Halas Hall.
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The Bears have struggled all season to be a steady, play-to-play defense, but they’ve often bailed themselves out by making incredible, game-saving plays. Heading into their game Friday at the defending champion Eagles, they are sixth-worst in total defense and points allowed, but tops in the NFL in takeaways.
The Eagles likely will test that chaotic formula Friday. While their offense has struggled this season, they have committed a league-low six turnovers. Quarterback Jalen Hurts has thrown just one interception in 335 drop-backs, and running back Saquon Barkley has fumbled once in 185 carries.
The Bears will run into similar scenarios as they push for a spot in the playoffs. They have two games against the Packers, who have the second-fewest turnovers, and one against the Lions, who are tied with the Bears for third-fewest.
The Bears’ takeaways are impressive. There’s no qualifier on that statement. They have ball-hawking players at all three levels of their defense, and defensive coordinator Dennis Allen has emphasized it like crazy in practices.
Safety Kevin Byard and cornerback Nahshon Wright are tied with Panthers corner Jaycee Horn for the league lead with five interceptions, and linebacker Tremaine Edmunds is next with four. Their 16 interceptions are more than they had all of last season (11).
Defensive end Montez Sweat, who has 6 1/2 sacks in his last six games, is tied for fourth in the league with three forced fumbles.
There is, though, some element of randomness to turnovers, and some opponents are more careful than others.
Giving up yards in bunches and hoping for a takeaway to erase that is a tough way to live. It’ll be tough for the Bears to continue allowing the third-most yards per carry (5.2) and 14th-highest passer rating (92.9) and offset it by forcing turnovers.
They’ve won the turnover margin in 7 of 11 games and been even in two and gone 8-1 in those games. All three of their losses were games in which they had one or no turnovers, and they allowed an average of 36.3 points and 373.3 yards in those.
For the Bears to become a dangerous team in the playoffs, the defense ideally would stabilize itself and be more reliable in the mundane plays and add to that by taking the ball away.
Injuries have been an incessant problem, and it’s hard to be consistent when the lineup isn’t. In their win over the Steelers last week, the Bears had just six of the starters they planned on using going into the season.
Some of their most dependable defenders are returning, and that could level them out.
The Bears activated top cornerback Jaylon Johnson and nickel cornerback Kyler Gordon from injured reserve Thursday, and they’re tremendous assets. Johnson frequently neutralizes the opponent’s best wide receiver, and Gordon does a little bit of everything against the run and the pass.
Johnson has played one game this season, Gordon has played two and ever-solid linebacker T.J. Edwards has played five.
Edwards is at least another week away from coming back from his hamstring injury. He was the Bears’ leading tackler in 2023 and was second last season, so getting him back would instantly improve their run defense.
Until all the pieces are back in place, though, they’ll likely have to keep playing hero ball. Opponents have hit them hard, especially in the rushing attack, but the Bears keep getting takeaways when they need them most. They’ve kept that up so far, but it’s going to be much more difficult down the stretch.