Looking back at last years defense, I saw some really good pieces and progress. The opposite was also observed. As it was pre-described, the offense came on, slowly, as predicted.

The defense didn't get that same grace. DA is known to run a scheme that is trait specific, while BJ's scheme is talent specific. In that grace, we made two intentional signings in Dayo and Grady. They being one half of the starting DL, rarely played together due to injury. Whether training did that is irrelevant, due to case hardening. Case Harding is a manufacturing term used for toughening, due to job specific repetition. We got that last year from 80% of our defense struggling through unity last year. I fully don't expect that this year. With that, we should come out of TC with the defensive roster we wanted last year.

Heading toward the, above mentioned, opposite. I've gotta start with my most hated Bear from last year, Tremaine Edmunds. He gone! Watch our LB crew make more tackles in the hole this year. I don't care about how tall or fast he was, because he didn't play like it. We plugged in players through all three levels and they have is splash plays and equally ugly plays.

This year we kept those that for and added speed at all three levels. With those additions, we will have the most talented secondary in the league. The DL will improve through knowing the system, case hardening and the ascension of players like Turner and Booker. Booker set a pace for double digit sacks returning from injury. Expect that to happen this year. Sweat will give us 8-10, with Dexter and Turner giving 6-8 apiece. Throw in successful blitzes and we'll get another 10.

Realistically, we'll be middle of the pack defensively and that will be enough with the offense being more solid as it grows. That's another storyline that make the defense better. Playing from ahead is far different than playing from behind. That's the expectation...

3 hours ago, Mongo3451 said:

Looking back at last years defense, I saw some really good pieces and progress. The opposite was also observed. As it was pre-described, the offense came on, slowly, as predicted.

The defense didn't get that same grace. DA is known to run a scheme that is trait specific, while BJ's scheme is talent specific. In that grace, we made two intentional signings in Dayo and Grady. They being one half of the starting DL, rarely played together due to injury. Whether training did that is irrelevant, due to case hardening. Case Harding is a manufacturing term used for toughening, due to job specific repetition. We got that last year from 80% of our defense struggling through unity last year. I fully don't expect that this year. With that, we should come out of TC with the defensive roster we wanted last year.

Heading toward the, above mentioned, opposite. I've gotta start with my most hated Bear from last year, Tremaine Edmunds. He gone! Watch our LB crew make more tackles in the hole this year. I don't care about how tall or fast he was, because he didn't play like it. We plugged in players through all three levels and they have is splash plays and equally ugly plays.

This year we kept those that for and added speed at all three levels. With those additions, we will have the most talented secondary in the league. The DL will improve through knowing the system, case hardening and the ascension of players like Turner and Booker. Booker set a pace for double digit sacks returning from injury. Expect that to happen this year. Sweat will give us 8-10, with Dexter and Turner giving 6-8 apiece. Throw in successful blitzes and we'll get another 10.

Realistically, we'll be middle of the pack defensively and that will be enough with the offense being more solid as it grows. That's another storyline that make the defense better. Playing from ahead is far different than playing from behind. That's the expectation...

I agree, we added 3 DTs in FA and drafted one that all fit the scheme. Billings wasnt a fit for this style, he was good for us for a couple years but time to move on. Dexter will be gone next year and possibly Jarrett. Since Dayo isnt going anywhere this year and they actually like his fit and said he was starting to improve before the injury, he might stick around like Sweat since his last year drops a little to 13.5. Booker will be the guy along with Sweat to get that 3rd down pressure we need. The back 7 will be much improved not only with Gordan and Johnson back healthy, but Bryant and Thieneman. Next years draft has more DEs and I don't see them missing out on one. Get an Edge and 3T and then the rest of the draft is reloading more skill.

3 hours ago, Mongo3451 said:

us Looking back at last years defense, I saw some really good pieces and progress. The opposite was also observed. As it was pre-described, the offense came on, slowly, as predicted.

The defense didn't get that same grace. DA is known to run a scheme that is trait specific, while BJ's scheme is talent specific. In that grace, we made two intentional signings in Dayo and Grady. They being one half of the starting DL, rarely played together due to injury. Whether training did that is irrelevant, due to case hardening. Case Harding is a manufacturing term used for toughening, due to job specific repetition. We got that last year from 80% of our defense struggling through unity last year. I fully don't expect that this year. With that, we should come out of TC with the defensive roster we wanted last year.

Heading toward the, above mentioned, opposite. I've gotta start with my most hated Bear from last year, Tremaine Edmunds. He gone! Watch our LB crew make more tackles in the hole this year. I don't care about how tall or fast he was, because he didn't play like it. We plugged in players through all three levels and they have is splash plays and equally ugly plays.

This year we kept those that for and added speed at all three levels. With those additions, we will have the most talented secondary in the league. The DL will improve through knowing the system, case hardening and the ascension of players like Turner and Booker. Booker set a pace for double digit sacks returning from injury. Expect that to happen this year. Sweat will give us 8-10, with Dexter and Turner giving 6-8 apiece. Throw in successful blitzes and we'll get another 10.

Realistically, we'll be middle of the pack defensively and that will be enough with the offense being more solid as it grows. That's another storyline that make the defense better. Playing from ahead is far different than playing from behind. That's the expectation...

Agree with everything. I think the back seven give 12-14 sacks.

We never saw our starting defense last year. Some of the depth players we rotated through were just bad. IIRC we had one game with our top 5 LBs out.

This year the depth in our secondary is much better. Both starters at safety are better. Backup CBs are better.

Totally agree on Edmund’s. He was only a cover 2 coverage fit in the deep middle and fit nothing else. Edward’s will still be a bit of a liability in coverage. I’m not sure which version of Bush we’ll get but he at least likes hitting. Again depth here has improved.

DE I think can be ok once we get the two back from injury. I never liked what I saw from Dayo and he’d be 4th in my rotation.

DT might be better. It’s hard to express how bad Billings was last year. Gallimore and Street are both lighter faster DTs. If all we want is penetration and they do that we’ll see some disruptive plays against the run. None of our DTs are good at anchoring especially against double teams. So it has to be get in your gap stay in your gap. That includes the LB. I’m less worried about pass rush because I think our coverage options are so varied we can easily blitz from anywhere and still have a talented guy who can cover the gap.

Still we need one more piece. DT or DE (offset injury recovery risk). Can a rookie or two fill the gap? I think we’ll be watching the waiver wire as camp closes. Or do something at the trade deadline mid season.

We are not going to be a top 5 defense again because since BJ got here, we are now an offensive team. As you saw this draft we are adding offensive assets . Last year was an example of DAs defense that led the league in TOs. I think if we were healthy, we very well could have did slightly better. TOs are said to be a lot of luck but when Lovey was here TOs were a priority. Same with DA, and with adding speed and having a better pass rush due to speed uptick and being healthier. A natural progression of players getting better figures in also. Now health will come into play again but as AZ mentioned, we are better depth to offset the potential injuries we may have.

I think this is spot on with what we’ll see this season on defense.

While I still have concerns at DE the upgrades everywhere else enable so much flexibility we can help them out however we chose each week.

Plus there are still several FA options available so they can be patient and monitor the recoveries of Turner and Dayo.

Windy City Gridiron

Chicago Bears Opinion of the Day: We are looking at this...

Mongo Peanut is convinced that we aren’t seeing what Dennis Allen is building.

People seem to memory hole the fact that the Bears had a ton of injuries on defense last year. Gordon and Johnson played in 1 game together, against PHI. Gordon only played in 3 games total. Johnson only played starter level snaps in 2 games. To put this into perspective, Nahshon Wright played 1041 snaps, Johnson and Gordon combined had 400. Nick freaking McCloud had 436.

There were at least 2 weeks, where the Bears starting LBs started the season as LB4 and lower. Edmunds and Edwards combined to miss 11 games. Sewell missed 5.

Turner (high draft pick) and Odeyingbo (FA $ signing) missed a combined 22 games. Booker missed another 7. Jarrett missed 3 and seemed limited for most of the year.

Injuries are part of the game, but the Bears were missing at least 2+ starter/key contributor on defense every week last season. Half the starting defense was missing for 3 weeks 12-14 last year. The patchwork was crazy.

Week 1 - No Johnson, Gordon, Edwards, or Booker (4)
Week 2 - No Gordon, Booker, only 20 snaps for Johnson (2.5)
Week 3 - No Johnson, Gordon, Edwards, or Booker (4)
Week 4 - No Johnson, Gordon, Edwards, Jarrett, or Booker (5)
Week 6 - No Johnson, Jarrett, or Booker (3)
Week 7 - No Johnson, Jarrett, or Booker (3)
Week 8 - No Johnson, Gordon, Stevenson, or Booker (4) - Literally no CBs
Week 9 - No Johnson, Gordon, or Turner (3)
Week 10 - No Johnson, Gordon, Edwards, Turner, or Odeyingbo (5)
Week 11 - No Johnson, Gordon, Edwards, Turner, or Odeyingbo (5)
Week 12 - No Johnson, Gordon, Edwards, Edmunds, Sewell, Turner, or Odeyingbo (7)
Week 13 - No Edwards, Edmunds, Stevenson, Sewell, Turner, or Odeyingbo (6) - Literally no LBs
Week 14 - No Edmunds, Gordon, Stevenson, Turner, or Odeyingbo, Sewell 1 snap (6)
Week 15 - No Edmunds, Gordon, Turner, or Odeyingbo, Sewell 3 snaps (4.9)
Week 16 - No Gordon, Sewell, Turner, or Odeyingbo (4)
Week 17 - No Gordon, Turner, or Odeyingbo (3)
Week 18 - No Gordon, Turner, or Odeyingbo (3)

2nd year in DA's system, hopefully fewer injuries, a full year of Johnson+Gordon with the additions of Bryant and Thieneman should make the secondary elite. Couple that with Devin Bush at LB and the back 7 is going to be elite. The front 4 just need to be average.

The Bears will surely have fewer takeaways, they had 33, the middle of the league had 20.

The defense allowed 347 first downs, 330 was the middle of the league. So if they can get to league average on both, forcing 17 more punt/FGs vs 13 takeaways, it is basically a push on those two factors alone. They allowed the 4th most yards, 600 more than the league average, over 35 yards per game. Coupled with the penalty disparity, they were giving up an extra 50 yards per game.

If that trends towards the league average, even by half (25 yards), that would be 425 yards on the year an entire game's worth of offense output reduced. That is basically 2-3 pts a game in their favor. So some close losses become wins, and close wins become 6 to 7 pt wins, etc.