Bear Digest

Chicago Bears defense loving this chance to go on the offensive

It's a bit of a throwback to the days of the Buddy Ryan era with Dennis Allen's scheme becoming aggressive instead of always sitting back in soft zones.
Gene Chamberlain|
TJ Edwards on new Bears attacking defense.mp4
TJ Edwards on new Bears attacking defense.mp4

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Chicago Bears

Chicago Bears tight end Cole Kmet almost snorted with laughter when asked what it's like going against coordinator Dennis Allen's Bears defense.

“He brings a lot of stuff, especially on the first plays of camp and minicamp," Kmet said, after his laugh subsided. "He definitely brings a lot of various pressures and different looks and coverages rotating here and there.

"But those (defensive) guys, they definitely harp on playing hard man coverage and being physical with guys in the routes and I think that's all really good to see and I’m excited to see those guys on defense thrive this year in that type of scheme.”

A Bears offense messing up the details early on the first practice day could, in part, be experiencing as much confusion going against this defensive scheme as they are trying to get with it in Ben Johnson's offense.

It's been a long time.

In fact, most Bears fans today won't even remember what it's like having a defense playing a style as aggressive as Allen's.

Don't say 2018. That was an aggressive group but not necessarily an aggressive style. Vic Fangio was and still is, at heart, a zone cover coordinator with four men rushing. Now he's a four-man rush guy with a ring on his finger.

There wasn't an array of blitzes or guessing games for the opposing offensive linemen when he coached the Bears defense. There was Khalil Mack and Akiem Hicks.

You'd pretty much have to go back to the Buddy Ryan defensive era. The late Vince Tobin followed Ryan but took his foot off the gas more often and let the Bears defense play more zone than Ryan, who was football's all-time blitzer in the "46" scheme. And, of course, Lovie Smith was the cover-2 zone king.

Maybe the most aggressive guy in football now is Vikings coorindator Brian Flores but Allen could be close behind or equally as aggressive and also confusing.

"Being with him for the offseason a little bit now, in this camp, I like his expectation," linebacker T.J. Edwards said. "It's set from the start. He wants to dictate terms and take his chances.

"As a defense, you love that. The onus is on the player. Now it's on us to win our matchups and go get it. Obviously, he has his wrinkles and things like that, but I think we'll get into X's and O's as we go. Mentality wise and where he's coming from, you can appreciate it for sure.”

Defensive guys on the line attacking blockers, or blitzers from the linebacker group or the secondary or tight man to man coverage are all examples of what will be seen more.

This won't be an abandonment of zone principles entirely. In fact, they'll still play more than half their coverage in zone if past Saints teams are a good example.

That's why having Tremaine Edmund's tall frame and long reach helps cause problems for quarterbacks, including his own team's passer in the first practice.

Still, the linebackers will get to be a part of this attack style too. That's what Bears defensive players consider what they do. It's an attack, every bit as aggressive as Johnson's offense on the other side.

“It's aggressive," Edwards said. "There's also a good amount of thinking too. A lot of processing and being able to have vision at times, winning your one-on-ones, going and attacking downhill, getting the doubles off the big guys up front so they can go do what they need to do.

"But again, as we go, I feel like we'll find our sweet spot for what we'll be doing. Right now, he's going to throw it all at us to see what we can handle. And I appreciate that because that's what it is in camp. You're seeing a ton. At first you start off just seeing a whole bunch of things and then towards the end you can narrow your vision down. He's doing a good job of throwing it at us and seeing what sticks.”

Actually, they're throwing it at their own offense. So sometimes the end result will be offensive disaster.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.