Bears Could Experience What Vikings Did
Bears GM Ryan Pace rebuilt the team's quarterback room and fortified the offensive line.
The effectiveness of his actions will be known at a future date, but it doesn't take an analytical website or study of film to realize one divisional rival did a great deal more to fortify their defensive secondary than Pace did with the Bears. And there were Bears secondary issues.
The Minnesota Vikings reworked a faltering secondary over the offseason. The Bears, meanwhile, are doing what the Vikings did last year. They are counting on inexperience.
How did that work out for the Vikings when they threw Jeff Gladney and Cameron Dantzler to the wolves? They went from third against the pass in 2018 and 15th in 2019 to 25th last year with youngsters dominating their secondary.
It's why GM Rick Spielman was out combing free agency for veteran pass coverage help this year. He wasn't going to put young players in situations they'd have trouble handling again.
They signed former Cowboys safety Xavier Woods to make up for losing Anthony Harris to the Eagles in free agency.
Then they signed Cardinals veteran cornerback Patrick Peterson and brought back their own former cornerback MacKensie Alexander, who can play the nickel position where they were hurt often last year. Peterson's signing was anything but cheap, at $10 million for a year.
And late last week they signed Bashaud Breeland, the former Chiefs cornerback the Bears considered signing. Breeland was a true left cornerback who would have fit right in for the Bears, but now they'll go with an often-injured 31-year-old cornerback on opening day, Desmond Trufant. Or they'll use a few entirely inexperienced players like Kindle Vildor and Duke Shelley.
How will they do? Watch the replay on NFL Network of the Bears-Packers regular-season finale or the playoff replay and see how they worked out then after the injuries to Buster Skrine and Jaylon Johnson last year. It wasn't a thing of beauty, particularly the Packers game.
Pace thought he didn't have the money to bring in another cornerback after losing Kyle Fuller and signing Trufant, apparently. Breeland received a contract reported at roughly $4 million for this year, or roughly the overall amount the Bears would have saved by cutting Jimmy Graham. The Bears would then be down to one second-year tight end, and back where they were in 2019 at the position if they did this.
Vildor is a fifth-rounder, Shelley a sixth-rounder and rookie Thomas Graham Jr. a sixth-rounder. When Trufant has injury issues yet again and these inexperienced players prove not ready to take his duties or to assume the vacant slot cornerback position, the Bears can think about how they failed to bring aboard experienced players like Breeland or Alexander, who came fairly cheap to Minnesota and bring great potential.
There are a few free agents yet who could supply some experience, former Chiefs and Steelers cornerback Steven Nelson being one. There has been no move in this direction.
Pace is placing a great deal of confidence in unproven or injured players in the secondary and it's normally an unwise risk in an NFL age of passing.
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
