Bear Digest

How Ben Johnson sees defensive line talent pool setting up for Bears

The pass rush and stopping the run both lacked proper personnel last year and Bears coach Ben Johnson sees the possibility they could have answers in a few ways.
Gene Chamberlain|
Bears coach Ben Johnson confident he can fix offensive line.mp4
Bears coach Ben Johnson confident he can fix offensive line.mp4

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Chicago Bears

Turning around an offense or defense quickly requires more than grandiose thinking. You need luck.

Bears coach Ben Johnson and GM Ryan Poles see everything setting up the way they need it to in order accomplish this, and talent at the combine and in free agency is the reason.

"Yeah, so I think Ryan talked about it this morning with you," Johnson told reporters at the combine. "We feel really good about free agency and the draft, and how the supply matches up with our demand.

"We've been able to dive in the film over the last few weeks, but now (at the combine) we can verify the personality, the football intelligence and all those things you wouldn't normally know just by watching the tape. It's just the next step in the process right now and we're just cooking on along."

The defensive and offensive lines are obvious starting points. The 68 sacks allowed and drop at running the ball to 25th, and their 28th-rank at defending the run made it apparent the Bears didn't get it done on the line of scrimmage.

Johnson's expertise is offense but it doesn't mean he can afford to look now at only one side of the ball.

Another edge rusher to complement Montez Sweat wouldn't hurt, whether it's inside or on the outside. A defensive tackle who is dominant probably wouldn't be turned away

"Again, it's a big puzzle," Poles said. "You know, free agency comes first. There's a lot of unknowns in the draft in terms of who's going to be there for you. I've talked about that before.

"You can have philosophical beliefs in how you build a football team, how you prioritize, but the supply has to match the needs, and those opportunities have to present themselves at the right time. So we're starting to put that puzzle piece together. But what I like about really the pairing so far of for agency and the drafts, I do believe that the supply of players are matching our needs. So there's going to be good opportunities."

At one point Poles had gone along with the Matt Eberflus theory that pressure needs to come from the inside. Not much has changed.

"You really need interior, someone that really punctures the pocket from the interior for the exterior to be successful and productive as well," Poles said.

The Bears would like to think they have this in Gervon Dexter but he criticized his own consistency at the end of last season and his run defense has been especially spotty.

Defensive tackle Jonathan Allen is now apparently on the trade market, according to what Commanders GM Adam Peters said at the combine on Tuesday. They gave his agent permission to seek a trade, which often precedes a player being released for cap purposes.

“Really everything’s still on the table in terms of whether it's trade or staying here or whatever,” Peters said. “We're still going through that. It's kind of early in the stages."

Free agency has defensive tackles like Philadelphia's Milton Williams, Dallas' Osa Odighizuwa, Detroit's Levi Onwuzurike and Cincinnati's B.J. Hill all available.

Michigan's Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant and Tyleik Williams from Ohio State and Walter Nolen from Ole' Miss are top defensive tackles in the draft.

The edge is no less loaded with players at both the end and defensive tackle spots.

Former Bears edge Khalil Mack Philadelphia's Josh Sweat, the Jets' Haason Reddick, New Orleans' Chase Young and the Colts' Dayo Odeyingbo rank among the top available free agents.

Mel Kiper's first-round mock draft released on Tuesday calls for five edge rushers to be taken in the first 20 picks, and projections by NFL Mock Draft Database say six more could be taken before the end of Round 2.

"Yeah, talking to (defensive coordinator Dennis Allen) has been very enlightening because we share the same mindset when it comes to defensive football which is we want to affect the passer," Johnson said. "There's a lot of ways to do that. Certainly, up front the pass rush is the primary thing you think of but also on the back end, it's challenging the receivers and disrupting the timing.

"So when we look at guys that are available, absolutely, we want to upgrade the pass rush and we also want on the backend to come up and lock down receivers as well. So it's the fine balance and marriage between the rush and coverage that we are looking to augment."

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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.