USA Today
How Chuck Pagano Can Best Align Bears Defensive Stars
Chuck Pagano called July 20 the date the NFL has told the Bears they can return to work at Halas Hall and in the meantime he has much to contemplate.
Chief among this is how to get the most out of a few of his stars.
Freeing up Khalil Mack, Robert Quinn and Eddie Jackson to make plays is the chief issue.
Mack's drop to 8 1/2 sacks from 12 1/2 last year could be helped by the addition of Quinn. However, Quinn is going to need to adjust to playing a 3-4 defense on the edge in a scheme requiring him to move from side to side on occasion instead of hunkering down on the right side.
"There'll be some adjustment for him," Pagano said Thursday about Quinn.
It's not the first time he's had to address this. A good example of another was when he first became the Colts' head coach.
"I remember going to Indy in 2012 and calling Robert Mathis in and having a discussion about playing outside linebacker in the 3-4 and all the things that come with that job title," Pagano said. "He wasn't under contract at the time and it took, it took a long time, a lot of film, a lot of dialogue to get him to say OK, I'm in, I can handle that job description.
"So there's definitely some hurdles to get over but we'll do the right thing for Robert, we'll do the right thing in the entire defense to put them all in the best possible position to be successful."
With Quinn playing now instead of Leonard Floyd, the defense takes on a different look. Quinn can rush the passer but isn't the cover linebacker in space Floyd was.
"We will have to find one of the 11 guys that we have on the field at any one time to handle some of those responsibilities that Leonard did," Bears outside linebackers coach Ted Monachino said.
If they do this and get Quinn to be able to move around a little more than he thought he could, it could help make Mack more effective.
"Khalil would never say that," Pagano said. "He would say, 'hey, look, I've got to win. I don't care how many guys you put on me.' "
Pagano said coaches can still help Mack, too.
"You can go back and say how many times was he doubled, was he tripled?" Pagano said "You know, did they leave an extra protector in there? How many times did he get singled? How many of those times did he win? How many times did I go back, you know, first thing you do is you look at yourself and say from a call standpoint I know I'll be better and can be better to put him and put the rest of the guys in position to be successful. So a lot of that falls on myself."
Mack has obviously been more focused on improving himself and not the scheme.
"He's determined," Pagano said. "We want to be the best defense in the National Football League. And he wants to be one of the best players in the National Football League.
"But more importantly, he just wants to win. He doesn't care about anything else. When you win, everybody — there's enough cheese to go around.'
Monachino sees evidence Mack is taking this upon himself even if coaches can help.
"Nobody wants to be better and dominant down-in and down-out than Khalil Mack," Monachino said. "And he is in the process of putting together a really good offseason—he's training like I have never seen anybody train before—and he is preparing to be as good as he possibly can be, once 2020 starts."
Jackson signed a $58.4 million deal just after last season ended despite a year when his interception total dipped from six to two.
"He can do a lot of things, whether it's playing in the deep parts of the field—we all know that he's got rare instincts, he's got rare anticipation and range and ball skills," Pagano said. "I've gotta do a better job of making sure we accentuate those things and put him in position to make plays, because he's a playmaker.
"Once you put that on tape that you're that guy and you can go make plays, there's a lot of offensive coordinators and quarterback coaches in our division, in our conference and around the league and everybody that we're gonna play who's gonna say, "Hey, if he's back there, if he's in the post, don't throw it anywhere inside the numbers. You better be outside the red lines. And if he's in this half of the field, go to the other side."
It's not all on the coaches. Pagano said Jackson can step up as a leader this year on defense in addition to advancing as a player.
"A lot like Ed Reed—and he's watched a lot of tape (of Reed), Eddie has—and he's gotta figure out ways to mess with quarterbacks and make them believe one thing and then flip the script on them," Pagano said. "When you're a talented player like that and you have those abilities, you're not always going to get the same amount of chances."
Those improvements aside, Pagano says coaches have made use of the offseason work to address issues.
"First and foremost, I've gotta do a better job of making sure that—like Khalil, like the rest of the guys on defense, it goes for everybody—we put them in positions that accentuate their strengths and minimize anything else and give them a chance to be successful," Pagano said.
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