Bears Defense Solves Two Issues at Once

When the Bears struggled getting to the passer last year, it led to some comments from coaches directly tied into what has happened so far in free agency.

It explains exactly what Ryan Poles has done in retooling the defense in some ways that may have left some people with confused looks on their faces or scratching their heads.

One of those was signing Rasheem Green, a 6-foot-4, 279-pound defensive end. This was after they had already signed DeMarcus Walker, a 6-4, 280-pound defensive end who can also move inside to three technique.

They mixed in the signing of 6-1, 328-pound Andrew Billings for the one technique or nose. At linebacker, the weakside backer who plays off the three technique is now 6-1, 241-pound T.J. Edwards.

They went from 250-pound Al-Quadin Muhammad to a 280-pound end, from 307-pound nose Armon Watts to 328 pounds, 225-pound Nicholas Morrow at Will linebacker to a 241-pounder in Edwards and have an end in Walker who is also 280 but can swing inside to three technique. This was a unique ability they didn't have at all last year.

The point of these moves is rather simple and it goes back to what happened last year when they finished 31st against the run.

"You can't let people run down the middle of the defense," defensive coordinator Alan Williams said late last season. "So that's No. 1.

"No. 2 is you have to fit up the runs. So in this defense you have to be gap sound and guys have to read their keys first, and then go where the assignments says go based on the coverage."

Run defense leads to pass defense, and it's not just in the assignments. Stopping the run earns opportunities to rush the passer.

"You get your run defense going and you're better first down efficiency, now you have the right to rush the passer," coach Matt Eberflus said late last season.

It's the old Rod Marinelli thought process familiar to Bears fans from his time as Bears defensive coordinator. Earn the right to rush the passer by putting defenses in predictable situations as you stop the run.

The Bears got bigger. They aren't about to get bullied again by offensive lines the way it happened last year when they were 31st against the run.

This doesn't necessarily go against their one-gap approach because these are players who have quickness as well as size. Even Billings, at his size, ran a 5.05-second 40 coming into the NFL.

They may not have gotten quicker at weakside linebacker, but Edwards is as sure a tackler as they could find in free agency at linebacker. He's the size Lance Briggs was at weakside linebacker.

They're getting to improving the pass rush that ranked last in the league by first getting to the run defense that ranked next to last.

Their own pass rushers become better in predictable pass rush situations caused by stopping the run.

The bigger defensive ends aren't necessarily poor pass rushers, either. Walker finished with seven sacks, 32 pressures and 16 QB hits.

They still need players to get to the quarterback when the pass rush situation is less obvious.

Expect it to come from the draft, whether it's someone in Round 1 like Tyree Wilson or even Georgia's Nolan Smith. If not them, then B.J. Ojulari or any number of others in Round 2.

After the season ended, Eberflus talked about where the defense was and related it to his Colts defenses.

"We've historically been a really good run defense—top-10 in run defense and sometimes top-five and sometimes No. 1. So that has to improve."

It has to improve for the sake of stopping the run, as well as for stopping the pass.

It's a case of addressing two problems at once.

So the bigger players in their scheme don't mean they've abandoned the Eberflus single-gap approach up front. They're just going about it with larger players instead of the small types who were getting mashed last year week after week.

Darnell Wright vs Will Anderson Jr. pic.twitter.com/yDxz2PvB75
— John Brennan (@jbrens20) March 26, 2023

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