Intensity, Inexperience Key Bears Defense

The Bears have adapted to coach Matt Eberflus' HITS principle, especially on defense, but they're relying on so many inexperienced players in a new defensive scheme.

Last year's Bears defense could best be described as the great dichotomy.

On one hand, they had Robert Quinn setting a franchise sack record as he led a pass rush that finished fourth in sacks. They had a pass defense ranked third in the league in yards allowed through the air.

On the other hand, they were 23rd in pressuring quarterbacks (23.1% of passes) and 28th in hurries (8.4%), while their pass defense ranked last in the NFL in passer rating against (103.3).

The numbers crushing them worse than all others were eight interceptions made, a franchise record low, and their 26th ranking in takeaways.

They've since returned to a time when they achieved an abundance of takeaways, a time when they played Tampa-2 style defense.

Under coach Matt Eberflus it's all about getting the football back.

"I think this defense is opportunistic," defensive coordinator Alan Williams said.

They flashed this in preseason and there have been examples throughout training camp practices.

They've brought in half a new defensive front, added rookies Jaquan Brisker and Kyler Gordon to the secondary and feel the mix is right.

"One of the things that we like to say is we want volunteers not hostages," Williams said. "We want guys that want to be here. We want guys that believe in what we're doing.

"When you have guys like that, you always have a chance, a great chance, and then so we're building little by little. The foundation has been dug."

It's not just the scheme. Combined with Eberflus' HITS principle requiring intensive hustle, the defense looks more capable of creating takeaways.

"Each day when I watch the film, everybody is getting better, including me, just putting the HITS principle into display," said former Colts player Al-Quadin Muhammad. "It's fun to be around guys just buying in. Everybody is working together to be great."

At the same time, they've gone from a 3-4 with two-gap responsibility up front to one-gap responsibility in a 4-3. They now attack up front rather than read and attack.

Can it all work quickly or will there be an adjustment period to playing a defensive system so directly opposite of what they did the last seven years? It can't help when the 53-man roster has 15 rookies on it and nine are on defense.

"This is like a fresh start," safety Eddie Jackson said. "Just the way we're working and what we're building, it’s something that I feel like a lot of people are doubting us, and we're gonna shock a lot of people."

Here is the defense assembled for the great revival of the Chicago Tampa-2 that they once played under Lovie Smith with Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs, except now under the auspices of the HITS principle.

Coordinator: Williams

It's Eberflus' defense, but Williams applying it. How this will work is one great mystery for this year because Williams hasn't been a defensive coordinator since 2013, when he had one good and one bad year with the Vikings.

"Alan's been in the room and he's been leading the defense and he's doing a really good job with it," Eberflus said. "And he certainly has put his finger prints on it, changing the way we call things maybe to simplify or make them better or make them fit for how he wants to do it.

"I welcome that. He's the leader of the defense and he's taken that role on really well."

Defensive Line (9): Angelo Blackson, DT; Justin Jones, DT; Mike Pennel, DT; Armon Watts, DT; Trevis Gipson, DE/DT; Jonathan Kingsley, DE; Al-Quadin Muhammad, DE; Robert Quinn, DE; Dominique Robinson, DE.

Watts and Kinglsey got added to this group after preseason ended. Kingsley is a Bills undrafted free agent from Syracuse who showed promise in preseason. Watts is the former Vikings defensive tackle who had five sacks last year. The Bears have been moving Gipson around between end and tackle in practices depending on the down and distance.

There is much more speed and less fat than last year's 3-4, although the question is whether they have enough who know how this one-gap approach up front is done properly. Jones hasn't been a 4-3 three technique before, although the Bears say he's ideally suited for playing this key position.

"We've got a lot of guys who have rushing ability," Jones said. "I guess that's what you kind of look for: Guys who have rushing ability, guys who can get on the edges, guys who can win on the edge, guys who can win with power. Stuff like that: Guys who can do rush gains and understand the rush gains and understand the X's and O's when it comes to pass rush, because it's not just working moves. You kind of have to know the science behind it, which is four equals one. Everybody has to know what everybody's doing."

Linebackers (5): Roquan Smith, Nicholas Morrow, Matthew Adams, Jack Sanborn, Sterling Weatherford.

There is a real depth problem here as the two backups have never played a down in the NFL and Weatherford has had one Bears practice heading into game week. A starting linebacker injury in the opener and the Bears are looking at trouble.

They appear to have the speed to execute the Tampa-2 style with Smith and Morrow, who ran 4.51 and 4.52 in the 40-yard dash respectively as they came into the league. But Morrow has started two NFL games at middle linebacker, where he now plays. He was usually at outside linebacker with the Raiders and moved to the middle situationally during a game. Smith seems ideally suited to the weak side spot that gives him freedom of movement. He might be dropping deeper in coverage, he might be at the line attacking the run in the backfield. He could even be blitzing.

"It's definitely sweet," Smith said. "It allows you to play in space more and I feel like that's one of my biggest attributes—playing in space, vision. Didn't get to do a lot of that in the past, but being able to do that now, I think it's going to be good and I think it's going to pay dividends for me."

Secondary (11): Jaylon Johnson, CB*; Kyler Gordon, CB*; Josh Blackwell, CB; Lamar Jackson, CB; Kindle Vildor, CB*; Jaylon Jones, CB; Jaquan Brisker, S*; Eddie Jackson, S*; Elijah Hicks, S; DeAndre-Houston-Carson, S; Dane Cruikshank, S.

The inexperience within this group is overwhelming. Eddie Jackson and Johnson are veteran starters but Vildor started just 13 games. Hicks, Jones, Gordon, Brisker and Blackwell are rookies. Blackwell just arrived on waivers and needs to learn the defense.

This not a good man-to-man coverage group. However, they aren't being asked to play much man coverage except if an opponent went naked backfield and came at them with five receivers.

Get used to seeing catches made and players coming up to apply hits or tackles. If done properly, this can result in more interceptions. Get ready, also, to see offenses attack the Bears with slants and skinny posts, or with cover-2 beaters over the top along the sidelines.

"But I really feel like it's going to come down to us giving the offense good field position, us changing the game and creating turnovers, giving them the ball back," Johnson said. "I feel like that's really gonna test who we are as a defense: getting stops, turning the ball over."

Special Teams (3): Cairo Santos, K; Trenton Gill, P; Pat Scales, LS.

Santos has been as dependable as they come the last two Bears seasons, a team record-setter for accuracy in 2020. He had a shaky finish to the preseason, missing from 47 when it could have salted away a win over Cleveland. This came in a week when he missed a couple of 44-yard kicks during indoor practice at Halas Hall. They need the Santos of 2020 back. Gill had one of the league's lowest averages for preseason at 45.2 yards but situationally was spectacular. He had eight killed inside the 20, tied for second in the league, with just two going for touchbacks. Thanks to his solid hang time, the Bears allowed 4.86 yards per return in preseason on 14 tries, the sixth-lowest average allowed. Scales doesn't show signs of problems with his snaps, though he'll need to be watched on punt coverage at age 34. Punt teams already give up a coverage player with the punter and can't afford to play with nine men in coverage.

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