Saints sound off on facing familiar Bears' defensive coordinator Dennis Allen

Here's to Round 2 of the Chicago Bears' coaching revenge tour going better than Round 1.

Ben Johnson returning to face the Detroit Lions flopped. Dennis Allen gets a shot at his old New Orleans Saints Sunday at Soldier Field. (The Bears did get some revenge on former head coach Matt Eberflus when they whipped his Dallas Cowboys in Week 3.)

In Week 2, the Bears were wallloped by the Lions in Johnson's return to coach against his former team. Now the defensive coordinator for the Bears, Allen spent 15 years in New Orleans including going 51-55 as the Saints' head coach from 2022-24.

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He was fired last mid-season, so surely there's extra motivation for him personally this week.

“We all have these kind of reunion games, so to speak, or fall back to our past experiences, and you play common places, common opponents, common people,” Saints head coach Kellen Moore said this week. “You have a love and appreciation for people. A lot of guys got drafted here because of Dennis, and so there’s an appreciation for that, and Dennis has done a lot of good here.”

While Allen's history with the Saints is deep, his influence on these Bears is also tangible.

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His aggressive defense is one of the most opportunistic in the NFL with 12 takeaways in five games. The Bears used three Commanders turnovers to upset Washington last Monday night.

Said Johnson of Allen, "He's been a godsend."

Though 3-2 and on a three-game winning streak, the Bears are favored by only four points in what most experts predict will be a close victory over the 1-5 Saints.

Said Saints' defensive star Cam Jordan in not exactly a ringing endorsement of Allen's time in New Orleans, "He was a reliable D-coordinator. He had his turn as head coach, and now he’s over there at Chicago. I’d say I wish him but the best, but we play him this week, so I do not.”

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