Bear Digest

Another encore for Dennis Allen's Bears defensive juggling act

As he's had to do so often this season, the Bears defensive coordinator needs to fit in players for missing starters or find a way to alternate others against the Rams.
Gene Chamberlain|
D'Marco Jackson scales the Packers wall on special teams to try and make a tackle Saturday night on special teams.
D'Marco Jackson scales the Packers wall on special teams to try and make a tackle Saturday night on special teams. | David Banks-Imagn Images

In this story:

Chicago Bears

Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen has spent the season trying to juggle substitutes.

Sunday night's NFC divisional playoff game against the Rams will be no different.

The Bears had the eighth-most games lost to injury per player and 13th total games missed according to mangameslost.com. On defense, they got back many of the players they lost for long periods of time, but at lower playing levels. Jaylon Johnson is a prime example.

Now they're dealing with a second starter lost for the season due to injury with linebacker T.J. Edwards gone due to a broken fibula. They've been through this before, too, as D'Marco Jackson becomes a starter again.

“I'm very confident," Allen said about Jackson. "He's stepped up and performed well for us when he's been called on.

"So, I thought what he was able to do last week, going from every rep in practice playing a Sam linebacker position."

With Jackson, they get more than just a player to fill in. He immediately assumed a position of leadership, one possible because he already knew this defensive scheme from practicing and playing in New Orleans under Allen. He wound up playing 56 of the 71 plays, almost all of them when the defense reached its most effective level of play in the second half.

"And then the next thing you know, early on in the game, he's playing the Mike (position), and he's got the green dot communicating to the defense," Allen said. "So, I’ve got a lot of confidence in his ability to go in and play.”

They got Kyler Gordon back last week at slot cornerback but it wasn't as simple as putting him out at the start of the game. They couldn't be entirely certain about his playing level after aggravating his groin injury in the past this year, so he mixed in at first with Nick McCloud because regular slot backup C.J. Gardner-Johnson missed the game with a concussion. Allen says he has a plan for Gardner-Johnson and Gordon again this week, but those weren't the only positions he had to juggle last week.

Tyrique Stevenson made his return from a week against Detroit as a healthy scratch. Stevenson got in 14 plays and Jaylon Johnson 52. Allen made it obvious Stevenson's past performance had been the reason he sat the season-ending game with Detroit.

“I thought he was better in the game, I really did," Allen said of Stevenson. "Obviously, you get into any game, there's things that you have to work on and improve on.

"We went into that game with a plan to get him some plays. And then again, like I said, second half of the game, we felt like we were playing well defensively and didn't want to change that up any.”

With Nahshon Wright kept in at the starting right side cornerback spot, it's been a challenge for Allen at that spot fitting in Johnson after his return from groin surgery, Stevenson with a few injuries, and even McCloud and Jaylon Jones.

“I think those two guys (Stevenson and Johnson) are two of the guys that, when we started the season, we expected to be kind of cornerstone pieces and some of the best players on our defense," Allen said. "And so, it's been challenging to try to manipulate that a little bit.

"I do think each one of those opportunities they get to go out there, I think I've seen improvement out of each one of those. So, we'll continue to have a plan to try to put the best group out there that we can, that gives us a chance to have success.”

More Chicago Bears News

Sign Up For the Bears Daily Digest - OnSI’s Free Chicago Bears Newsletter

X: BearsOnSI

Published | Modified
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.