Bear Digest

Grading Bears Defense for a Season Spent Taking Away the Football

Chicago Bears Final Report Card: The Bears defense sometimes had problems stopping drives but found ways that often involved an interception or fumble recovery.
Gene Chamberlain|
Kevin Byard (31) breaks up a Matthew Stafford pass in the Bears' season-ending divisional loss to the Rams.
Kevin Byard (31) breaks up a Matthew Stafford pass in the Bears' season-ending divisional loss to the Rams. | David Banks-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

LAKE FOREST, Ill. — When Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen went out to shake hands with the Rams, coach Sean McVay took it beyond normal postgame sportsmanship to reveal a truth.

"Hey unbelievable job, you kicked our ass. Great job," McVay told Allen.

Only the Texans' great defense and the Ravens held the Rams to fewer points in the 2025 season than the 20 the Rams had in the Bears' season-ending loss. The defense kept the Bears in it despite their own offense turning it over three times.

The Bears didn't get a single takeaway in the divisional playoff, and it had oftn been said they couldn't win games without takeaways. They already proved this entirely wrong earlier when they won 22-16 in overtime over the Packers without a takeaway.

"Our defense played their tails off. They did," Bears coach Ben Johnson said when it was all over.

The Bears defense lacked plenty when it came to raw numbers and personnel in 2025, but on a given down they produced what was necessary. More than anything else, that included producing the football.

No one took it away better and it kept them from losing games. That and a willingness to hit made for an effective defense,

"I thought we had DBs that were willing to tackle," Ben Johnson said, once it was over. "I thought that showed up these last two games in particular. I’m really proud of that."

Here is the defensive report card for 2025.

Defensive Line: C

The plan went astray from the start when Dayo Odeyingbo didn't make the anticipated impact off the edge, and Grady Jarrett suffered a knee injury. Montez Sweat bounced back from a down year with 10 sacks and 13 tackles for loss while achieving more consistent pressure and can still do more. Austin Booker began to come on in his last six games with 4 1/2 sacks, eight QB hits, 15 pressures and three tipped passes per Stathead/Pro Football Reference. It greatly improved the pass rush. What was lacking then was a third strong edge rusher and consistent interior line play against the run and the pass. Grady Jarrett made 26 of his 45 tackles in in is last six games, displaying better knee health. The difference between Gervon Dexter's pass rush and run-stopping ability is growing, but not entirely because he's a better pass rusher now—he had a bad year stopping the run. Dexter is still young, talented and needs to be coached better.

Overall, the Bears defense ranked 29th in ESPN's pass rush and run stop win rates. This is largely the result of defensive line failure, but also because the Bears' technique on the D-line asks them to do something difficult to execute that runs contrary to that statistcs. That is charge into the blocker, then decide whether to attack into a gap. It works, but requires plenty of practice reps to pull off. The positive is they played their best at season's end, and can improve with more help.

Linebackers: B-

If you go by PFF grades, Edmunds had a tremendous comeback year at stopping the run. PFF graded him 15th in the league among linebacker run stoppers while moving to the weakside spot this year instead of the middle, a career best. However, his pass coverage grades were mediocre. Considering they ranked 27th against the run this year as a team and allowed 5.0 yards a carry, it's a good thing Edmunds was this effective or they'd have had no run defense at all. Despite poor pass coverage grades, Edmunds did make four interceptions and a fumble recovery. T.J. Edwards played effectively in coverage when it wasn't a perceived strength, was 33rd of 88 linebackers against the run, but just wasn't available enough due to injuries.

Injury ended Noah Sewell's season early, as well. The pleasant surprise was D'Marco Jackson. He had spectacular pass coverage grades, above-average grades stopping the run and is someone they could have strong interest to retain, as a player who knows the scheme well. Everything the linebackers did this year needs to be graded with a curve. At one point, all four of the top linebackers were out with injuries, and another backup as well. 

Secondary: B+

Considering the amount of injuries at cornerback and total games lost, they're much like the linebackers. Still, they did achieve despite the handicap. Until mid-December they were 11th in passer rating against and the supreme evidence of a strong season was their league-best 33 takeaways. Nahshon Wright gave up big plays (6 TDs) and made big plays (8 takeaways) but his overall passer rating against was a respectable 86.8. Kevin Byard's All-Pro season included both a league-high seven interceptions and leadership needed when so many games were lost at cornerback to injuries.

Tyrique Stevenson had high highs and low lows again, as always, and Jaylon Johnson displayed great courage coming back from surgery to play before he was 100%, but obviously he lacked his normal speed and agility. Jaquan Brisker finished at peak production against the Rams but on the year allowed a career-worst passer rating against of 127.6 and gave up five TD passes, according to Pro Football Reference. DBs made 17 of the 23 interceptions and had six fumble recoveries.

Overall: B-

Too many times those miracle comebacks the offense needed to make came as a result of defensive breakdowns. They gave up key drives to the Rams, 49ers, Packers and Lions at the end of games. Finishing 27th against the run and 29th overall is not a way to succeed. However, becoming the first team to both win the takeaway title and commit the fewest turnovers since 2011 was a saving grace. And their performance overall was not as bad as their stats suggested. Their poor 23rd ranking against the run is greatly deflated by three bad defensive game, one that was out of hand and two shootouts they split. They held nine opponents to 20 points or less.

There are obvious flaws at stopping the run and rushing the passer to address but a strong base of past accomplishment has been put down for 2026. Another year in the scheme should be a huge help, like it will be on offense.

Next: Special teams

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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.