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Jamree Kromah and Four More Changes Bears Can Make for Better Defense

The Bears defense needs an invigorating trade but probably won't get it and in the meantime there are personnel moves to try when they play Minnesota in Week 2.
Gene Chamberlain|
Jamree Kromah closes for hte tackle in preseason against Tennessee.
Jamree Kromah closes for hte tackle in preseason against Tennessee. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

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Chicago Bears


Because there's little the Bears seem willing to do in a trade to benefit their stumbling defense, it could be left to Ben Johnson, Dennis Allen, and the coaching staff to figure out something.

The level headed would say it's too soon to panic and Week 2 is too soon to be overreacting.

However, the real trend is clear going back to last year. Their defense is struggling when it plays against capable offenses. Sunday they ran into another one with enough weapons, and Carolina is probably not going to remind anyone of the Greatest Show on Turf. The Panthers scored 37 points with a so-so attack, anyway.

The Bears should consider any one or all of these recommendations coming out of their Week 1 59-37 victory as they move into Minnesota week.

It can't hurt after allowing scores on four of the Panthers' first six possessions and 31 points in the game's first 35:54.

1, Activate Jamree Kromah

So, they're not trading for an edge rusher. They left Kromah inactive in the first week. This is a player who in preseason looked completely different. They talked about how he changed his body and he finished third in the NFL in preseason with three sacks. Then the season comes and he makes the roster instead of the practice squad. Yet, they left him inactive for the opener and their pass rush produced on the same disappointing level as last year. What's wrong with having a player who showed promise active on Sunday.

2. Decrease Dayo Odeyingbo's reps

If Kromah becomes active, they could decrease Dayo Odeyingbo's reps or make him inactive. He was involved in 43 plays Sunday. That was a good percentage for a defensive end coming off an Achilles injury on a hot, humid day. Pro Football Focus gave Odeyingbo a respectable ranking at 49th out of 90 players rushing the passer in Week 1 and 46th of 90 stopping the run after one week. However, his actual stat production was one tackle. What did he need to do for a good PFF grade, make no tackles? Those PFF grades sound bogus.
They had Daniel Hardy active and he had only seven defensive reps. He had only one less tackle than Odeyingbo.
Kromah deserves to be active after what he showed in the preseason, especially considering their lack of impact from edge players.

3. Play DE-DT James Lynch more

He made three tackles on only 22 reps. That was probably more playing time than he figured to get but the heat and humidity demanded more rest time in the game for defensive linemen. Lynch had fewer reps than Montez Sweat, Austin Booker, Kentavius Street, Neville Gallimore and Jordan van den Berg, yet he made more tackles than all of them. And he had two solo tackles. They weren't just assists. Only defensive tackle Grady Jarrett had as many tackles as Lynch, and his were all assists.

4. Use Elijah Hicks at safety

The grades for Cam Lewis weren't poor and slot cornerback Malik Muhammad had the highest PFF coverage grade of any Bears defensive back, but Hicks had only nine defensive plays in the opener and the secondary gave up 361 passing yards. Hicks got in on defense after Tyrique Stevenson was briefly out injured and they alternated Malik Muhammad to outside cornerback and Cam Lewis to slot cornerback. Maybe a better alternative going forward is playing Hicks and Lewis alternating at safety alongside Dillon Thieneman. Xavier Woods should be figuring into that mix somewhere but he came up injured for the opener and a groin injury could be something carrying over into Week 2.

5. Start D'Marco Jackson, bench T.J. Edwards

Edwards made an assist in the game and tied Thieneman for reps. Both were on the field for every defensive play, a total of 68. And Edwards made an assist. PFF gave him a 22.3 tackling grade, or awful. He was their lowest-graded defensive player overall (30.0). In three of Edwards' last four games, he has been graded 44.8 or worse by PFF.

Summary

These moves might make small differences but all added together it could have an impact.
They wouldn't have the impact of getting Kyler Gordon back healthy or Poles making a trade for a top defensive end, but who believes in fairy tales?

And maybe they should consider one other thing in the future that isn't on defense. Use Roschon Johnson as a back in short-yardage situations. The guy was deadly performing in this role in 2023 and they had him active on Sunday for special teams when Caleb Williams failed on a fourth-and-1 at the Bears 21, and the offense failed twice on second-and-goal from the 1 in the fourth quarter before finally scoring on a third-and-1 pass to Jahdae Walker.

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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.

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