Again Bears Face First-Round Front

The loss to Green Bay devastated Bears fans more than it did the Bears.

They've moved on quickly because they must in an 17-game season.

"Shoot, I think, maybe after the film review on Monday," DJ Moore said. "Then everybody just deaded it and everybody was ready to go into next weekend, which is Tampa and so we want to take how we felt off on Tampa."

It's a good idea considering how they seemingly let an inexperienced quarterback and inexperienced receivers beat them on third down last week.

This isn't what really happened in the loss.

The greater lesson from their defeat by the Packers and a real reason why they look to be overmatched against Tampa Bay again this week--as well as against most teams--became obvious last Sunday, then was underscored this past week. If it wasn't obvious through film review, a comment by Luke Getsy made it clear.

The Bears offensive coordinator was explaining about the ability to keep Justin Fields free of pass rushers and avoid penalties and pointed out something about the Packers.

"They're a really good front," Getsy said. "That's as good of a front as there is in the league. How many first rounders show up in the front seven?"

The answer was four.

And how many first rounders are there in the Bears front seven on defense?

The Bears didn't lose that game with their coverage but with a defensive front seven that put too little pressure on the quarterback and running backs.

They had this problem all last year. They had free agent cash and spent it, but what they got for their money was the only first-round pick in their defensive front seven. This was Tremaine Edmunds, the middle linebacker.

There still are no first-round draft picks on the Bears defensive line. There is one first-round linebacker.

Fast forward to this weekend, where the Bears' minds have been since after that Monday film review, and again they are facing a defensive front seven with four first-rounders. Not all of them were drafted by Tampa Bay, but the Buccaneers make up for this with 72% of their roster being drafted players. This makes them third in the NFL for home-grown talent.

The Bears improved on defense but the talent they have besides Edmunds is a cut below what these better teams have.

It's more important to bolster this than wide receiver, where everyone in Bears Nation seems transfixed every year during draft time.

The Philadelphia Eagles have three first-rounders in their dominant defensive front, and four if Jalen Carter is on the field. This might startle everyone but the player everyone talks about hasn't started either one of their first two games, although he has played extensively.

The Bears did need offensive linemen in the draft and got Darnell Wright. They still need more top offensive line talent. But they're also very, very short on first-round defensive line talent. Gervon Dexter Jr. and Zacch Pickens were nice players but second- and third-round talents, not the very best.

The Bears plan to improve, as Matt Eberflus said. They shouldn't be a poor team all year long.

However, there are limits to where they're going until they have the talent on the defensive front to consistently pressure quarterbacks and to stack up running backs behind the line of scrimmage.

It's the same on the other side of the ball. Wright is their only first-round pick.

Things like consecutive failed quarterback sneaks happen to the Bears at their 40-yard line but not to others. They can't budge opposing lines off the ball. Eventually it will help when they've played their offensive line together more than one game in succession, if this ever happens. However, filling in the lineup with more No. 1s is necessary.

If your quarterback isn't Patrick Mahomes it helps greatly to have first-round talent on the offensive and defensive lines. It definitely doesn't hurt if the QB is on par or close to Mahomes.

And it will benefit Justin Fields, as well.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven