Grading the Bears: High Final Marks on Defense

First of three parts

Every time Matt Eberflus talked to media members after a game in the final few weeks, it became a chance for him to recite accomplishments.

He kept doing it, too, just in case people needed to be reminded or the right people were listening—mainly Kevin Warren, Ryan Poles and George McCaskey.

Make no mistake. There were definite improvements to cite. It just became tiresome to hear it repeated.

The defense did play better and triggered their turnround in the final eight games to a 5-3 finish.

"Defensively the last eight games, first in the league in scoring defense; that was really good to see the guys come together that way," Eberflus said.

This was significant, considering the free passes they issued to the end zone from the opener through the loss to Denver in Week 4. Actually, until Montez Sweat's arrival after Week 8, the struggles continued and then it all subsided.

"We were fifth in the league in rush defense the last eight," Eberflus continued. "The quarterback rating (against), the QBR, we were first in the league, so really proud of that, and then also the interceptions.

"The interception and ball hawking that our defense displayed was really good."

He couldn't say the same for the whole season, but taking a cross section of it out and looking at it showed progress better, especially in pass defense.

It did come against a good variety of passing attacks, three in the top five and four in the top half of the league, twice against the second-best passing team (Detroit) and once against the worst (Carolina).

"Then what's the most important set is the turnover margin," Eberflus said. "How did we go 5-3 in the last eight? It was really the turnover margin. It's plus-12 (in the last eight games). That's second in the NFL during that time.

"So those are all winning ways I talk to the players about that, and that's what they are, and that's proof and progress that we've done a good job there."

There are less kind numbers as well, but most of those applied to the whole season or the first half of the schedule.

No doubt, the Bears defense ascended and the grades they have for the season reflect this more than the start to the year.

Defensive Line: B-

The Sweat effect was neutralized in the finale by a Packers offense that knew they had no one else to worry about and focused their efforts on stopping him. His addition made all the difference in 2023. They went from nine sacks in eight games to 20 sacks in the last nine games after he arrived. They had nine takeaways before, 19 afterward. Pro Football Focus tracked them at 118 pressures before he arrived, and 162 after. QBs had to get rid of the ball faster and put it into harm's way when they didn't want to, with the secondary reaping the rewards. The line still needs better edge rush pressure on the other side as DeMarcus Walker had just 3 1/2 sacks and free agent Yannick Ngakoue a career-low four in 13 games. Rookie Gervon Dexter learned exponentially by season's end and had 11 of his 17 pressures and his 2 1/2 sacks in the season's last nine games. The main boost to their grade came over the course of the whole season, though. It came from their defensive front's play against the run and they can give the most credit here to signing nose tackle Andrew Billings. He was more than someone who took double teams off of three technique Justin Jones. Billings helped plug the middle in a big way, as they went from 31st against the run to No. 1. Jones, Walker and obviously Sweat had major parts in this improvement. Walker and Sweat were more than edge rushers as they put up a stout edge and helped make gap intergrity easier to hold. Jones had 10 tackles for loss to lead the team. Dexter and rookie Zacch Pickens both need to improve their run-stopping efforts. Overall, their jump in run defense was far better even than when they went from 27th to 11th under Vic Fangio in 2016-17, then to first in 2018. Without the improvement behind Sweat, this could have been another disaster but now they're looking to pick up where they left off l

Linebackers: B-

T.J. Edwards played at a Pro Bowl level without the honor and was a shrewd acquisition at only $19.5 million for three year. He wasn't a one-dimensional player but the Bears knew this when they acquired him. He made three interceptions, seven pass defenses, eight tackles for loss, forced a fumble and recovered two while leading in tackles. He made sure ball carriers paid a price with violent, jarring hits. Even though he didn't blitz a lot, he had 2 1/2 sacks and eight quarterback hits. In short, he was everything you need from a weakside linebacker in this scheme as he helped the line solidify their run defense. On the other hand, Tremaine Edmunds was a $71 million disappointment. It's not that he played terribly, and he did make big plays on occasion with four interceptions and seven pass defenses. He also delivered forceful tackles like Edwards. However, too many times he wasn't impactful in the screen game and a Mike linebacker in this scheme needs to do this. His passer rating against was a solid 85.3 but the Bears paid him to be a big-play guy. Jack Sanborn's problem when moving to strongside was going to be covering against first-down passes to tight ends or backs and he did this at times. Sportradar had him at 88.5% completions allowed, however (23 of 26). He did prevent the big play, tackled well and his passer rating against was better than his overall coverage, at 88.1. For being on the field only 39% of the time in this scheme, he made a real impact as a tackler with six for loss and 65 total tackles. Their backup linebackers weren't called on much after Edmunds got over some early season injuries that may have had a role in why he was slower to make an impact.

Secondary: B

They'd have earned an A if they had played the first half of the season like after Sweat arrived. It's also difficult to give them the highest marks when they were 29th on third-down defense (44.14%) and near the bottom in red zone defense. But again, here they brought that down late in the season and were much better at third-and-long then. Their passer rating against had been in the bottom third of the league but by season's end they pulled up to 13th (88.0). Kyler Gordon's missed month early held him back until about the time Sweat arrived and then his improvement in the slot was obvious with four pass breakups and two interceptions in the last eight games. His 93.9 passer rating against represented improvement over last year. Jaylon Johnson made the step up to All-Pro level in coverage and at making plays on the ball, while Tyrique Stevenson and Terell Smith both played a levels for cornerbacks even Johnson didn't attain as a rookie. Jaquan Brisker settled in and was aided greatly by Eddie Jackson's return from injury to direct the defense in back. The secondary keyed the 22 interceptions they made as they tied for the league lead.

Defensive Coaches: B-

Matt Eberflus never intended to be calling plays but had to after Alan Williams' departure. Once he gathered himself from the shock of it all, Eberflus found ways to generate pass pressure without rushers until Sweat arrived. Then some of the 18 turnovers after Sweat arrived were the result of disguising coverages well behind the four-man rush. On the other hand, the defense collapsed against Cleveland, Detroit and Denver in games that seemed locked up. Coaching needs to absorb some of the blame for these losses that kept them out of the playoffs. Those should have been locked away, especially the Denver game when an unnecessary fourth-down gamble came back to haunt them. In two of those, the offense scored plenty of points to win. Secondary coach Jon Hoke made a tremendous difference in the fundamentals of young players and even helped with some of the seasoned players like Johnson. Dave Borgonzi quickly had their linebacker acquisitions playing effectively in a new scheme. In general, allowing 20 points or less to 10 of their last 13 opponents normally would be good enough for a team to earn a high playoff seed, if paired with a competent offense. The coaches made a difference in this accomplishment with their 12th-ranked defense.

Next: The Offense

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