Bears in No Shape to Make Defensive Strides

With injuries to a Chicago defense still trying to get used to playing together, stopping opponents consistently seems weeks away.

They're getting closer, although the stat sheet doesn't necessarily say so.

The Bears pass rush against Green Bay did produce a sack and they didn't last week, but Yannick Ngakoue gave away two gift-wrapped sacks of Baker Mayfield. Sportradar says they had one more pressure and one less sack than Week 1.

"Yeah, we had hands on him, we had him wrapped up almost a few times this week," linebacker Jack Sanborn said. "Just got to get him to the ground. We can't let him get out and be able to get the ball away.

"Let him kind of throw it away and get out of those negative yardage plays. That came up a few times. It's something we keep saying, we got to finish it. That's exactly what we got to do. We got to get him to the ground."

They probably won't need to worry about this in Kansas City as Mayfield doesn't compare in escapability to Patrick Mahomes, and Mahomes always knows when it's time to throw away the football if there is pressure.

The more critical aspect is just getting that pressure. It's there where the Bears become better on third down. And they need this more than anything on defense as only Seattle is worse (60.7%) than their 54.8% completions allowed.

"I think it's just about technique," coach Matt Eberflus said. "We were around him a bunch. So we had a bunch of opportunities that I showed (on film to) the D-line and the pressure players to get there.

"And Baker's strong. He's a strong guy. You've got to tackle him a certain way. It's important that you do that. You've got to get him around the waist, so we were just too high. We were too high on those moments, and we've got to improve that going forward."

Sanborn pointed to a familiar complaint but does it really hold water?

"I think that starts on first and second down," Sanborn said. "Really, kind of getting them into third-and-longs and then kinda capitalizing, you know?

"When we get pressure, finish those opportunities and just do a good job on the back end in coverage."

The one thing the Bears have done on defense is limit gains on the ground, which usually means less gain on first and second down. They're 16th against the run overall after two games, fifth in the league in yards allowed per carry at 3.2. It's a far cry from last year when they finished next to last in the NFL against the run.

The plan was to get better against the run, put teams in predictable passing situations and make your pass rush and third-down defense better this way.

Instead, there has been one sack in two games and the third-down defense, besides being next-to-last in the league, has given up seven completions for first downs on third-and-8 or longer.

Eberflus saw the real improvement later in the Tampa Bay game when the Bears were trying to get the ball back after falling behind.

"We forced some punts, did some good things," he said. "Wish we had that third-and-14 back I the high red zone. Certainly, got to execute better in that moment to force them to kick a field goal there."

The third-and-14 was the TD pass Tyrique Stevenson gave up. It's what happens when pass rush doesn't exist and coverage is lacking.

The Bears have had too many situations like this in two games. The process of improvement requires time while the defense plays together more. They started the season with six different starters than last year and losing Eddie Jackson and Kyler Gordon last week made it eight. 

They wound up playing with Elijah Hicks and Quindell Johnson at safety and Greg Stroman at slot cornerback.

"I really want to commend the guys that came in for injury," Eberflus said. "Hicks came in, Quindell came in, Stroman came in. Those guys came in for injury and I thought they operated solid in that situation.

Eddie Jackson's injury situation is said to be less servere than initially feared. Jaquan Brisker returned in the second half and finished. But Kyler Gordon's hand injury will be a problem until October.

When the secondary is supposed to be the defense's strength but leaks from the start,  then finds itself plugging lineup holes, improvement seems less likely than simply treading water until full health returns. 

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