Sean Desai's Geek Defense Controls Play

Khalil Mack isn't usually one for hyperbole or pontification but he might have just produced the name for this year's Bears defense.

The "Geek" defense or Geek Squad. The last one might be in use already.

The Bears edge rusher might have inadvertently coined this phrase while searching for a way to describe new defensive coordinator Sean Desai.

He calls Desai kind of a geek.

"I would say Sean has got a little bit more of a geeky side than any other coordinator I've been around," Mack said. "Definitely, his mind is always going, so it's definitely fun to see, it's definitely fun to see. But it's definitely different from that standpoint. But he's cool, he's a cool dude, but he's definitely got that geeky side, too."

On Tuesday the geek defense dominated the offense to the point where they had Matt Nagy doing some hollering. Justin Fields came into practice as the hottest thing on offense in the NFL and was picked off, just like Andy Dalton was. Both Marqui Christian and Eddie Jackson came up with picks to add to the turnover bucket.

They threw a rare safety blitz at Fields in 11-on-11 scrimmage and he stepped right into a sack by Deon Bush. Of course, they blew the whistle and didn't let Fields get hit.

When Mack sees this kind of play, he can't help but think about how it was when Desai's mentor, Vic Fangio, was defensive coordinator in 2018.

"Same thing, Vic, understanding not only his defense but the players, put us in position to play to our strengths, and this something that Sean is planning as well, putting every player on the field in the best possible situation in order to shine and make plays and get turnovers and feed the offense," Mack said.

Desai relates well with his players even if he is the geek. He got down in a stance with defensive linemen last week and tried racing them through a drill using dummies but lost, and as a result he had to get on the turf and do pushups.

He also has come up with the turnover bucket.

"The intensity has been completely different this year from the multiple live reps," safety Tashaun Gipson said.

The live plays seem to energize the defense rather than wear them down this camp.

"Those are things that as a vet you do not want to hear that—live reps," Gipson said. "But that's the type of mindset you've got to go in there, you've got to have. And we’ve had multiple days of that, just test our will, testing our intensity at practice. And you’ve got to love that. And I think that everybody appreciates that."

Mack sees the defensive scheme changes of Desai as being more fun because it lets them do what they love.

"Definitely getting to the quarterback, and being able to change the game and get turnovers, yeah, thats fun. That’s fun to me. I don’t know who that wouldn't be fun to."

Maybe the opposing quarterback?

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven