Uncertainty Rules Bears Defense

The Bears close out their offseason work with three straight days of minicamp starting Tuesday and some results on the offensive side have been fairly apparent.

At least the connection between Justin Fields and receiver DJ Moore has been obvious.

What hasn't been as clear is how well they've fixed possibly their greatest lingering problem from last year, and that's on the defensive side—specifically in the play of their front line.

There is no hitting, pads or tackling in the offseason and by nature defense is being physical.

It will be a guessing game heading into training camp how well their defense has come along since last year.

Giving up 33.1 points per game in their last 10 in 2022 proved far more devastating than even their lack of a professional level passing attack, because they were able to offset passing game deficiencies to a large degree with Fields' running.

The defense had no pass rush, ranking last in sacks. They couldn't stop the run, ranking next to last.

The answer was emphasizing the interior rush as they drafted no one on the outside. They brought in only two veteran defensive ends who have had only marginal success as pass rushers. The interior rush they'll depend on comes from Justin Jones, who was so-so last year, and two rookie defensive tackles who split time behind him.

No one can know based on OTAs or this week's minicamp where those two defensive tackles—Zacch Pickens and Gervon Dexter—are at in development because they haven't tackled anyone or even plowed into an offensive lineman. They're doing slow-mo run fits in non-contact drills in May and June.

All of this said, the defensive front will be the guessing game heading into camp.

A scheme designed to take away the ball could have a better chance at accomplishing this with a pass rush.

SI TAKES A LOOK AT THE BEARS' CHANCES FOR A TURNAROUND

"Just more opportunities for picks, sacks, coverage," cornerback Kyler Gordon said. "Rush and coverage go together. Just combine those two things and I think it's going to be a defense that creates way more turnovers."

They had the cover part even last year. Now they should really have it down with another year experience by Gordon, the addition of Tyrique Stevenson on the outside at cornerback and with Tremaine Edmunds, rated the league's best coverage linebacker by Pro Football Focus.

"With that much speed and things like that we can kind of just let him (Edmunds) do everything underneath and we've got everything over the top," safety Jaquan Brisker said.

Edmunds thinks it can be like it was for him in Buffalo.

"I'm excited," he said. "Just because I feel like I'm going to be in a position to make a lot of plays.

"Obviously, just because of (Eberflus') background on defense, he has a great understanding of it. Just putting guys in position. As a player that's all you can really ask for is to be in a position and now it's up to me to go make the play."

They still will need to prove they possess the pressure aspect at the interior of their line if they hope to up the total of takeaways and succeed in the scheme.

When Eberflus was in Indianapolis, the Colts weren't great immediately at rushing the passer but did get 38 sacks in their first year under him. That's 18 more than the Bears had last year and it helped that Indianapolis team achieve the eighth highest turnover percentage.

The Colts had Denico Autry and then afterward DeForest Buckner to provide internal pressure. The Bears need Jones and two rookies to prove they can do the same.

That's something they'll have to wait on until training camp and beyond.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven

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