Alternate View of Helping Justin Fields

With each day approaching toward the draft, the most often repeated phrase about the Bears is "get Justin Fields help."

What people tend to ignore while they're asking the Bears to draft or sign free agent receivers or offensive linemen is the help Fields needs can also be on the defensive side of the ball.

If fact, it needs to be on the defensive side.

The 30,000-foot view of the Bears is not one of an offense totally inept and failing, one that wastes great defensive efforts. In fact, it was quite the opposite through much of last season. It wasn't conventional offense with a deadly passing game but they had offense nonetheless and it's one that will morph.

What needs real help changing is their defense.

Even their final stats show this—although this is a bit misleading. They were 23rd in scoring, which isn't good but they were worse in two of Matt Nagy's season as coach. They were last in the NFL in 2022 at stopping teams from scoring and in their entire history they had never finished last in scoring defense until then.

The need to get pass rush help is obvious when you finish last in sacks but it was far worse than this. The Bears on defense approached a point during their 10-game losing streak where their defense was a complete joke.

If Fields had All-Pro help at receiver and a little better offensive line, it still wouldn't have resulted in many more victories because they couldn't stop anyone. They weren't going to average 34 points a game scored if they added Jerry Rice in his prime, because the defense just gave up too many points.

It's why the first round and even subsequent rounds of the draft need to focus on the defensive line and linebacker first.

It's why the biggest chunk of their free agency money needs to go to the defensive side.

How Bad?

During that 10-game losing streak after they had started 3-4, the Bears allowed 400.8 yards a game. They gave up more than 400 yards six times, so this wasn't the result of one or two poor games.

The Bears defense couldn't stop the run or the pass. Opponents merely had to put it on automatic pilot.

The Bears gave up 242 yards to Dallas in the air and 200 on the ground. They shut down the ground game on Philadelphia but Jalen Hurts threw for 309 yards. They shut down the passing game against Atlanta and gave up 149 yards rushing. It didn't matter when they held Aaron Rodgers to 182 yards passing because the Packers ran for 175.

Whatever they did, they gave up yardage and points.

Dragging Down Fields

Some defensive collapses result from terrible offense backing up a team. Too many errors break the defense's backs.

The Bears had the league's worst passing game but it progressed by small amounts until Darnell Mooney's season-ending injury. Then they were left with Fields throwing almost solely to Cole Kmet and hoping someone else could contribute.

However, they did have the league's best running attack thanks largely to Fields and Khalil Herbert breaking off big chunks of yardage. This offset the passing deficiencies to some extent.

The Bears actually averaged 29:30 of possession time a game, 21st in the league. So they kept the ball to a decent extent on offense and they weren't turnover machines.

They went a stretch of five straight games averaging 29.6 points using their ground game, ball control and breaking off occasional big pass plays. That point production was a historic level for Chicago.

Takeaway-Giveaway

Often during losing streaks the inept offense loses the turnover battle badly and the defense buckles.

The Bears more than held their own on offense during this losing streak by holding onto the football.

They lost the turnover battle only four times in the 10-game losing streak. They came out with the same number of turnovers three times and actually won the turnover battle three times during that stretch of games but still lost every game.

They lost largely because they couldn't stop anyone or take it away enough to make up for 400 yards given up per game. They were so bad on defense that even the Mel Tucker-led defense during Marc Trestman's final year as coach was better.

The Bears lost because they couldn't score enough points to cover for a failing defense and also because at game's end they lacked the offensive talent to get it done when the game was on the line in the final minutes.

The Bears showed they could score. They led the NFL in scoring on opening drives of games. Yet, they didn't have the overall talent to keep pace with what their own defense allowed.

The Solution

The answer isn't necessarily building an offense that averages more than 400 yards a game and makes up for a stumbling, pathetic defense by winning 41-37.

No team does this.

Give Fields a better defense as backing, and see what happens. Then see his offense improve bit by bit and they'll stop being a joke.

The Eagles and Chiefs didn't have offenses that scored 35 or 40 points at a high rate. Kansas City averaged 29.2 points to lead the NFL and the Eagles were second at 29.1.

The Bears were higher than those averages during the five-game stretch preceding Fields' shoulder injury at the end of the Atlanta game in November.

They weren't a Super Bowl team, a playoff team, a winning team or even a decent team because they couldn't stop anyone.

They'll strengthen the offense a bit more with personnel and by understanding the attack better. Chase Claypool will know the offense this year. Fields will be in his second year running it. They'll find one or two better blockers in free agency. They might even add one more decent receiver in the draft or free agency, possibly even a second tight end.

Fields needed help on offense, but he really needed it badly on defense.

The answer is cutting down the yardage and points allowed per game to a respectable margin so what offense they do get is more than sufficient to win.

It might have been sufficient last year, if they had merely been able to stop someone ... anyone.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven

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