Bear Digest

One Chicago Bears flaw in preseason finale should not be an issue

The offensive problems the Bears had early against Kansas City are legitimate concerns but one area where the defense stumbled should acutally be a strength.
Gene Chamberlain|
Travis Kelce makes a catch between Jaquan Brisker and Ruben Hyppolite and turns upfield.
Travis Kelce makes a catch between Jaquan Brisker and Ruben Hyppolite and turns upfield. | Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

There were plenty of worries generated by Friday's Bears preseason finale and many Ben Johnson pointed out after the 29-27 win.

One, in particular, probably won't be an issue unless injury attrition takes a heavy toll.

That would be red zone defense.

"Defensively, it didn’t feel like we controlled the line of scrimmage very well," Johnson said after the game. "We gave up some explosive plays and some costly penalties. We couldn’t stop them when they got in the red zone. That was not good on that side."

It's true, but the Bears weren't facing the most feeble offense in the NFL. Regardless, the Bears didn't have four key members of their defense on the field due to injuries—Grady Jarrett (rest), Tremaine Edmunds (soft tissue), Jaylon Johnson (non-football injury list, leg) and Kyler Gordon (hamstring) sat.


This isn't the main reason to think they'll be more formidable in the red zone on defense.

Last year the Bears ranked third in the NFL in red zone defense with only two starters different than they'll have this year, Jarrett and Dayo Odeyingbo.

Beyond this, defensive coordinator Dennis Allen had put together a defense in New Orleans that mastered the red zone, even while his abilities as a head coach overall had to be questioned. The Saints led the league in 2021, were fifth in 2022 and ninth in 2024, his final full season as coordinator/head coach.

The ability strategically and a history of success usually help but don't necessarily mean they'll be strong in the red zone.

They did show it already on the field, as well. Their second team defense did it in the first preseason game when they made a goal line stand against the Miami Dolphins' starters.

There were issues with coverage, especially from Nahshon Wright, Jaquan Brisker and T.J. Edwards at various points early in Friday's game.

They also got run on against Odeyingbo's side of the line, and this was disturbing. It's supposed to be Odeyingbo's strength to be stout against the run because he's not necessarily an edge with a great past record of producing sacks. Instead, he gave up the outside entirely so Isiah Pacheco could make his "garbage can/wall run."

Pacheco blasted off the left edge through a totally vacant area after Odeyingbo had stormed across the line outside the tackle, then crashed into the wall and a garbage can out of bounds after Jaquan Brisker got a hand on his lower leg going out of bounds.

The Bears defensive issues should be well known, and only were reinforced by the results of the first half. They need to achieve a more consistent pass rush and at the same time stop the run.

The game showed their man-to-man pass coverage is going to need to be watched because they've basically converted a strong zone coverage secondary 180 degrees to the opposite. Now they're likely to be in man-to-man coverage more than almost all other teams. They only had one cornerback with a Pro Football Focus grade of 60 or higher, which is about average, and that was Jeremiah Walker. He didn't even play early with the starters.

Red zone defense should be the least of their worries. If it isn't, they could have big problems.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.