T,J. Edwards and Takeaways Continue Defense's Turnaround in Bears Win

Two weeks ago the Bears defense absorbed everything just short of abuse from fans for giving up 37 points in the season-opening win over Carolina.

Two weeks later, following Monday's 27-7 victory over Philadelphia, they were celebrating by awarding defensive coordinator Dennis Allen with one of their game balls and talking about another game with three takeaways.

They weren't supposed to be able to create turnovers like last year, they were told.

"Again, people are going to say something regardless," linebacker T.J. Edwards said about taking away the ball. "Also for us, with the win, we coach it, we practice it. We should have had another one."

Edwards had a second-half interception to all but seal the deal, but he dropped one just like it in the first half when he might even have been able to return it for a TD.

Don’t care what anyone says… this is a clean hit on Jalen Hurts here.

Defender is trying to keep him from getting to that marker. He has a whole foot still in bounds.

Stop making the game soft. pic.twitter.com/4TFEe7NBm7
— Jordan Moore (@iJordanMoore) September 29, 2026

"I'll be hearing about it," Edwards said. "We need to do that (take it away) for our team, we need to do it for our offense to flip the field and give them a better shot."

The Bears had Dillon Thieneman's first career interception on a pass in the end zone on the series after the Bears' offense had been stopped at the 3-yard line on downs. They also had a fumble recovery by Xavier Woods on a ball stripped by Austin Booker, but failed to score on that one when their fourth-down gamble failed.

Yet, what they really did well on Monday night was shut down Saquon Barkley and the Eagles running attack in the second half after giving up yardage in bunches in the first half. They allowed only 32 second-half rushing yards, and it definitely helped their cause to get ahead because Philadelphia had to abandon the run.

The Eagles ran for only 32 second-half yards after getting 75 in the first half.

Dillon Thieneman. First career INT 🚨@PHIvsCHI on ESPN
Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/GQhn7Oz1ZK
— NFL (@NFL) September 29, 2026

"Really it was just making sure we had an edge set so to force everything back because we had everything flowing to the ball," Thieneman said.

They took away the cutback lanes this way and that was what Barkley had used well in the first half. Dayo Odeyingbo, Montez Sweat and Austin Booker had big hands in this on the edge.

“The defense, the last two weeks, they’ve played outstanding football for us," Johnson said. "They continue to tread the right way, it's great to see the takeaways. I thought that was huge for us, it really was. And I can't say enough good things about the plan that DA had in, and the coaching staff coaching it up.

"I'm in my office after the game trying to highlight, ‘OK, who stood out and just had a monster game on defense.’ It's hard to say just one guy did, it felt like a whole unit that second half. They were flying around and they were playing together as one, which was awesome to see. So we continue to foster that, and it's how we play football, it's how do we outrun and out hit and rally to the football. That's really what we want to be our calling card.”

Johnson sees the defense as coming together now after the opener, simply through playing more together.

“You're going up against different guys, it's camaraderie, it's chemistry," Johnson said. "There's a lot of things that go into it, so I wish I could tell you, just because you give up a lot of points one week, it translates to the next, or you don't score any points one week, that you can't score points. That's not how it works. And so we're just in a continuous mode of trying to get better, every single week right now.

Bears defense pulled together after Week 1

"Early in the season, we capitalize on the fact that we have padded practices over the course of the week, use that to hone our fundamentals, our technique, all the little things, that's all that we really care about right now.”

As it was, the defense held the Eagles to their fewest points since they also scored seven in a game in 2021. They haven't scored fewer than seven since 2017. The yardage came down again, too, but the turnovers were the key. In particular, Thieneman's was big because it came in the end zone right after Johnson had squandered more point possibilities with a failed call to go for it on fourth down at the 3.

Looks like #Bears LB T.J. Edwards listened in as Jalen Hurts gave the play call in the huddle — and then intercepted Hurts on that very play. pic.twitter.com/r2s7iCZllU
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) September 29, 2026

“I think it was huge, because in my mind when we don't convert after the first turnover, I go, ‘Oh crap, we just missed an opportunity for points there,' " Johnson admitted. "And then they end up making a wrong or right, in a lot of ways. And it's one for one, and so it was huge, it was huge for us.

"That first half, it felt like we were bleeding a little bit on that side of the ball. They were able to move it, and yet for us to only give up the seven points, that was huge.”

They bailed out the coach. This is the true definition of complementary football.

When an offense scores as much as the Bears' attack does, just getting some defense can make them dangerous.

When they are stopping people from double figures scoring, there's much more going on here than just an improved offense and a continuing trend toward defensive improvement.

There could be something big brewing.

Eagles -3.5 might be the easiest bet of your life.

I understand Chicago is the sharp side. I’m telling you right now, it won’t matter one bit.

You have a better chance of getting struck by lightning than seeing the Bears cover tonight.

I’m one of the biggest Caleb Williams…
— FQMedia (@fqmedia_) September 28, 2026

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