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The Bears Defense Faces Carolina with a Few Old Issues and a New One

How much the Bears have really improved on defense is open to interpreation as they get set to face Bryce Young and the Carolina Panthers.
Gene Chamberlain|
Grady Jarrett (left) and defensive end Montez Sweat get to Jared Goff for a sack last season. Accomplishing this on a consistent basis appears a real Bears problem for 2026, like it was in 2025.
Grady Jarrett (left) and defensive end Montez Sweat get to Jared Goff for a sack last season. Accomplishing this on a consistent basis appears a real Bears problem for 2026, like it was in 2025. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

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Chicago Bears

The Bears defense opens Sunday against a Carolina Panthers offense rated a good level below some of the great offenses they faced late last year in a run to the divisional playoffs.

The Panthers have weapons like Tet McMillan, Chuba Hubbard and Darren Waller, but any offense can look better when it's facing a defense with problems. There are huge questions facing this Bears defense despite the confidence shown in them by coordinator Dennis Allen through a preseason and training camp full of injuries and worries.

The issues are fairly well known, which is what's really sad. They haven't addressed them after they were issues last year. Some problems are not old, though.

Here are the three biggest problems confronting the Bears defense in its effort to improve on a performance disappointing last season in all areas except takeaways.

3. Pass rush pressure without blitzing

They're touting defensive tackle Jordan van den Berg as a possible answer inside, and Allen felt Kentavius Street had an even better camp and preseason. On their post-cuts depth chart, the Bears had neither listed as the starter alongside Grady Jarrett. That's interesting, but doesn't prove anything except things have changed with defensive tackle Gervon Dexter traded.

As for the edge, Dayo Odeyingbo really has come back from an Achilles injury quickly but whether that amounts to much for their rush remains to be seen. Marcus Davenport was still "ramping up" as of the end of last week. Austin Booker is back practicing and apparently OK but the Bears finished last year with Montez Sweat and Booker and nothing else in the rush. It appears little has changed.

With problems in their secondary, the Bears cant afford to devote extra players to blitzing Bryce Young when the opener begins. The pressure will be on a front they say is improved to actually prove it with their pass rush.

2. Being pushed around up front

They got rid of Dexter, who never seemed able to lower his pad level consistently to stop the run. Somehow, they feel van den Berg, Neville Gallimore and Kentavius Street will do it in a rotation at tackle with Grady Jarrett. It would be hard for them to be worse than last year's front at defending the run but there is little actual proof they'll be able to do it.

Neither Gallimore nor Street have ever stood out as run defenders. Van den Berg could, but he's a rookie.
Preseason usually tells very little about how teams will play once the regular season begins. The Bears have to hope what they saw was real.
A team that stops the run earns the right to rush the passer. In preseason, the Bears allowed only 4.0 yards per rush after they gave up a horrendous 5.0 last regular season.
Does that preseason figure mean anything? Maybe.
Last year in preseason they allowed a miserable 4.7 yards a carry and they followed it up by being even more terrible at 5.0 per carry for the regular season.
Until there is real proof this mix can stop the run by shutting down Hubbard and Co., one of their worst weaknesses can't be presumed to have been corrected.

1. Getting beat deep

This is new from last year and even the offseason, and it's their worst problem because getting beat deep completely changes around the game in an instant.
The reason it's a problem is the injury to Coby Bryant and Kyler Gordon's no-show status.
Their solution at safety has been Cam Lewis, who is tiny for a safety. It forces rookie Dillon Thieneman to play closer to the line than they'd want. He should be the deeper safety. And without Gordon they are leaning on another rookie, Malik Muhammad, to play slot cornerback after he didn't really play there in college.


Consider the potential for miscommunication in the secondary from players in coverage with two rookies and another new safety in Lewis, who would be better playing slot cornerback.
If the lack of pressure is what it appeared to be last year when they still had Dexter, and now they don't have him, and they no longer have a veteran secondary with experience playing together, it's looking like a good offense will have to be the Bears' best defense.
Ask the Cincinnati Bengals how that philosophy works out, because they've been trying to do it this way unsuccessfully since they were in the Super Bowl in the 2021 season.

The Bears' secondary is one injury to Jaylon Johnson from being in complete disarray.

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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.

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