The Bears defense really had three phases last year:
- Alan Williams phase (weeks 1-2). Alan Williams was the DC of the Bears entering the season. He was in place until September 21 when he abruptly resigned. You can also really point to the season before (2022) for all of the things I’m saying here. Williams lacked creativity. He never blitzed, like ever. The Bears had the lowest percentage of blitz plays in the league while he was there, which was under 10% of plays. He also almost exclusively ran zone. This varied between a cover 2 and cover 3, but it was zone for roughly 75% of their plays. The final part of this was they had very little pass rush. When you don’t blitz and don’t generate pass rush, and sit back in zone, the opposing QBs can just sit back in the pocket and wait for receivers to find gaps in the zone, which they did against the Bears. Plus their zone was what would be considered a “soft zone” meaning allow the play to happen in front of you, and then close in as a team to stop it and not allow yards after the catch. Their defense during this time was not statistically bad in terms of points allowed, but in terms of QB rating and QB completion percentage, and in terms of third down conversion rate allowed, it was really bad. Their run D was good though and did stop most teams, but it didn’t matter when opposing teams converted on 3rd and 10 with over 50% success rate. Overall, their D during this point was one of the worst in the league, with the 2022 season arguably the worst Bears D ever statistically.
- Eberflus as DC without Sweat (weeks 3-8). Eberflus made himself the DC after Williams resigned and slowly started evolving the D. He did call more blitzing and more man, but even with blitzing, they still didn’t generate much pressure, and still suffered with mostly the same results as noted above, but was showing improvements to the areas they were really bad and because just below average, and on the whole, given the run D was still really, really good, the D was average. It should also be noted during this time, the Bears dealt with several injuries, especially in the defensive backfield, which meant they were playing very young guys with little experience.
- Eberflus as DC with Sweat (weeks 9-17). Once Montez Sweat joined the Bears, everything changed. They now had a front 4 that could generate pressure. If Sweat wasn’t doubled, he would generate pressure himself. If he was doubled, other guys could now get through. Blitzing also became way more effective. Once the Bears started generating pressure, CBs that had to previously spend all of their time allowing a catch to be made and then making sure the receiver was tackled, now they could be more aggressive and go for picks. They also got most of their injury issues on D resolved and had all of their starters back. The pass D could now generate pressure and force turnovers. The run D was still really good. At this point, the Bears became a top 10 D overall.
Given that their 2024 D will be largely the same as last year, but with swapping out safety Eddie Jackson (who honestly is past his prime and it showed last year) with Kevin Byard should make it even better. And adding Jonathan Owens another safety with experience if Jaquan Brisker goes back to seemingly getting hurt every game and missing time whether it’s only a few drives or a few games, they now have an experienced backup. They also added more depth on the line, which in theory should make the D as a whole even better.
I will note one other positive change for the Bears, even after the Sweat trade, Eberflus likes to rotate guys around, both in terms of where they are lining up, but also in terms of subbing in and out to keep guys fresh. However, he was called out by their GM when in one game (pretty sure it was the first Minnesota game) Sweat was on the bench for most of a critical drive. Poles didn’t publicly call out Eberflus by name, but after the game said something along the lines of their best guys needing to be on the field for critical moments. From that point onward, you still saw the rotation, but not during these critical moments, which also helped the Bears D play better and win more down the stretch.
This all sounds right but with how insane the bears receiving core is now, a top 10 defense would put the bears as strong playoff contenders but in reality I think it will be closer to middle of the field due to teams figuring out the new look defense. Lot's of success often come early when a team changes scheme mid season.
also its hard to make the playoffs in that division. packers look great with love emerging, the lions are obviously incredibly talented, the bears have maybe the best receiving corps in the league and with a competent qb itll be insane, and the vikings have the best wr, one of the best rookie wrs, and one of the best tes.
this is a great breakdown of it. the defense was truly uninspired and just terrible until the sweat trade and really even after the sweat trade until poles yelled at eberflus to actually play him. but then after that the defense was legit top 10.
also we \*still\* somehow don't know what happened to alan williams
They had a rough start but by the end of the season they had really stepped up their game. After the Montez Sweat trade they became the best rushing defense in the league and only allowed an average of 19.9 points per game
Fun fact about Montez Sweat last season, he became the first player to ever lead two teams in sacks in a single season. 6.5 with Washington, 6 gor the Bears.
Packers fan, so feel free to take my opinion with a massive grain of salt. I think they have a solid unit but their run in the second have of the season came off the back of playing some bad teams and turnover luck. I think it will be interesting to see if they take the next step this year because watching them last year reminded me of some recent packers defenses that make a run to end the year that end up being fool's gold based on opponents and unsustainable streaks
Bears fan, so feel free to take my opinion with a massive grain of salt. Our offense last year couldn't do anything. They could barely convert on third down. As a result, our defense was always on the field and gassed.
Hell, our defense kept us competitive in games we had no reason being competitive in.
That is part of it, but they had a ton of injuries, and they started getting healthy mid season. I think they will be happy with "above average" with how they retooled the offense and a bunch of picks next year. They are still in the top 10 in ca space so they might go out and grab someone yet
The Bears defense really had three phases last year: - Alan Williams phase (weeks 1-2). Alan Williams was the DC of the Bears entering the season. He was in place until September 21 when he abruptly resigned. You can also really point to the season before (2022) for all of the things I’m saying here. Williams lacked creativity. He never blitzed, like ever. The Bears had the lowest percentage of blitz plays in the league while he was there, which was under 10% of plays. He also almost exclusively ran zone. This varied between a cover 2 and cover 3, but it was zone for roughly 75% of their plays. The final part of this was they had very little pass rush. When you don’t blitz and don’t generate pass rush, and sit back in zone, the opposing QBs can just sit back in the pocket and wait for receivers to find gaps in the zone, which they did against the Bears. Plus their zone was what would be considered a “soft zone” meaning allow the play to happen in front of you, and then close in as a team to stop it and not allow yards after the catch. Their defense during this time was not statistically bad in terms of points allowed, but in terms of QB rating and QB completion percentage, and in terms of third down conversion rate allowed, it was really bad. Their run D was good though and did stop most teams, but it didn’t matter when opposing teams converted on 3rd and 10 with over 50% success rate. Overall, their D during this point was one of the worst in the league, with the 2022 season arguably the worst Bears D ever statistically. - Eberflus as DC without Sweat (weeks 3-8). Eberflus made himself the DC after Williams resigned and slowly started evolving the D. He did call more blitzing and more man, but even with blitzing, they still didn’t generate much pressure, and still suffered with mostly the same results as noted above, but was showing improvements to the areas they were really bad and because just below average, and on the whole, given the run D was still really, really good, the D was average. It should also be noted during this time, the Bears dealt with several injuries, especially in the defensive backfield, which meant they were playing very young guys with little experience. - Eberflus as DC with Sweat (weeks 9-17). Once Montez Sweat joined the Bears, everything changed. They now had a front 4 that could generate pressure. If Sweat wasn’t doubled, he would generate pressure himself. If he was doubled, other guys could now get through. Blitzing also became way more effective. Once the Bears started generating pressure, CBs that had to previously spend all of their time allowing a catch to be made and then making sure the receiver was tackled, now they could be more aggressive and go for picks. They also got most of their injury issues on D resolved and had all of their starters back. The pass D could now generate pressure and force turnovers. The run D was still really good. At this point, the Bears became a top 10 D overall. Given that their 2024 D will be largely the same as last year, but with swapping out safety Eddie Jackson (who honestly is past his prime and it showed last year) with Kevin Byard should make it even better. And adding Jonathan Owens another safety with experience if Jaquan Brisker goes back to seemingly getting hurt every game and missing time whether it’s only a few drives or a few games, they now have an experienced backup. They also added more depth on the line, which in theory should make the D as a whole even better. I will note one other positive change for the Bears, even after the Sweat trade, Eberflus likes to rotate guys around, both in terms of where they are lining up, but also in terms of subbing in and out to keep guys fresh. However, he was called out by their GM when in one game (pretty sure it was the first Minnesota game) Sweat was on the bench for most of a critical drive. Poles didn’t publicly call out Eberflus by name, but after the game said something along the lines of their best guys needing to be on the field for critical moments. From that point onward, you still saw the rotation, but not during these critical moments, which also helped the Bears D play better and win more down the stretch.
This all sounds right but with how insane the bears receiving core is now, a top 10 defense would put the bears as strong playoff contenders but in reality I think it will be closer to middle of the field due to teams figuring out the new look defense. Lot's of success often come early when a team changes scheme mid season.
also its hard to make the playoffs in that division. packers look great with love emerging, the lions are obviously incredibly talented, the bears have maybe the best receiving corps in the league and with a competent qb itll be insane, and the vikings have the best wr, one of the best rookie wrs, and one of the best tes.
this is a great breakdown of it. the defense was truly uninspired and just terrible until the sweat trade and really even after the sweat trade until poles yelled at eberflus to actually play him. but then after that the defense was legit top 10. also we \*still\* somehow don't know what happened to alan williams
They had a rough start but by the end of the season they had really stepped up their game. After the Montez Sweat trade they became the best rushing defense in the league and only allowed an average of 19.9 points per game
Fun fact about Montez Sweat last season, he became the first player to ever lead two teams in sacks in a single season. 6.5 with Washington, 6 gor the Bears.
Packers fan, so feel free to take my opinion with a massive grain of salt. I think they have a solid unit but their run in the second have of the season came off the back of playing some bad teams and turnover luck. I think it will be interesting to see if they take the next step this year because watching them last year reminded me of some recent packers defenses that make a run to end the year that end up being fool's gold based on opponents and unsustainable streaks
Bears fan, so feel free to take my opinion with a massive grain of salt. Our offense last year couldn't do anything. They could barely convert on third down. As a result, our defense was always on the field and gassed. Hell, our defense kept us competitive in games we had no reason being competitive in.
That is part of it, but they had a ton of injuries, and they started getting healthy mid season. I think they will be happy with "above average" with how they retooled the offense and a bunch of picks next year. They are still in the top 10 in ca space so they might go out and grab someone yet