The Chicago Bears’ defense wasn’t particularly bad in 2017. Or at least, it wasn’t the primary reason why the Bears finished a dismal 5-11 and got head coach John Fox fired. Most of the blame for that, justifiably, went to an offense that averaged just 16.5 points per game.
How Khalil Mack can give the Bears an edge over Aaron Rodgers and the Packers
The Bears defense will have to get better at forcing passing downs to take advantage of their new premium pass rusher.
You could argue that the defense was worse than bad: it was forgettable.
These are, after all, the Bears, the franchise that produced Dick Butkus and Bill George and Mike Singletary and Richard Dent and Otis Wilson and Brian Urlacher. Sure, maybe the two best players the team has ever produced are both running backs (Walter Payton and Gale Sayers), but you could make the case that the next eight or so on the list are all defenders.
And yet, the Chicago defense was so average last year that it was easy to forget it existed. The Bears were 14th in defensive DVOA, 12th in marginal efficiency, and 20th in points per game allowed.
Until a recent trade, it was easy to forget about the Bears’ defense this offseason, too. New head coach Matt Nagy is an offensive coach and Andy Reid disciple, and he made an intriguing offensive coordinator hire in former Oregon head coach Mark Helfrich. What they might be able to do with second-year quarterback Mitch Trubisky has been a source of intrigue.
But Nagy also elected to retain Fox’s defensive coordinator, Vic Fangio, hoping that better injuries luck and a couple of new additions would improve things on their own. Maybe that’s a winning strategy, but it certainly isn’t a headline-grabber.
Then the Bears added Khalil Mack. Almost overnight, they went from rebuild mode to housing playoff aspirations.
Week 1’s Sunday night showcase game features two rebuilt and hopeful units facing off: Green Bay’s offense against Fangio’s defense.
It’s pretty easy to describe what went wrong with Green Bay’s attack last year: Aaron Rodgers got hurt. The Packers were underrated in terms of run efficiency with Jamaal Williams and Aaron Jones last year (albeit with minimal explosiveness), but with Brett Hundley starting for more than half the season, they were toast the moment they fell into passing downs.
In 2018, Rodgers is back, and the Packers have attempted to liven up the receiving corps. Jordy Nelson is gone, but Randall Cobb and Davante Adams are back, and new general manager Brian Gutekunst brought in veteran tight end Jimmy Graham and drafted three rookie receivers as well.
Rodgers is getting up there in years and wasn’t looking amazing last fall before the injury, but there’s plenty of reason to assume the Pack will look like at least most of their collective 2016 self.
Chicago’s D will look pretty different, though, and that’s probably not a bad thing.
The Bears’ biggest problem last year was that allowed they allowed you to establish a rhythm.
In terms of big-play prevention, Chicago was just fine. That was an accomplishment considering both primary safeties — Eddie Jackson and Adrian Amos — were in their age 24 seasons.
Passivity was a problem, though. The Bears were good in third-and-long situations, allowing just a 24 percent success rate on third-and-long and producing a 10.4 percent sack rate on blitz downs. But they were inefficient when it came to creating third-and-longs, and they weren’t able to make plays when opponents weren’t behind schedule.
The addition of Mack should make the Bears even better in obvious pass rush situations. He’s the best edge rusher in the league this side of Von Miller, and his ability to distract blockers could open things up even further for lineman Akiem Hicks (8.5 sacks in 2017) and fellow OLB Leonard Floyd (4.5).
Photo by Don Feria/Getty Images
You have to force those pass rush situations first, though. Mack couldn’t prevent Oakland’s defense from ranking 23rd in marginal efficiency on standard downs last year, so he’s not a guaranteed cure-all here. Neither is rookie Roquan Smith, a brilliant sideline-to-sideline linebacker, maybe the best player in college football in 2017, and someone who held out, missed a month of camp, and hasn’t tackled anyone in a game since January.
The advantage shifts from offense to defense based on down and distance; the Bears were above average last year when they had leveraged you into awkward situations, and the addition of Mack and eventually Smith could make them one of the league’s best in that regard.
But can they force Rodgers and the Packers behind schedule? Monitor Green Bay’s down and distance early on, and you can probably figure out who will move to 1-0.
See More:
