Before Packers-Bears, Insider Sees ‘Soft Side’ to Tough Defense
Entering Sunday’s Packers-Bears showdown, Chicago is No. 1 in points allowed over the last five games. Here’s the scouting report
The Green Bay Packers’ offense led by quarterback Jordan Love is hot. The Chicago Bears’ is even hotter…
GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers’ offense led by quarterback Jordan Love is hot. The Chicago Bears’ is even hotter.
Over the last six weeks, Love is tied for the NFL lead with 16 touchdown passes. He’s also tied for No. 1 with one interception. Over the last five games, the Bears are No. 1 in points allowed. For the season, they are No. 1 in interceptions, No. 1 against the run and No. 4 in yards allowed per carry.
“However,” said Gene Chamberlain, who covers the Bears for SI.com’s Bear Digest, “there is a little bit of a soft side to what they’ve accomplished. They beat up on Minnesota’s Josh Dobbs, the Raiders’ Brian Hoyer and Atlanta’s Taylor Heinicke. Then again, they really made Jared Goff look bad with passer ratings of 68.3 and 54.6 while picking him off five times during two games in a period of four weeks.”
After allowing 38 points against Green Bay in the opener, followed by 27 vs. Tampa Bay, 41 vs. Kansas City and 31 vs. Denver to round out the first four games, Chicago the last five weeks has given up 10 against Minnesota, 13 against Detroit, 20 against Cleveland, 16 against Arizona and 17 against Atlanta.
Not only are they allowing a league-low 15.2 points per game during that span, but they’ve forced 14 turnovers. A healthy secondary after a series of injuries and the trade-deadline addition of defensive end Montez Sweat has powered the late-season surge.
Overall, Chicago is 12th in total defense and 20th in points allowed.
“It’s much improved but an exaggeration to call them one of the league’s best defenses,” Chamberlain said. “They probably rank right now on defense about where they really should be.”
Who are the players to watch on Sunday? Here are Chamberlain’s scouting reports on five key defenders.
DE Montez Sweat
The former Commanders pass rusher arrived for a second-round choice and immediately transformed their front four. Their pressures have gone up 25 percent in the last eight games since he arrived. The sack totals have gone up but not as much. But Sweat has six sacks in his eight games and, since he has been with the team, the added pressure has helped make possible 16 of their 22 interceptions.
A Pro Bowl player for the first time, he has a chance to be the first player ever to finish with the team lead in sacks for two teams in the same season. He can overpower or use the sub-4.5-second speed in the 40 he flashed at the 2019 Scouting Combine.
CB Jaylon Johnson
He’s been in the top three most of the year among cornerbacks, according to Pro Football Focus’ grades, and No. 1 for the last four weeks. Johnson has made the interceptions he hadn’t been able to get to in previous years, has given up only a 50.9 passer rating against when targeted and remains one of their better tacklers.
Being a free agent has been his spark and he’s been beating his chest about being All-Pro and not just a Pro Bowl cornerback. The best thing Johnson has done is play brilliantly while the young players in the secondary could develop, and they have.
Rookie Tyrique Stevenson was the NFC Defensive Player of the Week last week for his two interceptions, and sub Terell Smith has played meaningful minutes like a veteran. Johnson made the Pro Bowl for the first time and a lot of it is now understanding how to play zone well. He was a man cornerback when he was drafted.
WLB T.J. Edwards
Acquired for far less than they would have paid Roquan Smith to play the same weakside position, Edwards has stats as good or even better than Smith with Baltimore’s defense and far better than Smith had in this scheme in the first half of last season in Chicago.
His hitting ability has been apparent all year and, once he learned the scheme better and the demands of playing weakside in this version of Tampa-2, his pass coverage dramatically improved to the point where he has made three interceptions.
He’ll take the wrong tackle angle on occasion and then they get burned for a long run, but it’s happened less and less as the year went on. The Falcons were the only team besides the Lions to hit them for 100 yards rushing since Week 4, their last loss before beginning the climb back to respectability.
NT Andrew Billings
He doesn’t get mentioned much, but when you get a new nose tackle and the three-technique isn’t playing noticeably better but the defense has gone from 31st against the run to first, then the nose has to be drastically improved.
Billings got a contract extension shortly into the year after he had signed a one-year deal, so that shows what they think of him. He has been able to keep double-teams off three-technique Justin Jones and push the O-line back.
The other thing he has done is provide a pass rush inside that doesn’t show up in sacks or even pressures but it’s there. The push is enough to let them avoid getting beat consistently on early downs by the three-step and five-step passing game the way they were often last year.
CB Kyler Gordon
When coach Matt Eberflus arrived last year, he said the key positions in his scheme are weakside linebacker, three-technique defensive tackle and slot cornerback. The middle linebacker is important, too, particularly if it’s a player strong in pass coverage.
This is much the same as it was in the scheme when Lovie Smith used it here. But the Bears’ slot cornerback position had been a disaster since 2018. It’s no longer the case. Gordon has improved drastically over the last five games with two interceptions, three pass breakups and has lowered his passer rating against to 87.5 when it had been in the 100s since he came into the league last year. He plays like his hair is on fire.
