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Courtney Cronin, ESPN Staff WriterOct 12, 2024, 06:09 AM ET
- Courtney Cronin joined ESPN in 2017, originally covering the Minnesota Vikings before switching to the Chicago Bears in 2022. Courtney is a frequent panelist on Around the Horn and host of Best Week Ever on ESPN Radio. She also co-hosts The Chicago Bears Podcast on ESPN 1000. She previously worked at the San Jose Mercury News as a multimedia sports journalist.
WARE, England — The nickname that Chicago Bears defensive end DeMarcus Walker coined aptly describes the way Chicago’s defense harassed Carolina Panthers quarterback Andy Dalton in a 36-10 road win.
The Bears pressured Dalton (and briefly backup quarterback Bryce Young) on 20 of 41 dropbacks (48.8%) for their highest pressure rate in a game since ESPN began tracking the metric in 2009.
Walker captioned a photo on X of himself and several Bears defenders celebrating with “Menaces of the Midway.” It’s a play on the “Monsters of the Midway” moniker that has described some of the best defenses in franchise history.
“I’ve learned to grow, that chemistry within a room and a team is very important,” defensive end Montez Sweat said. “It’s one thing to have your own type of mindset of how you approach the game, but when everybody is on the same page and you want to play for the man besides you just as much as he does, everything just kind of goes in the flow.”
As Chicago’s offense worked through early-season up-and-downs with rookie quarterback Caleb Williams at the helm, the steady play of the defense kept the Bears (3-2) in every game, even losses.
The Bears won their season opener against the Tennessee Titans 24-17 after a blocked punt returned for a touchdown snowballed into Chicago’s defense forcing a fumble (which led to a field goal) and sealing the game when cornerback Tyrique Stevenson returned a Will Levis interception for a touchdown.
Chicago kept the Houston Texans‘ offense in check in a 19-13 loss in Week 2 and was the backbone of another one-score game in a 21-16 loss at the Indianapolis Colts.
As the offense began to find its groove in Week 4 with a 24-18 win over the Los Angeles Rams and subsequent victory versus the Panthers, the tight-knit Chicago defense continued to build toward its preseason expectations of finishing the season as a top-five unit.
Through five weeks, the Bears defense has some of the league’s highest marks in the following categories:
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Third in takeaways: 11
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Third in interception rate: 3.95%
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Third in turnover percentage: 18.3%
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Third in third-down conversion rate: 28.57%
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Fifth in opponent’s red zone conversion rate: 38.46%
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Sixth in point differential: 5.6
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Sixth in passing yards per game and per play: 174.0/5.72
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Eighth in sacks per pass attempt : 9.21%
Chicago finished the 2023 season with 25 takeaways, which was tied for the seventh most, and the Bears tied the San Francisco 49ers for the NFL lead in interceptions with 22. It wasn’t until the halfway point of the season (coinciding with trading for Sweat) that the uptick in both was sparked.
“It’s just an emphasis that we preach every day,” Sweat said. “[Defensive coordinator Eric] Washington talks about three [takeaways] is the floor for a day in practice. It’s just an emphasis, and all Coach [Matt Eberflus] does is talk about the ball — offense protecting it, defense gotta go get it.”
Added cornerback Kyler Gordon: “We want to start fast. That’s important to our season and our postseason. When you get those turnovers, it’s a big momentum change in the game and it increases your odds of winning.”
Against Carolina, Chicago scored a touchdown three plays after safety Jaquan Brisker forced a fumble, which Gordon recovered. After safety Kevin Byard III picked off a pass intended for Panthers wide receiver Jonathan Mingo, the Bears’ offense put together a scoring drive that culminated with a field goal.
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Byard, who signed a two-year contract with the Bears this offseason, is tied for the most interceptions since the start of the 2017 season with 29.
Another key to Chicago’s early success is its ability to pressure quarterbacks. For all the questions about sustaining a strong pass rush after finishing the 2023 season with the second-fewest sacks (30) and tied for the sixth-lowest pressure percentage (18.8%), the Bears’ defense has the sixth highest pressure percentage (29.7%) and is nearly halfway to its 2023 season total with 14 sacks.
Part of the increased production is the play on the interior of the defensive line. Gervon Dexter Sr., Chicago’s 3-technique, is second among all defensive tackles in sacks (5) while the contributions of Andrew Billings, whose skills as a pass rusher from the nose tackle position, has helped the Bears keep quarterbacks high in the pocket.
There’s also been a slight shift in philosophy, and perhaps a more aggressive style of playcalling from Eberflus. The Bears ranked 21st in the NFL in 2023 when blitzing, doing so 22.2% of the time. While Eberflus has shaped his defense, whose roots are in the Tampa 2 system which usually relies on four-man pressure, the Bears have begun to play more Cover 3 dating back to last season.
Through five games, the Bears are rushing five or more defenders on 22.1% of snaps (38 called blitzes). That’s just under where they finished last season.
“We’re excited about the production that we’ve gotten from it, and our foundation is rush and cover starting with our four-man rush,” Washington said. “We like the pressure to complement that. We don’t want to live in that scenario, but we definitely want that to complement what we like to do with our front in coverage. And you know it’s just a matter of speed, of timing or making sure we can impact the game without having to deploy a fifth guy, and when we do we need that person to be an enormous factor.”
