Bears Blitz

Published by Bear Heiser on October 6, 2014
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears

The Chicago Bears very easily could be 4-1 through five games, not 2-3 with three very ugly losses. In all three losses, the Bears were within one score at halftime, only to get blown out in the second half on the way to the loss.

Coulda, woulda, shoulda.

Let’s get something straight right now: The Bears need to be better in all three phases of the game.

When the season began, we all thought the offense would be one of the NFL’s best, good enough to pick up the slack for a defense that added a bunch of new faces during the offseason after a historically bad 2013 season.

Offense was supposed to be this team’s strength, but that hasn’t been the case, sadly. While great at times, the Marc Trestman-led Bears offense has been frustratingly inconsistent. As far as the defense goes, the group hasn’t been exceptional, but it hasn’t been terrible either.

“I think that we’ve struggled at times, and that’s the thing we’ve got to focus on,” Trestman said following Sunday’s loss, via ChicagoBears.com. “We’ve had a lot of very consistent moments, and then we’ve gone inconsistent.”

That right there is the definition of inconsistency.

So what gives?

What gives is this: The Bears offense has zero excuses for being incompetent at certain points this season. It has needed to do a better job of finding the end zone and capitalizing on turnovers created by its defensive mates. That’s the bottom line through five weeks.

Mel Tucker’s defense has forced 11 turnovers this season, while Jay Cutler and the offense have turned it over 10 times, a rate of two per game.

Entering the season, there weren’t high expectations for the Bears defense. As good as the offense was in 2013, the idea was to enter the 2014 season with a defense that could play at a middle-of-the-pack level. Average would have been acceptable.

So how’s this for average?

As it stands now, before Monday Night Football, the Bears rank second in the league in interceptions with seven, 10th in forced fumbles with four, of which the defense is responsible for three. The 11 combined turnovers is good for second-best in the NFL.

This type of production is a throwback to what we came to expect when Lovie Smith was the head coach of the Bears.

“No, it’s first nature,” Lance Briggs said in 2012, via ChicagoBears.com. “That’s how we are. We don’t have a choice. If we don’t strip the football, if we don’t score when we catch it, we get a tongue lashing, so we have to do that.”

While the defense only is credited for scoring one touchdown this season, five of the 13 touchdowns scored by the offense have come off defensive takeaways.

Before we all trash the defense for its inconsistent play, can we just agree that the defense is pretty much what we thought it would be as a whole? You need to remove from the equation the poor performances by big-money signees like defensive ends Lamarr Houston and Jared Allen and so on and so forth.

The defense deserves more credit for improvements made this season. Criticizing Tucker for his job as defensive coordinator has been far too easy, which is why we’ve all done it, even here after the puntless game by the Green Bay Packers offense in Week 4.

Why does the defense deserve more credit? It’s pretty simple actually. Cutler and the offense have turned it over 10 times in five games, a rate of two per game.

So, let’s do some basic math here. If the defense is averaging roughly plus-two turnovers per game and the offense is averaging minus-two turnovers per game, we’re pretty much breaking even, right?

Well, that’s exactly the problem. The Bears, as a team each week, cannot be digging themselves out of a two-turnover hole created by an offensive unit that should, in theory, be one of the best in the league. Doing that week in and week out is like saying to the defense, “OK, guys. We’re down two turnovers. Unless you create two, we have zero chance of winning.”

And that’s exactly what’s been happening.

“Turnovers in critical times have hurt us, especially in the second half,” Cutler said following Sunday’s loss, via ChicagoBears.com. “We’ve been able to overcome a lot of them in the first half. It’s always the second half, third or fourth quarter ones that are hurting us and I’ve got to eliminate those.”

Cutler is one of seven players who sit atop the league leads in interceptions thrown with six, all six of which have come in the team’s three losses. In terms of total turnovers, the Bears only have given up one in the two wins. That means that nine turnovers have come in the five losses.

Allen said it best after Sunday’s game, via ChicagoBears.com: “We have to win the turnover battle. You can’t turn the ball over and we have to get more takeaways.”

Takeaways lead to points scored, and that area has been a problem too. While the defense has improved this season, allowing 26.2 points per game, down from 29.9 per game last season, the offense is averaging 4.6 fewer points this season.

What’s becoming more and more apparent is this: Trestman has been outcoached all season, and Cutler still attempts throws winning quarterbacks shouldn’t attempt. Until we’re given reason to think either of those things can change, improvements must be made elsewhere in order for this team to get back on track.

Despite the strong turnover numbers, Tucker and his defense still can be better.

What’s needed in order for that to happen is better individual play by guys like Allen, Houston and Bostic; Jeremiah Ratliff, Shea McClellin and Chris Conte need to stay healthy. Yes, McClellin and Conte need to be healthy. While everyone loves to hate on them, pick out two players on the roster who perform better. Can’t find anyone? Yeah, that’s because the Bears don’t have anyone better suited.

General manager Phil Emery spent a lot of money in the offseason on improving his defense, but that money has yet to pay off. This current situation is eerily similar to the 2011 Philadelphia Eagles, who spent copious amounts of money on successful, big-name defensive players who failed miserably at coming together as a successful unit.

The Eagles threw $60 million at four-time All-Pro cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha, who struggled mightily in the Eagles’ defensive scheme. The team traded for cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, signing defensive linemen Cullen Jenkins and Jason Babin.

On paper, the Eagles had a great defense. But that didn’t translate to anything close to what was expected.

The defensive failures cost then-coordinator Juan Castillo his job after just four games. Philadelphia finished the season with the NFL’s 23rd-ranked defense, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required). The so-called “dream team” did everything but meet expectations when it was all said and done.

The main difference with the Bears is that even with all the offseason signings, very few folks were out there saying this Bears defense would become a world-beater.

Hopefully, as the season goes on, the individuals will come together to become a stronger unit—a unit that opposing teams actually are somewhat scared to face. This Bears defense, in its current state, sparks zero fear in the opposition, but there’s potential.

Rookie corner Kyle Fuller has played spectacularly in place of Charles Tillman, who suffered a season-ending injury back in Week 2. Fuller is the NFL’s reigning Defensive Rookie of the Month. PFF rated him as the 16th-best cornerback in the NFL through five games. His three interceptions lead the league, and opposing quarterbacks have a QB rating of 43.4 with Fuller in coverage, which is five-best in the league.

Rookie defensive tackle Ego Ferguson has improved in each game he’s played, capped off by an outing against the Carolina Panthers where he deflected back-to-back passes at the line, the latter of which led to a Briggs interception.

So, where have all of the big names been? Houston has a mere five tackles this season.

Allen has exactly the same number of sacks as you do—zero. Yes, the same guy who is coming off sack totals of 22.0 in 2011, 12.0 in 2012 and 11.5 in 2013. His seven QB hurries is right around the league average. The Bears did not sign Allen to come in and be average.

Houston is struggling just the same. The former Raider also has as many sacks as you do. His 11 QB hurries leads the team, but those hurries need to be sacks in order for the Bears to see a return on the investment.

The lone bright spot from all of the offseason signings: Willie Young, who’s responsible for five of the team’s 11 sacks off the edge in roughly 50-60 fewer snaps than both Houston and Allen.

Possibly the most pleasing aspect of Young’s stat line: Young has graded out as the fourth-best run defender for those who have played at least 50 percent of their team’s snaps at the defensive end position, according to PFF. Last season with the Detroit Lions, Young was 17th on that same list. Emery signed Young to be a pass-rusher, not a run defender.

Young is part of the reason why the Bears run defense has improved this season as much as it has. Remember how bad things were last season, finishing last in the league in run defense? Now, through five games, Chicago ranks 16th in the league against the run, allowing 116.0 yards per game, down from 161.4 in 2013.

Despite the improvement, the NFL isn’t a run-first league anymore. Moving the ball through the air has become the “it” thing to do in recent years. Defensive success starts up front by pressuring the quarterback. If Allen and Houston can improve in the coming weeks, the entire unit undoubtedly will be better, from the linebackers to the secondary.

Don’t let the headline of this article fool you: The Bears defense must play better, but only because the offense currently is stuck in reverse.

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