Despite Criticism of Bears off-season moves, Eberflus' Defense Is Set To Surprise Many
Since 2018, Chicago Bears Head Coach Matt Eberflus was the defensive coordinator in Indianapolis and called the shots. Each season in which his defense ranked in the top 15 every season in total team defense, and three times his defense had a top 10 finish in total points against.
If you were to pull up the depth chart from the Colts to the 2022 Bears defense, it's worth noting this team has more talent and potential than his previous rosters.
The biggest story all off-season has been against what the Bears didn't do this off-season, and it's certainly worth taking a step back and looking at what they were able to do, without a high draft pick and limited cap space. In 2021 the Chicago Bears ranked 22nd in points against and they did not decline, they got better arguably. There was a large number of veteran departures, most largely known were Mack and Hicks, but the duo missed nearly the entire season together. This Bears defense has a very good mix of guaranteed day-one starting-caliber defenders and hungry-unproven depth.
Let's take a long into each of the position groups as we approach training camp.
The brightest and most promising position in this defense happens to be the secondary. Returning to their starting roles will be Eddie Jackson and Jaylon Johnson. Johnson has had two tremendous seasons in the league and looks to take the next leap, while Jackson looks to return to All-Pro form. The newly drafted second-round pair of Kyler Gordon and Jaquan Brisker are looking to take a starting spot heading into week one also. Then the secondary is finished off with Tavon Young, Dane Cruikshank, Duke Shelley, Thomas Graham, and DeAndre Houston-Carson, all of which have shown flashes and look to shine in Eberflus' defense.
The linebacker core on this team may cause the biggest concerns for Bears fan on paper. Outside one of the league's best, Roquan Smith the Bears have an unproven linebacking core. Smith is as good as they come and will return to command his defense and have another tremendous season. Nicholas Morrow is the next best player on the roster. Morrow played the previous four seasons with the Raiders and despite an injury history early in his career, he started finding his grove in 2021 towards the end of the season. Morrow has excellent sideline-to-sideline speed, quality blitzing ability, and has done well in pass coverage. Outside of these two, the rest of the depth chart consists of young players with little to no NFL playing experience and a few journeymen. Despite the lack of linebackers, this should not be a concern, Eberflus likes to utilize his DBs to his advantage and run «nickel» and «dime» sets that consist of only 2 LBs. In this 2021 season, the Colts were only in their base 4-3 defense 19 percent of the team's defensive snaps.
Lastly, we have the defensive line for the Chicago Bears. There will be not only differences in the scheme this season but also in the players. The Bears parted ways with Khalil Mack, Akiem Hicks, Eddie Goldman, and Bilal Nichols. All of which were staples for the Bears line in the previous seasons. There is still depth in this position, the edge is set to feature Robert Quinn, Trevis Gipson, and Al-Quadin Muhammad. The Bears also retain Mario Edwards Jr who has shown flashes, and rookie defensive end, Dominique Robinson. The interior of the line may be the biggest hole on this defense. Khyiris Tonga and Justin Jones are set to anchor the interior with very little depth behind the two. Despite key departures this season the defensive line certainly does have more veteran defenders who are in the early stages of their career that have a tremendous ceiling. There's certainly a growing trend for the type of players that Eberflus and Poles targeted when they were shaping their roster.
