The Chicago Bears Position Group Totally Disrespected by Ratings
![Kyler Gordon goes airborne for an interception against the Atlanta Falcons. The Bears secondary is earning little respect despite a strong second half last year. Kyler Gordon goes airborne for an interception against the Atlanta Falcons. The Bears secondary is earning little respect despite a strong second half last year.](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_6483,h_3646,x_0,y_115/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/bear_digest/01j1sym012d9whw91k14.jpg)
In the world of football analytics, sometimes up is down and down is up, good is bad.
It's bizzarro football world, as comic book geeks might say.
Take the Pro Football Focus rankings for secondaries and offensive lines, for instance.
Few would look at the performance of the Bears offensive line and suggest they are a group in the top half of the league. After allowing 50 sacks or more for three straight seasons and improving personnel by acquiring only two lower-rated centers, they were still ranked 10 spots higher than last year by PFF at 11th.
Teven Jenkins (#76) pancaking people never gets old.
— Just Another Year Chicago: Bears (@OfficialJAYCHI) July 2, 2024
Can’t wait to see him do this week 1 to Jeffery Simmons for his comments about Caleb Williams.@TevenJenkins pic.twitter.com/OqRdC2CCru
Meanwhile, the Bears secondary triggered a second-half 2023 surge with:
- 16 interceptions of a season's total of 22, tied for best in the league;
- a passer rating allowed over the final 10 weeks of 75.7, third best for the entire league in that span.
Yet, PFF's rating for secondaries has come out this week and the Bears are ranked 19th in the NFL. They are behind both the Packers and Lions in the NFC North.
Uh, did we miss something here?
Chicago Bears' Jaylon Johnson emerged as one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL in 2023, securing a $76MM deal. Despite not resetting the market, he gains respect. By Jordan Campbell. #NFL #Cornerback https://t.co/NY7ABVcSoo
— 🐻🤖BearsBot (@ChicagoBearsBot) June 26, 2024
This certainly will not go unnoticed at Halas Hall, where the defense—and especially defensive backs—have a habit of thriving on disrespect.
Throughout the offseason work they expressed certainty the entire secondary would be starting at a high point this season.
"It's exciting because you look at every position group, and we're talented, we're great everywhere," safety Jaquan Brisker said. "All we've got to do is just really put it together."
"This is a really good secondary.....and they are only going to get better"
— SiriusXM NFL Radio (@SiriusXMNFL) June 3, 2024
It was the @ChicagoBears edging out the @49ers & @Vikings in the MTC Cornerback Room Rankings.@JimMiller_NFL & @PatKirwan_NFL breakdown what makes them so good ....
📻 https://t.co/Ynp0N7CM1Z pic.twitter.com/VpA9ZzkCsp
Apparently this is what PFF is waiting for to upgrade them, although it definitely wasn't how the website treated the Bears offensive line. The Bears were rated one spot below Houston. Detroit's secondary is rated 11th and Green Bay's eighth.
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"The Bears signed cornerback Jaylon Johnson to a big contract extension this offseason after a career year," PFF's John Kosko wrote. "They also added safety Kevin Byard, who’s been one of the best safeties in the NFL since entering the league. Cornerbacks Kyler Gordon and Tyrique Stevenson had their ups and downs in 2023, as did safety Jaquan Brisker, but this unit could be extremely good in 2024 if it plays to its high-end abilities."
Perhaps better health will help them exceed these low expectations.
"Last year, we weren't healthy in the first half and it showed," Brisker said.
They were without slot cornerback Gordon, his backup Josh Blackwell and former starting safety Eddie Jackson for big chunks of the season's first half. Their only change this year was adding Kevin Byar to replace Jackson, who had a 120.6 passer rating against last season according to Sportradar.
Can’t believe our defensive secondary is so good that Jonathan Owen’s is considered a depth piece after signing him.
— Just Another Year Chicago: Bears (@OfficialJAYCHI) June 22, 2024
Dude is a tackling machine. 12 in this game alone last year vs. DET.
209 TOT the last two years, along with 7 PD. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/1J0esHbGE8
"We got back a little too late. But we started. That chemistry is going."
It's just not going well enough for PFF to notice at this point. Or has it?
Byard is ranked 12th for this season among all safeties individually by PFF and within the division is ranked below only Green Bay's Xavier McKinney, who is coming over from the Giants. PFF has Johnson graded fifth among all cornerbacks after he was No. 1 last year. And even second-year cornerback Stevenson was graded as PFF's fourth-highest cornerback at providing tight coverage last year.
And after tying the 49ers for first in the NFL with 22 total interceptions, the Bears secondary is 19th?
Apparently you need at least four members of the secondary graded highly by PFF before you can earn rating in the top half of the league?
Bizzaro.
I still can’t believe we got Tyrique Stevenson in last years draft @ #56
— Just Another Year Chicago: Bears (@OfficialJAYCHI) June 25, 2024
Last years stats
-16 G
-4 INT
-16 PD (!!)
-2 FF
-86 TOT
-65 Solo
Again, AS A ROOKIE. Another reason why Chicago has the best defensive secondary in football IMOpic.twitter.com/rRYkbUdI0o
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Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven