Bear Digest

Why Achieving Top-Five Ranking Looks Unlikely for Bears Defense

Analysis: The improvement of the Bears defense since the middle of last season can't be questioned but the task ahead makes their goal of finishing top five a daunting task.

Gene Chamberlain

The Bears defense drags down D'Ernest Johnson in Sunday's 35-16 victory over Jacksonville in London.
The Bears defense drags down D'Ernest Johnson in Sunday's 35-16 victory over Jacksonville in London. / Peter van den Berg-Imagn Images
In this story:

It was late August, the preseason had been played and Bears safety Jaquan Brisker took a look at where their defense stood.

"We're not where we need to be, but we're going to get there, and we're going to be a top-five defense," Brisker said.

The Bears set this as their goal in the offseason and kept repeating it throughout training camp and preseason.

The defense has already proven itself, but only at what could be described at a high level.

It's easy to wonder whether the Bears defense has lost its chance of meeting the preseason goal even with Jaylon Johnson among the league's best cornerbacks, Gervon Dexter greatly improved at defensive tackle, Tremaine Edmunds producing takeaways and Andrew Billings shutting down the run.

What really matters is how many wins the team gets, but they still have their targets.
They are third in takeaways, second in allowing touchdowns, 10th in run defense, sixth in pass defense but it is not likely to get much better because the level of quarterback they face over the last 11 games will be quite a bit different than what they've seen to date.

As good as they've been, they needed to be even better to make their numbers stand up over the final 11 games against the group of QBs they face.

Perhaps they make a statement and show improvement by shutting down some of those passers. However, the numbers look daunting.

The remaining passers on the schedule have a combined passer rating of 98.65. They have 94 touchdown passes to 44 interceptions. The only two passers they face with ratings worse than 94.0 are Drake Maye (81.9) and Geno Smith (87.0), and Smith leads the league in passing yards.

MAYBE CALEB WILLIAMS NEEDS A RECOUNT AFTER LOSS TO JAYDEN DANIELS

CALEB WILLIAMS SHARES AWARD SPOTLIGHT WITH PACKER

WHY BEARS NEED THE OFFENSE TO STAY ON CURRENT PACE

VIRGINIA McCASKEY AMONG THOSE IN RUNNING FOR HALL OF FAME

The teams those quarterbacks play for have a combined 32-19 record this year.

These numbers might not carry particular significance at first glance, but it represents a huge step up over what they've faced so far this season.

The QBs they already faced this season—Will Levis, C.J. Stroud, Anthony Richardson, Matthew Stafford, Andy Dalton and Trevor Lawrence—have a 72.97 combined passer rating this season and no one on the list except for Stroud has a passer rating in the 90s.

It would appear to be a daunting task to take on passers of the level the Bears will in the future after what they've seen this year. This looks like a huge step up in class, almost like what their offense faces after beating several weak defenses to date.

However, it's different for the Bears defense.

Last year they made their big step forward when Montez Sweat was acquired. When they began their streak of 12 straight opponents held to 21 points or less, they had made a legitimate transformation even when skeptics pointed to the quarterbacks they faced and expressed doubt.

The quarterbacks they faced in the second half of last season after Sweat arrived had a combined 91.5 passer rating on the season. Six of the nine had records of .500 or better as starters last year.

The defense has already proven itself, but only at what could be described at a high level.

If they want to achieve an elite level where defenses ranked in the top five belong, they need to be able to shut down quarterbacks like Jordan Love, Brock Purdy, Jayden Daniels, Sam Darnold, Geno Smith and Jared Goff in the remaining 11 games.

If they're able to achieve a top-five status after their coming schedule, even top 10, no one can doubt their status in the league.

Remaining Bears Opposing QBs

Jayden Daniels 125 of 166, 75.3% 1,404 yards, 6 TDs, 2 INTs, 107.1 rating

Kyler Murray 116 of 170, 68.2%, 1,186 yards, 8 TDs, 2 INTs, 98.8 rating

Drake Maye 24 of 41, 58.5%, 265 yards, 3 TDs, 2 INTs, 81.9 rating

Jordan Love 86 of 146, 58.9%, 1,131 yards, 12 TDs, 6 INTs, 94.0 rating*

Sam Darnold 87 of 137, 63.5%, 1,111 yards, 11 TDs, 4 INTs, 103.4 rating*

Jared Goff 106 of 149, 71.1%, 1,330 yards, 8 TDs, 4 INTs, 105.3 rating*

Brock Purdy 121 of 185, 65.4%, 1,629 yards, 9 TDs, 4 INTs, 100.5 rating

Geno Smith 173 of 251, 68.9%, 1,778 yards, 6 TDs, 6 INTs, 87.0 rating

*Two games against them

Twitter: BearsOnSI




Published |Modified
Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.