The Chicago Bears defense did not look prepared on Sunday against the Green Bay Packers. They allowed a whopping 6 plays of 30 yards or more through the air. Quarterback Jordan Love kept firing passes to his speedy receivers, and the Bears’ cornerbacks couldn’t stop it. Jaylon Johnson and Malik Muhammad were victimized a lot. Tyrique Stevenson wasn’t much better before his injury knocked him out of the game. However, this wasn’t just a player issue. Some of the blame falls at the feet of defensive coordinator Dennis Allen.
Nobody argues that the man is good at his job. The Bears have produced some stellar performances on defense this season. However, that doesn’t mean Allen is immune to mistakes. Perhaps one of his lingering faults is his rigid approach to coaching the game. He wants specific types of personnel and will call the defense accordingly. The problem is he even does this when he clearly doesn’t have said personnel. Among the biggest musts for him is cornerbacks who can cover 1-on-1. The Bears don’t have them, but that didn’t stop Allen from calling the defense as if they did on Sunday. Ben Solak of ESPN had some eye-popping stats.
Dennis Allen was asking for trouble in that game.
The Bears’ secondary is just as bad. Tyrique Stevenson Sr. is sixth in passer rating allowed among corners (140.7), while Jaylon Johnson is eighth (133.7). Both looked a little nicer analytically coming into the Week 5 game against the Packers, but holy smokes did Jordan Love, Christian Watson and Matthew Golden show the Bears a thing or two down the field. Love went 6-for-8 on throws at least 20 yards downfield for a whopping 258 passing yards and two touchdowns…
…The continued growth of Thieneman and Muhammad, the impending return of slot corner Kyler Gordon (practice window opened Oct. 1) and the eventual return of safety Coby Bryant are all reasons for long-term hope. But coordinator Dennis Allen wants to play man coverage (34.7% rate, fifth highest in the league), and the Bears currently have zero corners I truly trust in man-to-man defense.
Dennis Allen must accept reality.
Johnson is not the player he was two years ago. For whatever reason, his ability to mirror opposing receivers and stick to them is gone. It’s pretty clear he has lost some speed, and it makes him especially vulnerable to faster receivers like Christian Watson and Matthew Golden. Stevenson has much the same problem, and that was before he was dealing with a hamstring issue. The rookie Muhammad has plenty of upside, but he’s still learning. The truth is, the Bears don’t have a single corner they can depend on in man coverage.
What makes this odd is the sudden uptick in man coverage tendency. Last season, Johnson was the only player who logged over 30% of his snaps in man. This year, that number has jumped to four, with Stevenson, Muhammad, and Dillon Thieneman joining him. That seems rather reckless by Dennis Allen, considering two of those players are rookies. It is understandable that he wants to play a certain style of defense. His best ever defense, the 2020 New Orleans Saints, saw seven players go over 30% in man coverage. Two even crossed the 40% mark. It worked perfectly, but that was because Allen had the players to make it happen.
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- Marshon Lattimore
- P.J. Williams
- Janoris Jenkins
- Marcus Williams
- Malcolm Jenkins
The Bears aren’t there yet.
In truth, this defense still isn’t entirely one constructed by Allen. Johnson and Stevenson are holdovers from the previous regime under Matt Eberflus. They made their names in a far different scheme. Maybe it was a slight red flag when Nahshon Wright outperformed both of them last season. A big part of why was that his skill set fit the type of defense Allen wanted to run. The Bears still haven’t collected a full assortment of defensive backs who do that. Muhammad and Thieneman do, as does free agent addition Coby Bryant.
Unfortunately, they’re still not there. They need at least one more true man-cover corner to reach a point where Allen can get away with this much man-to-man. As things stand now, he is asking for trouble by continuing to do so. The responsible thing for him to do is shift to more zone looks. It might limit his ability to blitz, but it should at least help limit the big plays.
