Back in 2012, the Chicago Bears defense was one of the best in the NFL. Nobody doubted it. At the same time, a lot of fans were nervous. Why? It was becoming apparent that age was becoming a huge factor with that stellar unit. Julius Peppers was 32. Lance Briggs was 32. Charles Tillman was 31. Brian Urlacher was 34. Their entire core was over 30 and people knew it was only a matter of time before a breaking point came.
That arrived just a year later. Urlacher retired and everybody else save for Peppers seemed to regress or start getting hurt. The defense finish 30th in the league. One of its worst seasons in franchise history. People were left wondering how it went so bad that fast. The answer wasn’t hard to see. It’s something many teams have suffered before.
The Bears just failed to reload the pipeline with young talent.
That could be what ends up saving the latest incarnation of great Bears defense. It was a fun Sunday for Week 14 as a unit that had struggled the past two weeks bounced back to smother the Houston Texans. Not only did they give up just seven points on the afternoon. They also sacked Deshaun Watson six times. Bad opponent or not, they were smothering.
A lot of that was thanks to their veteran core. Khalil Mack had a sack and a forced fumble. Akiem Hicks had four tackles and was strong against the run. Yet they weren’t the story of that game. It was the young guns who stole the spotlight. Bilal Nichols (24-years old) collected a sack and a tackle for loss. It was his third sack in five games to go along with an interception against Detroit.
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Everybody was outshined by Roquan Smith (23-years old) who had 12 tackles, two tackles for loss, and two sacks. He now has 122 tackles and four sacks on the year, putting him on track for possible All-Pro honors.
The Chicago Bears defense is well-positioned for future success
This is not to say a drop off won’t happen sometime in the future. Guys like Mack and Hicks are hard to replace once they start to fade. That being said, this Bears defense is far better equipped to handle a transitional period than prior generations ever did. In addition to Smith and Nichols, they also have 21-year old rookie corner Jaylon Johnson who looks like he’ll be a capable starter for years to come. Eddie Jackson is still just 26. Eddie Goldman will return next year and he’s 26.
People dog Ryan Pace a lot. Most of the criticisms are well-deserved. Yet nobody can deny the man has done a great job consistently stockpiling talent on this defense. They are good now and provided the next GM isn’t a complete bum, they will have a chance to remain good years down the line. They’ll just have to make sure they keep their defensive front loaded up once Mack and Hicks are gone.
Not easy but far less challenging than what Pace had to endure five years ago.
Smith is already the best 1st round pick he ever made. If he ends up being the last? The Chicago Bears defense should thank him for making it count. If Johnson ends up reaching his considerable potential, the Bears will have two levels of their defense already secure moving forward. Maybe Nichols will continue to ascend but if not he’ll still be a quality member of their defensive line.
So maybe it’s best not to presume this defense is facing the same dangers from the previous era.