Among the pleasant surprises to start this season, the Chicago Bears‘ defense has to be near the top of the list. Everybody expected the unit to rank among the league’s worst. They were mostly bad last season, only managing to mask it with a league-leading 30 takeaways. Aside from a shakeup at defensive tackle and retooling the safety position, not much has changed. So you can imagine the surprise that they’ve allowed just 16 points in the past two games. The pass rush has looked surprisingly good, and the retooled secondary has stiffed quite a bit thanks to the rise of rookies Dillon Thieneman and Malik Muhammad.
However, not everything has been endlessly positive for the unit. Amidst the good vibes, there is a concerning issue on defense that has gone significantly underdiscussed. That is the apparent weakness at linebacker. Devin Bush has looked like a solid signing, ranking second on the team in tackles. The big problem is that his primary position teammates, T.J. Edwards and D’Marco Jackson, have 15 combined. Thieneman, a rookie safety, has 17 by himself. This goes a long way in explaining why the Bears’ run defense has been a problem all year.
“The Bears’ defensive front ranks last in the league in run stop win rate and has given up the 12th-most rushing yards per game this season. Chicago’s secondary has been much better, especially over the past two games. Even with Smith coming off a 24-point fantasy performance against Detroit, the Jets could lean more heavily on the run in this matchup.”
The Chicago Bears’ defense has ignored linebacker for a long time.
They have never significantly invested in it with draft capital under general manager Ryan Poles. Since 2022, spanning five drafts, the Bears have never selected a linebacker higher than the 4th round. That was Rueben Hyppolite last year, and he’s no longer on the team. The team has been making do with large free agent investments like Tremaine Edmunds and T.J. Edwards. It worked briefly in 2023, as the team finished #1 in the NFL against the run. However, every other year, they have failed to finish higher than 27th. So far this season, they’re 22nd.
The harsh truth is, they don’t have the most capable unit. Edwards is still a really good coverage player, but his run defense has always been average. The same goes for Bush. Jackson? He was excellent in 4 relief starts last season, but he has never really shown himself to be capable of becoming a true long-term option. The group just doesn’t have a lynch pin. No Roquan Smith. No Brian Urlacher or Lance Briggs. It’s hard to find one unless you actively go looking for it. This regime has not.
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Much of this can be traced to Poles’ philosophy.
Since becoming GM, he has stated on multiple occasions that he is heavily focused on what he calls “premium” positions. These are the offensive and defensive positions considered most important. Offensively, it is, of course, quarterback, left tackle, and wide receiver. Defensively, it’s edge rusher and cornerback. Linebacker, for some, is at the bottom of that list. Poles seems to be among those who view it that way, which is interesting, since his former team, the Kansas City Chiefs, used back-to-back 2nd-round picks on Willie Gay Jr. and Nick Bolton. Both were instrumental in the team’s 2022 and 2023 Super Bowl victories.
It’s hard to believe the Bears have become an organization that devalued linebackers to this degree. No franchise has a greater legacy at the position. Every time they’ve found a great one, success has usually followed. It feels long overdue for them to get serious about finding one. If the Chicago Bears defense wants that pass rush to reach its full potential, stopping the run comes first, especially knowing you’ll be facing teams like San Francisco and Los Angeles in the playoffs.
