Why Lance Briggs Worries Ben Johnson Is Setting The Bears Defense Up To Fail

There really isn’t much to complain about regarding the Chicago Bears lately. Their offense is #1 in the NFL in total yards, and the defense is top 10 in both yards and points allowed. They’re 3-1 despite not having quarterback Caleb Williams for the past two games. Much of the credit for this must go to head coach Ben Johnson and his staff. They’ve had the team well-prepared every week, playing excellent complementary football. However, former linebacker Lance Briggs does have one concern.

So far this season, the Bears lead the NFL in time of possession at 36 minutes and 35 seconds per game. The next closest team, the New York Giants, sits at 32 minutes and 41 seconds. That is domination on a crazy scale. That has to be a good thing. Controlling the football that long during games means you’re successful, right? Yes, but not entirely. Briggs fears that the offense controlling the ball for such long stretches could adversely affect the Bears’ defense and their ability to play well late in games.

“The problem with the Bears not getting a lot of snaps defensively is that when you get into a game in which the defense is asked to play the 90 plays, or the 75 plays, or even the 65 plays, there’s a higher chance of them being prone to wearing out,” Briggs said.

“It’s like a boxer who knocks guys out in the first three rounds over and over. He never reaches 12 rounds. Well, when you need to go 12 rounds, you’ve never seen him go this distance before, so can he handle the back end of a 12-round fight?”

Is Lance Briggs correct?

It’s an interesting point. Conditioning is a tricky thing in professional football. Practice can only prepare you so much for going 100 mph for up to 80-90 plays in a game. The only way to truly become accustomed to it is by experiencing it on a semi-regular basis, right? That is what Briggs is talking about. Johnson’s offense, through its own brilliance, is denying the Bears defense of this necessary experience. If you’re keeping them on the sideline for 35-40 minutes every week, that threatens to dull their edge.

I thought it would be interesting to see if the data correlates with this. I looked back over the past 10 seasons, looking at two key stats. The first, obviously, was the league leader in time of possession. Then I looked at where those teams ranked in 4th quarter defense. If Lance Briggs is correct, then a majority of said teams would struggle giving up points late. Here are the results

The evidence doesn’t really back up the claim.

While there are a couple of instances where teams led the league in time of possession and had bad 4th quarter defenses, the majority favored the opposite. Of the 10 teams listed, 5 finished 7th or better. Three others finished 12th or 13th, which isn’t great but still decent. None of those defenses was outright terrible. It feels more like the original belief behind time of possession holds true. The longer you hang onto the football, the fresher it keeps the defense late into games.

One thing we know about these Bears is that they take their conditioning extra seriously. Head coach Ben Johnson and defensive coordinator Dennis Allen put them through a grueling training camp for a reason. They know there will come a time when the defense is forced to be on the field a lot. It is their job as coaches to ensure the players are prepared. At the same time, it’s Johnson’s job to do everything in his power to avoid those circumstances. Nobody can fault Brigg’s for his concerns, but in this situation, you have to trust the guys in charge.