‘ D’ aiming for late, great show
Bears’ erratic defense hopes to live up to Zimmer’s lofty billing
Maybe he said it simply to grab his players’ attention. Vikings coach Mike Zimmer made the Bears’ defense sound more impressive than its upper- middle- class standing, at best, during a season in which it has allowed the ninthfewest points and 13th- fewest yards in the NFL.
“They’ve got probably the best defensive talent in the league,” Zimmer said this week.
If that were true, then it makes the last two weeks that much more galling. How in the world could the Bears give up seven yards per play and 34 points to the Lions one week, then 4.1 yards and seven points to the Texans the next?
“Certain things can’t be explained,” safety Tashaun Gipson said. “Even from me as a player in the midst of all of that going on, it’s just unheard of for this secondary to give up 400 yards passing [ to Detroit].
“That wasn’t what this defense symbolizes or represents. I could not tell you; I could not put my finger on what it was. But at the end of the day, man, it’s better late than never.”
The de facto playoff- race elimination game Sunday against the Vikings qualifies as late.
Lose, and it’s never.
To live up to Zimmer’s praise, the Bears need to do three things well: unleash outside linebacker Khalil Mack, slow down running back Dalvin Cook and finally intercept a pass.
Before the game last Sunday against the Texans, Mack had been symbolic of the Bears’ popgun pass rush.
His last sack had come on Nov. 1. Against Detroit, he didn’t appear in the box score. Against Houston, though, he sacked quarterback Deshaun Watson for a safety and forced a Duke Johnson fumble that he recovered. The Bears finished with seven sacks.
“I think [ Mack] just finally said, ‘ OK, regardless of who they put on me — one, two, three, whatever it is — I’m taking this thing over,’ ’’ defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano said. “We need the same thing this week out of him, and he’ll do that.”
The Bears’ success against Cook, the NFL’s second- leading rusher, is well- documented. Last month, they held him to 96 yards on 30 carries. The season- low 3.2 yards per carry was almost two yards worse than his rest- of- year average.
The secret, Pagano said, is having 11 players rally to bring him down.
“It oughta sound like BBs off a tin can,” he said. “That’s the only way you stop this great runner.”
Doing so would put quarterback Kirk Cousins in third- and- long, which is exactly where the Bears want him. His 12 interceptions are third- most in the league.
The Bears, though, have almost forgotten how to pick off passes. Since DeAndre Houston- Carson intercepted the Panthers’ Teddy Bridgewater to clinch a win, the Bears have only two picks — one by a defensive lineman, Bilal Nichols, and another by Mack — in seven games.
The defensive backfield is already weakened. The Bears will be without slot corner Buster Skrine and starting corner Jaylon Johnson, who has a shoulder injury. Safety Deon Bush ( foot) also was ruled out.
Only six teams have fewer takeaways than the Bears’ 14. Four have fewer interceptions than their seven.
“I know these last three games, we’re itching,” Gipson said. “Because that’s unlike a secondary like this.”
Coverage, pass rush and runstopping is all intertwined. And all three are needed Sunday.
“Whatever slump defensively that we may have been in, I think they turned the page over,” Gipson said. “To rush and cover, to collectively do that together, it’s what Chicago football, Chicago defense is all about.”
Even if it didn’t look that way two weeks ago.
“We knew it wasn’t us,” Nichols said. “It was just one of those days where we just felt like we didn’t play well.
“We came back at practice and got on each other and realized, ‘ We have to play our best way of football if we have any chance of making it to the playoffs.’ ’’