Bears defense worse this year

xer0h0ur

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I think people are having a tough time realizing how good the Bears are. They’ve been dog shit for so long that people just don’t believe they’re good.

It’s true that the Bears will be playing some great teams this year. It’s also true that the Bears will be favored in almost every single one of those games.

In fact, I’m looking at this Bears team and thinking, “Who the hell are the 5 teams who are going to beat the Bears?”

I’m not seeing it. This team wins at least 11 games. Mayybbeee 10 if they get some bad luck or start 0-2 in a fluke or something.

Don't get caught in that mindset either. We were only missing Burton and Jackson against the Eagles and look at the impact that had. The NFL season is a war of attrition and I have a hard time believing we are going to remain as healthy as 2018.
 

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We have no idea how good the Bears defense will be this year. A lot of people in 1986 thought the Bears would take a step back when Ryan left but statistically it was as good in most categories and better in a few than the 85 team.

We have the core of players still here and they know each other. Roquan Smith now has a full season (and will have a full preseason this time) and should be even better than last year. Mack will come out of training camp in better shape and won't have to play catchup. Pagano is not defensive slouch, he should be able to get the best out of these players, which is a very solid squad.

Will we be as dominant? Maybe not. But if we are 90% as good as we were last year we should win quite a few games.
 

bamainatlanta

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The worst part of this Article is that he predicted a John Fox-type record
 

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This is basically a Stephen A Smith "Ima play the other side for the sake of argument" stance. Too many factors supporting sustain/improve that outweigh those pointing toward regression.


Everybody praised the BAL Ravens defense when they were carrying that team to a SB with a shittier QB & Offense than Bears have/will have. That was Chuck's doing.


Honestly, the biggest weakness the D had to fix last year was overaggressive individual play in the open field. We saw short passes/runs turn into 75 yard TDs multiple times (GB wk 1, AZ, MIA, NE, etc) when LBs, & DBs were flying in and missing ball carriers who simply stepped inside and were off to the races. So long as that shit remains buried and Chuck's blitzes are calculated & timed well enough, it shouldn't be any worse. This D already gets so much pressure with 4, even 3 man front line rush.


Oh, and Madden '20 has the Bears' D rated highest so they've got that going for them, which is nice.
 

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Denver, Green Bay, Philly, (maybe) Kansas City, (maybe) Chargers are the 5 teams I could see beating us. Not too worried about New Orleans and the Rams.

Bears D will feast on Flacco. Feast. That may be Flaccos last game in 2019. Our OTs will have trouble with their elite edge players whch could cause problems, but everywhere else they are weaker.

Need to worry about MN and other better teams you mentioned.
 

run and shoot

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I know, thats a confusing name, right? Why are there so many numbers in his name?
He's the guy who wrote the article. Thats the date he wrote it.
Click the link and read the article>>>#1
and >>#7
I'm questioning his credentials and analysis as to why(based on what he says)... we should believe the Bear "D" will take a step back.
 
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WestCoastBearsFan

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Bears D will feast on Flacco. Feast. That may be Flaccos last game in 2019. Our OTs will have trouble with their elite edge players whch could cause problems, but everywhere else they are weaker.

Need to worry about MN and other better teams you mentioned.
Do you have any idea what Denver’s record at home is in the first 2 weeks of a season? I can’t begin to overstate how disadvantaged we are heading into Denver.
 

dabears70

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Article is a bit of a yawn, really. D will not be as good but it wouldn't be with Vic either. Special year with all those turnovers. I don't ever remember anyone ever saying that more QB pressure will hurt your CBs. Regular season record will likely be worse and we'll be better prepared for the playoffs.

Yeah i can see the D not being as good as we were last year because we really came out pretty lucky on the health side which doesn't ever happen for the Bears. I mean of course we lost E.Jackson which is always gonna be big (still don't understand why he wasn't playing in the Eagles game) and losing Callahan was big, especially in that Eagles game cause i would of much rather of had Callahan guarding G.Tate on that go ahead TD or 2 point conversion then McManis. Can't remember if that was a 4th down TD or 2 point conversion but either way that was the play that put them ahead of us and won the game for them.

I do see how blitzing more is gonna open up more plays for the opponents receivers and does make me worried because after Fuller and Amukamara it's pretty scary knowing it will be up to one of K.Tolliver, B.Skrine or D.Shelley to take over if either of those two got hurt. Fangio's defense was designed to not give up the big plays which is why he didn't blitz much and why he had our OLB's backing up in coverage a lot and with Pagano, he's gonna be going after the QB with a lot which means our coverage from our DB's will be huge this year. It'll be much more fun to watch cause it's always fun watching your defense get sacks but puts a lot of pressure on our secondary.
 

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The reason I disagree is because I think the two players lost (Callahan/Amos) are nice box pieces but aren't amazing in coverage.

With Skrine/Shelley/HaHa you have added playmakers, and taken some guys out of hemorrhaging defenses where they were overworked (Packers/Jets/KSU).

You plug them into this Bears team and they can do what they do best. If HaHa doesn't have more interceptions and more return yards than Amos I will eat my words, but I think we will see HaHa return to his lofty projections when played as a true roamer.

I for one am looking forward to seeing Pagano blitz more, especially from the corners/safeties. Amos had coffee mugs for hands, and Callahan was only useful in the middle zone as a playmaking nickel. Shelley looks like he is a step beyond both Skrine and Callahan to me. I think we got lucky there, and Denmark has plenty of time to develop for a year or 3.
 

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Do you have any idea what Denver’s record at home is in the first 2 weeks of a season? I can’t begin to overstate how disadvantaged we are heading into Denver.
I think the Bears are a well conditioned team, and this is one of Denver's weakest line-ups as they are a strong franchise annually, and especially recently. I don't care what their home record is, I don't think it pertains to this particular game much.

They will be over-thinking and adjusting to new schemes.
 

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I think the Bears are a well conditioned team, and this is one of Denver's weakest line-ups as they are a strong franchise annually, and especially recently. I don't care what their home record is, I don't think it pertains to this particular game much.

They will be over-thinking and adjusting to new schemes.
Why would you assume we are well conditioned? This just strikes me as the “Miami game” of this season.
 

BearFanJohn

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None of this press, negative or positive, really means much. Pagano is not over his head. The Bears didn’t lose too many players on that side of the ball. It may come down to general health. Regardless, the Bears should have a top 5 defense.
 

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None of this press, negative or positive, really means much. Pagano is not over his head. The Bears didn’t lose too many players on that side of the ball. It may come down to general health. Regardless, the Bears should have a top 5 defense.
Pagano is the ideal coach to take over a Fangio team, imo. If anything we will become less predictable.
 

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The reason I disagree is because I think the two players lost (Callahan/Amos) are nice box pieces but aren't amazing in coverage.

With Skrine/Shelley/HaHa you have added playmakers, and taken some guys out of hemorrhaging defenses where they were overworked (Packers/Jets/KSU).

You plug them into this Bears team and they can do what they do best. If HaHa doesn't have more interceptions and more return yards than Amos I will eat my words, but I think we will see HaHa return to his lofty projections when played as a true roamer.

I for one am looking forward to seeing Pagano blitz more, especially from the corners/safeties. Amos had coffee mugs for hands, and Callahan was only useful in the middle zone as a playmaking nickel. Shelley looks like he is a step beyond both Skrine and Callahan to me. I think we got lucky there, and Denmark has plenty of time to develop for a year or 3.

Well saying HaHa will have more INT's then Amos isn't saying much at all since as we all know the biggest issue Bears fans have had with Amos from the very beginning is that he doesn't create turnovers so not sure where you're trying to go with that one. B.Skrine has been one of the worst in the league at getting penalties called against him so i'm really hoping he understands that on this defense he'll have better players playing around him and won't have to grab and hold as much as he has with the Jets and Browns, and although i like D.Shelley, he's a 6th round pick that's never played a down in the NFL yet and if he does i would think it would be to take over for Skrine who will have moved to CB to take over for Fuller or Prince if one got hurt. Shelley did play CB in college so maybe they look at him for there but pretty sure he was drafted to replace Skrine in a year or two.
 

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Yeah i can see the D not being as good as we were last year because we really came out pretty lucky on the health side which doesn't ever happen for the Bears. I mean of course we lost E.Jackson which is always gonna be big (still don't understand why he wasn't playing in the Eagles game) and losing Callahan was big, especially in that Eagles game cause i would of much rather of had Callahan guarding G.Tate on that go ahead TD or 2 point conversion then McManis. Can't remember if that was a 4th down TD or 2 point conversion but either way that was the play that put them ahead of us and won the game for them.

I do see how blitzing more is gonna open up more plays for the opponents receivers and does make me worried because after Fuller and Amukamara it's pretty scary knowing it will be up to one of K.Tolliver, B.Skrine or D.Shelley to take over if either of those two got hurt. Fangio's defense was designed to not give up the big plays which is why he didn't blitz much and why he had our OLB's backing up in coverage a lot and with Pagano, he's gonna be going after the QB with a lot which means our coverage from our DB's will be huge this year. It'll be much more fun to watch cause it's always fun watching your defense get sacks but puts a lot of pressure on our secondary.
Only opens things up if you don't get there. Point is to stop a drive and disrupt the passer more often than not. If the O makes some plays but can't sustain drives, it's a success. Should create more picks as well but after the way the ball bounced our way last year, I certainly don't expect more of those. No team has ever led the league 2 years straight in takeaways and the stat is that those teams average 11 fewer the next year. Why I said they probably won't rank as high.
 
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HeHateMe

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Well saying HaHa will have more INT's then Amos isn't saying much at all since as we all know the biggest issue Bears fans have had with Amos from the very beginning is that he doesn't create turnovers so not sure where you're trying to go with that one. B.Skrine has been one of the worst in the league at getting penalties called against him so i'm really hoping he understands that on this defense he'll have better players playing around him and won't have to grab and hold as much as he has with the Jets and Browns, and although i like D.Shelley, he's a 6th round pick that's never played a down in the NFL yet and if he does i would think it would be to take over for Skrine who will have moved to CB to take over for Fuller or Prince if one got hurt. Shelley did play CB in college so maybe they look at him for there but pretty sure he was drafted to replace Skrine in a year or two.


^^^^the rambling reply of someone who doesnt even read any posts he replies to, condensing a handful of random opinions into a singular, incoherent mess. Still doesnt know then/than either, after all these years.???????????????????
 

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Well saying HaHa will have more INT's then Amos isn't saying much at all since as we all know the biggest issue Bears fans have had with Amos from the very beginning is that he doesn't create turnovers so not sure where you're trying to go with that one. B.Skrine has been one of the worst in the league at getting penalties called against him so i'm really hoping he understands that on this defense he'll have better players playing around him and won't have to grab and hold as much as he has with the Jets and Browns, and although i like D.Shelley, he's a 6th round pick that's never played a down in the NFL yet and if he does i would think it would be to take over for Skrine who will have moved to CB to take over for Fuller or Prince if one got hurt. Shelley did play CB in college so maybe they look at him for there but pretty sure he was drafted to replace Skrine in a year or two.
You are talking about something important to you?

Shelley looks like a steal so far. He moves well, explosive, can leap...his athleticism appears far beyond Callahan...

Skrine probably doesn't even hold him off more than half the season. And no...Shelley projects purely as a NB in the NFL, especially early in his career.
 

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