The Chicago Bears defense is no longer special. What happens next?

[Brownie]

In Nagy's offense we trust?

 

[BobInIndy]

Unfortunately, the defense is appropriate for a 8-9 team.

 

[SD Bears]

Unfortunately, the defense is appropriate for a 8-9 team.

I'll never understand where people are coming up with 8 wins for this team. The defense will be worse, the QB play will be the same, and the schedule is top-3 hardest.

6-11 at best.

 

[RubberBanMan]

Defense has been on the decline. Now another year older. Fuller gone. JJ with two questionable shoulders now. New nickel corner. No linebacker depth. Or really anywhere.

Same o line as of right now. Maybe a new rookie or two coming.

But yeah andy dalton is better than mitch and foles so SUPERBOWL. Shoulda been blown up but here we are

 

[and 69 others]

As-is this team is a 4-5 win team IMO. They got some lucky breaks last year.

We’re more likely to see the team that was on a 6 game losing streak than the one that lucked into a handful of wins to start the year.

 

[MikeDitkaPolishSausage]

I’ll say it again. Defense this year all depends on Desai’s scheme. If he somehow pull off a Fangio style defense, they could be a good unit this season. Anything like Paganos defense, it will be similar to last year.

 

[Beast15]

It would be a 10 year rebuild

 

[mattb78]

2 sides to that coin. Goldman coming back probably equals Fuller leaving. JJ has another year of experience. Another year of experience for some depth players in Vildor, Shelley and Gipson. Eddie Jackson has a chance to bounce back from a bad year. Quinn should be healthy.

Very possible for defense to regress, also possibly for them to play at 2019 levels.

Best possible scenario probably not a top 5 defense, but could be close if Mack and Quinn ball out. A front 7 that includes Mack, Quinn, Roquan, Hicks and Nichols could provide formidable pressure. Back end of JJ and Eddie Jackson isn't bad and if you hit on a draft pick you could still have a very good defense.

 

[Leomaz]

So getting rid of the one thing holding this team back (Trubisky being the worse quarterback in history) and up grading it (Dalton is a better quarterback than Trubisky) isn’t enough to make this team better?

 

[mecha]

the problem with this team, and the casual fanbase, is they "needed" those worthless wins against terrible teams at the end of the season last year. and the 7th playoff seed/backing in thing was vital to their mental health or something. they should've ran with like Bray at quarterback and pretended it was like preseason to evaluate the backups and get a slightly higher position in the draft. the team was completely uncompetitive against the Packers and Saints; they weren't winning anything, so what was the long-term goal point of that?

 

[Visionman]

No one knows until the games are played, but people saying the defense is going to fall way back aren’t living in reality. We lost Fuller. That’s really it, and he wasn’t playing that well. Plus his off coverage style allowed easy completions which negated our pass rush. And now we get Goldman back, which will greatly help our run defense, allowing the D to be more aggressive.

On offense, RB is by far better. Our interior OL got figured out and will have a full off-season to gel. TE will be better with a year experience for Kmart. WR...well, it gets better because of a year experience for Mooney and getting rid of Miller. QB is improved, at minimum.

Lots can happen before and during the season to change things. But on paper, this is NOT a bad team. No way.

 

[jtreal3]

This team is gonna be rebuilding for a long time

 

[E.F.Hutton]

This team is gonna be rebuilding for a long time

I'd say we are entering a Detroit Lions style rebuild.

 

[SD Bears Fan]

2 sides to that coin. Goldman coming back probably equals Fuller leaving. JJ has another year of experience. Another year of experience for some depth players in Vildor, Shelley and Gipson. Eddie Jackson has a chance to bounce back from a bad year. Quinn should be healthy.

Very possible for defense to regress, also possibly for them to play at 2019 levels.

Best possible scenario probably not a top 5 defense, but could be close if Mack and Quinn ball out. A front 7 that includes Mack, Quinn, Roquan, Hicks and Nichols could provide formidable pressure. Back end of JJ and Eddie Jackson isn't bad and if you hit on a draft pick you could still have a very good defense.

Is it possible that Quinn just sucked last year and we overpaid for him? To me, it looked like the classic end of career big contract signing and then underperforming while saying you are injured. I expect nothing from Quinn and never liked the signing.

 

[circusboy666]

We are on the verge of a complete breakdown of roster, new GM, new HC etc...who the hell knows which way we will go. I always will want a power run offense with a strong offensive line and a ferocious defense. Smash mouth football will always be my choice.

 

[mceownr22]

2 sides to that coin. Goldman coming back probably equals Fuller leaving. JJ has another year of experience. Another year of experience for some depth players in Vildor, Shelley and Gipson. Eddie Jackson has a chance to bounce back from a bad year. Quinn should be healthy.

Very possible for defense to regress, also possibly for them to play at 2019 levels.

Best possible scenario probably not a top 5 defense, but could be close if Mack and Quinn ball out. A front 7 that includes Mack, Quinn, Roquan, Hicks and Nichols could provide formidable pressure. Back end of JJ and Eddie Jackson isn't bad and if you hit on a draft pick you could still have a very good defense.

I don't think Gipson was re signed? We have more holes in the secondary

 

[Brownie]

I don't think Gipson was re signed? We have more holes in the secondary

Its gonna be a shit show trying to stop the pass this season. Even more so if our DL can't get to the QB (obviously)

Losing Donatell when Fangio went to Denver was a really big deal that didn't get as much press. Those guys on the back end really took to his coaching, and haven't been the same since.

I read an article a while back that explained how Fangio/Dontatell used their defensive backs in SF, and how critical the Safeties were v the CBs. Both were important, but they were able to plug and play a few different corner combos and still be successful because S was established and steady the entire time. Hoping they can get back to that with EJ playing in his more familiar role and now needing to be the leader back there.

 

[PrideisBears]

I'd say we are entering a Detroit Lions style rebuild.

So never get anywhere regardless of the amount of top 10 picks?

 

[GoBears]

This team is FINE. It's making money hand over fist for the owners. That's the measure of success to them. Why would they possibly change such an enduring and lucrative system?

 

[bamainatlanta]

Getting rid of Pagano was the best move this offseason. I'm pretty sure that fucking idiot moved on to retirement because he knew his stupid ass was going to get fired. He was a disgrace as a defensive coordinator.