‘We belonged on the field with those guys’ — Bears defense answered a major question last week but one more challenge remains before Week 1
This will be a fun one.
The Chicago Bears are riding high entering the final week of the preseason coming off an impressive 38-0 win against the Buffalo Bills, along with a strong showing against quarterback Josh Allen in the joint practice last Friday.
It’s safe to say Dennis Allen’s defense is playing with a different level of energy heading into the regular season and proving they can compete against some of the best offenses around the league.
“The No. 1 thing is that we belonged on the field with those guys,” Allen explained on Tuesday. “And I think that’s good for the confidence of the group. There was some back and forth going on, some mistakes that we made that we had to go back and get corrected. And yet our guys made some plays too. I think we had six takeaways total in that whole practice. The biggest thing, I thought, is we made plays.”
Responding in that why while going up against the reigning MVP in a controlled setting was a bar crossed by the defense and a benchmark for how the unit looks.
One thing’s for sure, Allen’s unit plans to take the fight to the offense each and every week while being the ones to set the tone on the field, a fresh change from how the unit looked in years prior.
“It’s a mentality. It’s a mindset. It’s a culture,” Allen said. “It’s not about what we play, it’s about how we play. It doesn’t matter what the call is, it’s about creating an aggressive mindset. . . We don’t want to sit back and let the offense dictate to us, we want to try to dictate the terms to them and continue to come after them and force them into mistakes.”
Through two joint practices and two preseason games facing a different offense, you can see all 11 players playing with the mindset, regardless of who’s on the field.
Looking ahead to Friday, the unit will have another tough bar to cross going up against the Kansas City Chiefs. Head coaches Andy Reid and Ben Johnson have now all but confirmed starters will be playing in the preseason finale, giving Allen’s unit the chance to go up against another MVP-caliber quarterback in Patrick Mahomes.
Coming out of that game with another strong showing can be very telling for this defense going into the regular season, especially in Week 1 when the unit is asked to go up against Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy in his regular season debut.
Chicago Bears News
Chicago Bears 53-Man Roster Projection: Cornerback room looks complicated and recent events add intrigue at offensive tackle
Picture is starting to clear up after two preseason games.
| Be part of the A to Z Sports community and vote in our latest Chicago Bears poll as the preseason gets underway. |
