Falcons’ defensive performance against J.J. McCarthy adds insult to injury for the Bears’ defense after Week 2
Another tough look for Chicago’s defense.
The Chicago Bears have had a historically bad last five quarters between the Week 2 loss against the Detroit Lions and going back to the fourth quarter of Week 1 against the Minnesota Vikings.
Dennis Allen’s defense is started to get exposed, and it’s honestly the worst thing that can happen to this team right now.
Offensive issues are still evident and while the play of quarterback Caleb Williams was better in Week 2, there’s still some meat he left on the bone. That’s fine, we all knew the offense would take time before being able to fire on all cylinders. What we didn’t expect was seeing the defense look so bad.
Bears’ defense faces disappointing results in more ways than one in Week 2
Let’s start with the actual game the Bears played on Sunday. Chicago surrendered 52 total points and over 500 yards of total offense against the Lions. The team couldn’t set the edge, pressure the quarterback, or win one-on-ones in coverage for nearly the entire game.
“The explosive plays are an issue. You feel those,” head coach Ben Johnson explained. “I did think the defense did a great job despite the turnovers and the fourth down. They hit the field, they were being resilient, they were fighting their tails off — it just didn’t go our way today.”
Allowing explosives simply wasn’t something we really saw out of this unit throughout training camp, joint practices, and the preseason when the starters played. So, that part is a major concern. In the Bears’ defense, the unit was going up against an elite core of offensive players.
At the same time, the unit didn’t look much better in Week 1 against quarterback J.J. McCarthy during the fourth quarter. Chicago allowed 21 points at the end of the game, allowing Minnesota to mound a game-winning comeback. McCarthy, in his first regular season start, was rewarded with the NFC Offensive Player of the Week nod. After this weekend, Lions’ quarterback Jared Goff or wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown is sure to win the award for Week 2.
How did the Vikings’ quarterback look in his second start? McCarthy was held to 158 yards with two interceptions, three fumbles (one lost), and six sacks against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday Night Football. Thus adding even more embarrassment for Chicago’s defense.
The Bears can’t afford to have the defense continue to look like this, especially with how much money is being invested on that side of the ball. Now, injuries were a factor in both games with Jaylon Johnson and T.J. Edwards missing Week 1 plus reaggravating their injuries in Week 2. But, even when they were on the field, the unit was still getting toasted against the Lions.
This is something that needs to be addressed and fixed immediately. Defense was expected to be the strength for this team while the offense came along. It’s hard to play complementary offense when you give up performances like that on defense.
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Bears’ defense gets put under an intense microscope and there’s a lot of things to blame after the performance in Week 2 vs. Lions
Nowhere close to good enough.
