Bears HC predicts one team strength will grow even stronger in 2023
Bears head coach Matt Eberflus believes that one of his team’s strongest assets will undergo even more improvement in 2023.
No position group saw more growth and improvement in the 2022 season than the Chicago Bears’ secondary did.
Littered with young talent across the board, the back end of the Bears’ defense was a strong suit down the stretch. On Tuesday, head coach Matt Eberflus addressed reporters at the NFL Scouting Combine to acknowledge how important it is for the unit to have experience playing together under their belt for next season.
“It’s really big,” Eberflus said on the importance of continuity on the back end.
“Eddie’s doing good. Jaquan learned a lot from Eddie. So it’s a big piece that we have that continuity. We have some continuity in the secondary with Jaylon [Johnson] and [Kyler] Gordon. We have some really good pieces back there. And we know that if we get some guys up front through free agency and the draft, that’ll make that job a little bit easier on the back end for sure.”
Safety Eddie Jackson is the unquestioned leader of, not just the secondary, but the defense as a whole. Jackson ran into some bad luck in late-November, suffering a season-ending Lisfranc injury.
“I just know that we feel good where he is right now,” Eberflus commented on Jackson’s health status. “So we got to let that process go and evaluate that as we go.”
Thankfully surgery wasn’t required for this specific injury. The expectation remains that Jackson should be able to heal on his own and hit the ground running at the start of the season.
Bears strong safety Jaquan Brisker emerged as a rising star in 2022 as well as the others mentioned by Eberflus. It wouldn’t be far-fetched to see multiple members of the Chicago’s secondary flourish into Pro Bowl caliber players in 2023.
Featured image via Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports
