The Chicago Bears defense has been playing their best football of the 2023 season since around the halfway point of the year.

The unit is the main cause for the team, who started the season with a 0-4 record, to go on to win 7 of their last 11 games entering Week 18.

In the span, the Bears defense has been among the best unit's in the entire league and there's one major reason why.

Following the Bears Week 3 loss to the Kanas City Chiefs, major coaching changes were made in Chicago after Bears then defensive coordinator Alan Williams resigned from the team. In response, Bears head coach Matt Eberflus began calling the team's defensive plays for the remainder of the season.

Eberflus claimed earlier this season that the defense, and the entire team, hit a turning point following Week 5 and the progression continued to occur in the following weeks due to a variety of reasons. Prior to Week 7, the Bears added veteran defensive mind Phil Snow to the coaching staff and at the 2023 NFL trade deadline the Bears added defensive end Montez Sweat.

Each of those three critical decisions helped transform the Bears defense into one of the best unit's in the NFL in 2023. Since Week 5, the so-called turning point for the unit, the Bears rank sixth in points per game allowed, sixth in total yards allowed, first in rushing yards allowed, fourth in yards per pass attempt allowed, and first in interceptions.

The team's head coach deserves all the credit for the way he handled all the adversity his team and unit faced at the beginning year and how he turned the unit around to put up those kind of numbers. Through all the issues in 2023, the Bears have kept their heads high and continued to play at a high level for their head coach.

"You get into coaching and you have passion for coaching really for one reason, and that is that you want to see the joy in your players face after victory," Eberflus said on Monday. "And that's what brings the most joy in you as a coach. And that's what I see in that locker room afterward, and that's why I do it. And that's why our coaches do it. We love teaching and we love seeing our players like that."

After the Week 17 win on Sunday, Eberflus was asked specifically about the defense's turnaround this season and provided his reasoning for the unit's improvement. 

"I would just say continuity," he said. "We had a lot of injuries. We had a lot of new guys. We signed all those new free agents. We had a bunch of new rookies that we drafted and just that continuity piece playing together. I really just think it's that, I really do and really can't point to anything else."

"A lot of hard work in between that point and this point," Eberflus added. "The men in that locker room, the coaches, and everybody working the performance staff, everybody working together, through adversity and through the hardness it took. Losing those games in the early part of the year and now we really do a good job of  playing some good football. It's not great, it's not where it needs to be, but it's good football, it's solid, and it's winning football."

If the winning football continues for the Bears in Week 18 against the Packers, the team should consider making a full time decision. The Bears have already all but confirmed Eberflus will return as the head coach in 2024, and he's shown that he should remain the defensive play caller going forward as well.

"We're going to evaluate that after [the season ends]," Eberflus said on Monday. "I'm certainly comfortable in that position doing that. I enjoy it. I have passion for it. But again, we'll evaluate that and see what's best for the franchise."

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