As the Bears tinker with their offensive personnel and playbook, the assumption has been that’s all they need to do in order to make the team a contender again. But question marks have sprouted like dandelions on the other side of the ball.
While the Bears have had an elite defense the last two seasons, it takes constant maintenance to keep it that way. There are no assurances about how long they’ll stay there as players age and contracts run out. As general manager Ryan Pace navigates those waters this offseason, he hopes he is staying in front of those concerns.
The pass rush is the heart of the Bears’ defense — and the team at large, really — and Pace retooled by cutting ever-underwhelming former first-round pick Leonard Floyd in favor of signing virtuoso Robert Quinn.
If Quinn stays healthy and productive, he’s a clear upgrade. They’ll be better up front if defensive tackle Akiem Hicks stays on the field after a season in which he missed one game with a knee injury and 10 for a dislocated elbow.
With Hicks out and Floyd faltering, the Bears’ pass rush slid from great (third in sacks, first in interceptions and first by far in opponent passer rating) to just OK (24th, 25th and eighth, respectively).
Opposing offenses were free to concentrate fully on Khalil Mack, often triple-teaming him, and he posted the second-lowest sack total of his career with 8.5. As great as he is, he can’t do it alone.
He needs Quinn, going into his 10th season, to be a proper running mate. If that happens, the Bears will return to having the most feared pass rush in the NFL. And it’s encouraging that he had 11.5 sacks for the Cowboys last season.
But that was Quinn’s first double-digit season since 2014. He had a run from 2015 through ’18 with the Rams and Dolphins in which he averaged six sacks per season, and one of the explanations he gave for his dip in production was the Rams forcing him to move from a hand-in-the-dirt defensive end to an outside linebacker when they switched to a 3-4 defense. That’s what the Bears play, too.
No problem, according to Pace.
“This was something that was talked about thoroughly with our coaches and scouts and ... and how we’re going to make it all work,” he said last month. “You do have to look at it and say, ‘Ok, how has this player had success in the past and how can we make sure we maximize that?’ So that was discussed... So, hey, let’s get everybody in the spot where they’re best, but without being predictable at the same time. So we feel very comfortable with that.”
For his part, Quinn said he’ll be fine as long as he gets to keep playing on the right side, which makes him compatible with Mack’s preference to play on the left. But there’s a big difference between talking about it in the spring and actually doing it in the season.
At the back end, the Bears picked up journeyman safety Tashaun Gipson and don’t know yet who will replace Prince Amukamara at cornerback.
Gipson was a celebrated pickup, but he was dumped early by his last two teams. The Jaguars cut him three seasons into a five-year contract a year ago, and the Texans dropped him a year after signing him to a three-year deal.
The cornerback vacancy figures to be filled by a competition between former Steelers draft bust Artie Burns, rookie Jaylon Johnson and backup Kevin Toliver. No guarantees there, either.
And there are two wildcards in the middle of the defense: linebackers Roquan Smith and Danny Trevathan. Smith has long been thought to be a future star, but his unexplained absence last season raised questions about reliability. Trevathan has been the voice of the defense for years, but he missed significant time in two of the last four seasons.
The Bears re-signed Trevathan (30) rather than Nick Kwiatkoski (26) for virtually the same price. For that to be prudent, Trevathan has to remain at the same level at which he played before suffering a season-ending elbow injury.
While none of those concerns are massive and the Bears’ defensive personnel is still as coveted as any in the league, it’s been a few years since this defense to come into a season needing to answer this many questions.
