There is no question Dennis Allen is a strong addition to the Chicago Bears coaching staff. Before he became head coach of the New Orleans Saints, he was regarded as one of the best defensive coordinators in the league. His defense ranked in the top 10 in every category. Imagine what he could accomplish with the talent the Bears have assembled and what they could still add this coming off-season. However, it might be important to remember Allen’s ideas on personnel likely don’t parallel Matt Eberflus.
Former NFL safety Matt Bowen indicated as much during an appearance on 670 The Score. The ESPN analyst loves Chicago’s hire but did suggest some roster tweaks might be coming, particularly in the secondary. The focus is on finding safeties who are interchangeable when it comes to playing coverage or stopping the run. As for the cornerbacks?
They must be capable in man coverage.
“But I really loved the Dennis Allen hire also. I can remember back to when I was doing the matchup show at ESPN, this was 2018, 2019, 2020, when Dennis Allen had one of the best defenses in the NFL. And what he used to do to Tom Brady when Tom Brady was in Tampa Bay (from 2020 to 2022). You’re talking about high-level scheme and high-level player deployment. That’s what you’re going to see out of this defense – a lot of multiple fronts, a lot of stunts, a lot of overload to get home to the quarterback. Your safeties have to be interchangeable in this defense. That’s a position you want to play. That’s a playmaking position in this defense. Because they’ll do a lot of two-high shells, they’ll rotate or spin down late, they’ll cut crossers, they’ll rob in the middle of the field. They’ll put their safeties in position to make plays on the ball. On the outside at the corner position, you want physical, aggressive corners that can play press, that can open and run and that can challenge consistently.
Dennis Allen could be exactly what Tyrique Stevenson hoped for.
Coming out of Miami, most draft experts felt the 2nd round pick was at his best when allowed to play physical press-man coverage. The problem is that Eberflus didn’t run that kind of defense. It was often a zone system in the Tampa-2 variation. That didn’t serve Stevenson well, who’d shown bad tendencies to suffer busts in coverage when playing that style. If what Bowen says is true, Allen will allow the third-year cornerback to finally play more to his natural ability. Jaylon Johnson and Kyler Gordon have no problems in man coverage as well.
As for the safeties, that is a bit trickier. Kevin Byard fits the interchangeable role Dennis Allen prefers but turns 32 this year. Jaquan Brisker has that capability as well. Unfortunately, he missed most of this season with a concussion. Could Allen urge the Bears to make a change at safety? Maybe not this year. However, it wouldn’t be surprising if they lay the groundwork for changes by drafting some depth or insurance.
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@citizen34 PFF has CHI’s OL as 17th in the league for the 2024 regular season. I get that a lot of people like to waive away PFF rankings that don’t fit their priors, but one thing the the methodology doesn’t lack is rigor. A generational QB1 behind a 17th-rated OL should be able to lead an offense to more than five wins IMO. Again, the point I’m trying to make here is pretty simple: There’s no evidence that Caleb is the guy. Maybe he will be next year. It’s a big question mark. If next year’s line grades out at… Read more »
Ok Barry, I missed the game where they had 4 FG’s to win 12-10. Regarding offensive lines, I don’t know what you are following that says the Bears were average at OL. They gave up 67 sacks and even though they were not all on the o-line, my background in coaching football and watching the A-gap getting destroyed and blitzers coming up B-gap unblocked and also helping Swift only average 3.8 yards per rush.
I’m getting pumped, we haven’t seen man to man coverage here in forever, the Tampa 2 Zone is for losers, Dennis Allen is exactly the type of coach we need, he sounds like he wants to be exotic and very aggressive, that’s what I call winning football.!
@citizen34 Also, this is straight from the Bears’ PR department, from Nov. 28, 2023: “Fields rebounds from adversity to lead game-winning drive.” It was the 12-10 game against MIN. Fields threw an in-route to Moore after the MIN linebacker failed to get enough depth in zone coverage.
To say Fields did “zero” game-winning drives just isn’t accurate at all.
@citizen34 On what metric do you base your statement about the OL? Because it graded out as average.
Can it play better as a unit? Sure. But, to me, it’s incoherent to support spending pick 1.01 on a QB on the premise that he’ll make the offensive line better right away, and then lay blame at the OL after the fact when that doesn’t happen.