After the painful but necessary job of dismantling the Bears roster during his first year as Bears GM, Ryan Poles set his sights on retooling the Bears with a common theme: Speed, youth, and hustle. In this segment of our two-part series, the focus shifts to the defense and special teams.
Defense wins championships. The New York Jets in the 60s, the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 70s, and the Bears in the 80s are all prime examples of dominant defenses paving the way to an NFL title. However, the 2022 Bears’ defense was not good. Fourth-quarter collapses were a common theme. The Bears were leading games entering the 4th quarter on four occasions in 2022, only to lose.
While Poles has added tools on offense, he faced a significant rebuild for the depleted defense.
Defensive Line
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Aside from Trevis Gipson, who enters year four on the Bears DL, there are no player’s on the roster with more than one year with the team. There are newcomers up and down the depth chart. Coming to the team by way of free agency include Andrew Billings, Rasheem Green, and DeMarcus Walker.
The remaining nine defensive linemen are draft picks, UDFAs in 2023, and players who were new to the team last year. Poles invested three picks in the 2023 draft on the line. Zacch Pickens (64th) and Gervon Dexter, Sr. (53rd) were each 2nd round selections. Travis Bell was chosen in the seventh round.
Second-year lineman Dominique Robinson hopes to improve heading into 2023. Robinson became just the second rookie since 2018 to record a sack in his first NFL game.
The biggest question mark heading into this season Is whether someone on the roster can pressure the QB off the edge. Poles continues to search for an edge rusher. It would not be a surprise to see a late addition to the roster prior to the start of the regular season to provide what is the missing piece on this defense.
Defensive Back
Ryan Poles continued to add players to the DB room in 2023. According to multiple sources, Tyrique Stevenson, drafted 56th overall in round two, was “a steal.” Tyrique wasted no time making his presence felt during workouts this spring. Penciled in as the starting CB opposite Jaylon Johnson, the move pushes Kyler Gordon into the slot as the nickel back, where he was at his best last year. Adding the return of Eddie Jackson, who was lost for the season in the game against the Jets, the DBs look to be deeper than they have been in years. With Kindle Vildor and Jaylon Jones, who started several games in 2022 now backing up the starting five, it provides the necessary depth that was lacking in years past.
Linebacker
Along with the wide receiver group, the linebacker group is vastly improved. The arrival of Tremaine Edmunds and T. J. Edwards and via free agency fills the second line of defense with speed and aggressiveness. Jack Sanborn, surprised when he moved into a starting role last year will be competing with rookie Noah Sewell at Strong Side (or SAM) Linebacker. The improvement at LB hasn’t gone unnoticed around the league. A recent article at Pro Football Focus ranks the Bears LBs as second-best in the NFL.
Special Teams
Patrick Scales (LS), Cairo Santos (K), and Trenton Gill (P) are back. This year’s designated camp leg is punter Ryan Anderson.
Year 2 of the rebuild – with the ‘gutting’ of the roster last year, the foundation building began in earnest this year. Overall — this defence has improved on all three levels (edge rushers notwithstanding). It’s clear Poles wanted to focus on upgrading the ‘run’ defence – if you can’t stop the run, you’re not going to win many games.
I like how Poles went about attempting to improve the defensive line interior and cornerback spot by taking a few shots at it. I think out of Pickens, Bell and Dexter, chances are good that at least one of them will hit and be a good player. Seems to be the best way to actually improve a positional need, especially when the draft is partially about luck.