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People are really underrating our defense. First, lots of people are talking like it's terrible and you can't even come close to winning with it despite the fact that we went 9-7 with a below average offense last year, which is sort of mind boggling in itself. I've seen some chicken littles saying "8-8 at best with this defense."

Second, it wasn't even bad. The yardage totals have it ranked low as hell, but that's a dumb measure to begin with. They keep talking about "21st ranked defense" or wherever the hell we were like we are the Broncos. Yardage totals = a terrible way to evaluate a defense or offense, especially when looked at in a vacuum as everyone seems to do.

We were top 5 in yards/play last year. 7th in DVOA. The problem was the defense was on the field way too freaking long due to an offense that was 29th in time of possession. This does a couple of things. First, more plays = more yards. The defense is out on the field for more plays and simply has to give up more yards by definition. Second, (and this one admittedly is a little less of a direct correlation and more difficult to prove) fatigue. The more the defense has to stay on the field, the more their performance is bound to suffer, be it within a given game or cumulatively over the course of the season. This seems to be especially pertinent with a defense that has some main cogs that are either aging or struggling with health. Keeping guys off the field would seem to especially help players like that (namely Urlacher and Harris).


Basically, what I'm saying is, even if they performed on the same level as last year, they'd still be significantly improved just by virtue of having an offense that stays on the field more and converts more first downs. There's obviously a big difference between top 5 in yards/play and 21st in yards (which is a stupid metric to begin with). If this offense performs as well as we expect (and I think we're being reasonable in doing so), the same defensive performance from last year would result in a pretty good defense overall.

If they actually improve their play in addition to this, be it due to new players like Tinoisamoa and Bowman, or Urlacher's health, or Marinelli's effects on the line, or Lovie calling the plays, or anything else, they could easily be very good, if not dominant, again.

Larry Mayer answers a variety of email questions from fans every day on ChicagoBears.com.


I have heard that the Bears defense was on the field for more snaps than any other defense last year. Is that true?

Raymond H.

Yes, it’s true. The Bears defense was on the field for an NFL-high 1,086 plays last season. The Seahawks were next with 1,057, followed by the Raiders (1,044), Chiefs (1,041) and Chargers (1,037). The NFL average was 984, meaning that the Bears defense was on the field for 102 more plays that average. That’s pretty remarkable, especially given that they ranked fifth in the NFL in third-down percentage.

Susan wrote:Listening to the radio and reading the papers over the past few months I've been reading all about how terrible our defense is and how they're going to have to step up in order for the Bears to return to the playoffs. So I looked up some of the advanced stats from http://www.footballoutsiders.com and it seems that the Bears defense last year was bad because their offense was bad.

When I mean that they were bad I mean they gave up lots of points and lots of yards compared to the rest of the NFL but if you take it at a per drive basis, the Bears were actually quite good. The problem was that the offense averaged 23.9 yards per drive. This was okay because the special teams gave the Bears the best field position in the NFL (something they've been great at since Mr Hester came aboard). The Bears offense lacked the ability to sustain drives and our defense was 6th best at yards per drive so it was basically a ping pong type of punt the ball back and forth until somebody broke type of game. Overall I think that if we get the same performance level out of our defense with a REAL offense, we'll be very very good.

Second off Rod Marinelli is a stud. The Bears were the second best running defense last year by FO's metrics but were in the bottom 5 in getting sacks.

The best thing for the defense this year is Jay Cutler. If Jay can sustain drives then our defense will be more than adequate. If the front four can get pressure like Rod's teams in the past have and like how they did in 2007 and before, this team will be all out awesome.

CjayC wrote:That's pretty harsh. Because if the TOP wasn't so skewed due to our garbage offense, the defense would have been within the Top 10. The Pass Defense sucks I'll concede, but the D-line should be even better this year, at applying pressure

SportsWorld wrote:FYI Sporting News has Tommie Harris ranked as the 58th best player in the NFL after Lance Briggs (57th). I nearly spit out the milk I was drinking when I read that.

ChronicKerr wrote:

SportsWorld wrote:FYI Sporting News has Tommie Harris ranked as the 58th best player in the NFL after Lance Briggs (57th). I nearly spit out the milk I was drinking when I read that.

I don't get it

SportsWorld wrote:FYI Sporting News has Tommie Harris ranked as the 58th best player in the NFL after Lance Briggs (57th). I nearly spit out the milk I was drinking when I read that.