Numbers Adding Up For Bears' Defense, But Not All Of Them

The Bears' defense made it into their bye week with one standout number to go with a lot of questions about the rest of their season.

Any way they slice it, 14 sacks after four games speaks well about changes they’ve made in the offseason in terms of personnel, coaching, and strategy. At this pace, the Bears would finish with 56 sacks, twice their total of last year and the most since 1987.

Of course, maintaining this rate won’t be easy, and coach Lovie Smith would trade it right now for a few more turnovers.

“I think we've played at a 3-1 pace,” Smith said Wednesday. “That's saying that we're not where we need to be, especially with takeaways. I’m disappointed with the takeaways but pleased at how hard they've played, how they've finished games.”

The Bears are tied for 14th with six takeaways. The other alarming stat from their viewpoint is the 40 percent conversion rate on third down by opponents, also 14th in the league.

None of these statistics in and of themselves are essential to winning a Super Bowl.

The Cardinals played for the title last year and only four teams had a worse third-down defense. The Steelers last year were only 14th in third down conversion percentage.

The team that led the NFC last year in takeaways didn’t even make the playoffs.

That would be the Bears.

Still, if your defense ranks high in all three categories, it is taking the ball away, keeping offenses off the field, and handing it to their own offense. It’s a sure way to go deep in the playoffs.

The pass rush pressure the Bears are achieving can help achieve all of those ends. More heat on the quarterback can give their inexperienced secondary more time to catch up on third down and also force turnovers.

Bears' defensive linemen insist the biggest reason for their increased sack production is the addition of defensive line coach Rod Marinelli because he makes them understand the entire defensive scheme. Defensive tackle Tommie Harris even described him as a “professor” of sorts.

"I feel like the majority of the guys that I’ve talked to who he’s coached in the past can become coaches after football," Harris said.

Defensive linemen are responsible for 10 of the 14 Bears sacks, but some of this has to do with a change in defensive philosophy. With Smith calling defensive signals, they have blitzed more than any other NFL team over the first quarter of the season (39 percent).

Blitzing doesn’t necessarily mean the blitzer gets to the quarterback. In the Bears’ case, what it has meant are more one-on-one rushing attempts by defensive linemen and more sacks.

“When you’re blitzing, it’s about disguising,” Ogunleye said.  “It’s not about picking the right spot; it’s about really just showing the same front all the time and then just boom, boom, hitting them. Hopefully they’re not knowing where it’s coming from.”

What the Bears’ defense would really like to see is a faster start to games. They’ve given up 31 first-quarter points and only 16 more for the other three quarters combined.

“I’m getting tired of getting hit first and then reacting,” Ogunleye said. “It’s good we’re finishing strong, but against a really, really good team, it might be hard.

“A team might have a really good defense and make our offense struggle a little bit, it might be hard for us. You have to get going, we have to jump on teams faster.”

As positive as a 3-1 record sounds, there are plenty of ways the Bears can get better in the next quarter of the season.