Come to Think of It...Wake Up, Bears: Time to Change the Defensive Philosophy

Somehow the Bears squeaked out a victory Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings, despite losing both starting corners to injury and giving up 41 points.

That was because the Bears racked up 48 points, the most since they dumped the same total on Tampa Bay back in 1986.

And yet I'm concerned. Oh yes, I realize first place in the division is nice at 4-3 on the season, especially when this team wasn't expected to do anything positive this year.

And I also recognize that the Bears get the gift that is Detroit following the bye week. Therefore, they are very likely to be sitting at 5-3 in two weeks.

But unless the defense gets more aggressive and can put more pressure on the quarterback, I just don't think this team will go anywhere. Even if they make it to the playoffs, they won't stand much of a chance.

There is much blame to go around. Some of it is injury—with Charles Tillman, Nathan Vasher, and Danieal Manning on the sidelines, the Bears have had to scramble in the secondary.

Yet you really can't pin too much of the blame on injury when you realize the Bears had four interceptions on Sunday. I doubt that either of the two starting corners would have been able to do that.

No, I think much of the blame lies in the defensive philosophy of the ball club. While the offense changed its philosophy to accept the shotgun format, the roll-out, and the no-huddle look, the defense still sticks to a mostly vanilla cover-2 scheme.

Call it Tampa-2 or whatever you want, it is more difficult to throw varying looks to the opposing offense, such as stunts and other shifting and movement, in that type of defense.

And until late in the last quarter of Sunday's game, the Bears had only one sack in three games. That is not good. Tommie Harris' sack was his first of the season.

Don't forget, too, that the Bears gave up 155 yards rushing to the Vikings Sunday. 

And remember that they've blown fourth-quarter leads in each of their losses.

"We're not playing very good defense right now," safety Mike Brown said. "Right now, it seems like we're lost, can't find a rhythm."

The Bears lost the time of possession battle against the Vikings, too—approximately 35 minutes to 25 minutes.

The latest victory can be chalked up to sloppy play by the Vikings on special teams, and questionable coaching decisions by Minnesota head coach Brad Childress.

Perhaps the biggest blame in the Bears defensive woes should go to Bears head coach Lovie Smith, who stubbornly refuses to move away from the cover-2 defense. At least when former defensive coordinator Ron Rivera was here, he introduced some aggressive play calling into the defensive scheme.

Alas, Smith never wanted Rivera. The job had been promised to his pal Bob Babich all along. Thus, when Rivera didn't get that head coaching job in the league that everyone thought he would get, Smith had to show his cards and fire the former Bear.

That has resulted in more of the same vanilla defensive philosophy that has the Bears lacking that attacking style fans have come to know and love in Chicago.

So now the Bears have two weeks to try and fix what's ailing them. They did it on offense, come to think of it, so they can do it on defense, too. But it takes an open mind. And perhaps a new defensive coordinator.