Chicago Bears: Injuries taking toll on the defense
By David Mamola
Largely due to injuries, the once promising Chicago Bears defense has turned into a glaring weakness.
Just a few weeks ago, the Chicago Bears seemed to have a pretty good defense. Against the Baltimore Ravens and Carolina Panthers, the defense scored three touchdowns and made Joe Flacco and Cam Newton look like high school quarterbacks. However, the bottom has fallen out in recent weeks, due in large part to all of the injuries the defense has suffered.
Injuries shouldn’t be used as an excuse for the team’s putrid play over the past four games, but you have to admit, the defense is a shell of what it should be. The defense is missing five starters from opening day: Jerrell Freeman, Danny Trevathan, Leonard Floyd, Willie Young and Quintin Demps. As a result, Vic Fangio has had to trot out a starting lineup that fails to instill any apprehension into opposing offenses.
During the team’s loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 12, the defense was full of second and third-string players just trying to find their footing. Case in point: Sam Acho, a career backup, played 88 percent of the snaps. Opposite of Acho, Isaiah Irving had to play 49 percent of the snaps, causing the Bears to have basically no pressure on Carson Wentz.
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At the inside linebacker spot, the Bears were forced to use a three-man rotation because none of the players could play on all three downs. At defensive tackle, John Jenkins — who had played a total of five snaps coming into the game — was forced to play 22 uneventful snaps.
The worst unit, however, was the secondary. A total of seven players had to play, including Deon Bush at safety and Sherrick McManis at cornerback. Both players are nice special teams players, but neither are great defensive players.
All of these moving parts resulted in a defense that looked completely lost. It’s a good thing the Eagles fumbled three times, because otherwise they probably would have put at least 40 points on the board. The lack of depth on the Bears roster is concerning, but few teams could endure the amount of injuries the Bears have and still roll out a respectable defense.
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There are larger issues at play here, but the rash of injuries in the defense has made the once promising unit a glaring weakness. The team’s schedule gets much easier moving forward, but if the Bears’ defenders don’t improve quickly, it won’t matter who they play. A leaky defense and a stagnant offense spells doom for any team.